Shoes on a Wire: A Grumpy Homeowner’s Quest for Answers
When my husband and I purchased our East Lansing home two years ago, I could never have anticipated how speedy my descent into curmudgeon would be. Alas, the culprits to drive me mad have not been young people on my lawn or the neighborhood dog that won’t stay out of my begonias.
It’s the shoes.
They are everywhere, laces joined together and strewn over power lines. There are some places in our fair city that even host several pairs on one line – even some that are in good condition.
What causes this scourge on our community?
Growing up in the ‘90s, I remember adults would hypothesize that the presence of hanging shoes meant that illegal activities and tomfoolery were taking place in that neighborhood.
I decided to find out once and for all the source of this blight.
East Lansing Police Department Lt. Adrian Ojerio was the first to weigh in.
“This action in East Lansing,” Ojerio explained in an email, “particularly around graduation time, is to celebrate or signify the milestone of graduating (kicking off your shoes). This is also the case in Bath Township, where there is a ‘Shoe Tree’ on Chandler Road that at the end Cross Country season sees the old pair of running shoes added to the tree.”
Hmmm. I honestly expected more outrage. Surely, Lansing Board of Water and Light, the owner of several of the affected lines, would take a harder stance on this monstrosity.
“Shoes on power lines can occasionally cause a problem if they’re thrown and tie lines together,” BWL Public Relations Strategist Emma McGlocklin told ELi. “However, [they] don’t necessarily impact our work. If we’re out working and see them, we’ll cut them down to prevent any future issues. To keep everyone safe, always stay away from power lines in any situation, including throwing shoes.”
But is the act illegal or merely annoying (to me)?
Ojerio said that the act is technically littering in public, and could cause damage to the lines.
If the shoes end up breaking or damaging the line, Ojerio said that the act would elevate to a criminal malicious destruction of property charge. This could result in imprisonment of up to five years, a fine of up to $5,000, or both.
In this writer’s opinion, let’s add 1,000 hours of mandatory dancing outside of shuttered Payless Shoe stores, dressed as a sports mascot-sized iteration as a 1980s high top.
“ELPD celebrates all of the hard work that our resident students put into their degrees,” Ojerio added, “but we encourage donating your shoes to something more productive and rewarding such as Foot Prints of Michigan.”