(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
KENOSHA, Wis. — More than a year after Kenosha County Eye first reported widespread complaints about damage and unfinished restoration work associated with the Kenosha Fiber City project, the City of Kenosha is now asking residents to help restore affected areas by watering newly seeded parkways.
In a press release issued Tuesday, the city announced that SiFi Networks has begun what it describes as final restoration work in neighborhoods impacted by the installation of fiber-optic infrastructure. According to the city, crews are repairing parkway areas, adding topsoil where needed, hydroseeding, and installing erosion-control matting. The city also reminded residents that they are responsible for watering newly seeded areas to help ensure grass growth.
The announcement quickly drew criticism from some residents who say they have already spent months—or in some cases more than a year—dealing with damaged lawns, exposed cables, uneven terrain, weeds, broken concrete, and incomplete restoration.
One resident told Kenosha County Eye:
“The City of Kenosha tore up the parkway in almost the entire city and in people’s backyards. They waited forever to have the area reseeded. Now that they’re reseeded, they want us to personally water the parkway that is not our property. I mean, they make us cut it, which is reasonable, but making us water it too is not reasonable.”
That frustration echoes many of the complaints KCE has received since first reporting on the issue in May 2025.
Residents have described parkways left filled with clay instead of topsoil, hydroseeded areas that allegedly grew mostly weeds, exposed fiber lines that remained above ground for months, deep holes left unfilled, damaged sprinkler systems, cracked driveway aprons, broken sidewalks, and restoration work that some homeowners say never occurred.
Others reported waiting months for repairs, only to receive what they described as poor-quality restoration. Several homeowners told KCE they eventually paid out of pocket to repair damaged lawns and landscaping themselves.
Not all residents have had negative experiences. Some reported that after contacting SiFi Networks or city officials, crews returned to level soil, reseed affected areas, or otherwise address concerns. Others praised the fiber service itself, saying it was a significant improvement over existing internet options.
Still, many residents remain unhappy with the condition of their neighborhoods and the pace of restoration efforts. Complaints continue to surface from homeowners who say damaged areas remain visible long after construction crews moved on.
The city’s press release stated that residents with questions or concerns about restoration work should contact SiFi Networks directly. The city also thanked residents for their patience and cooperation as restoration activities continue throughout the community.
Mayor David Bogdala previously declined to comment when contacted by Kenosha County Eye regarding resident complaints about the project. City Hall insiders have also told KCE that concerns about restoration work are not considered a major priority.
The Kenosha Fiber City project was launched with the goal of bringing citywide fiber-optic internet service to homes and businesses, increasing broadband competition and expanding access to high-speed internet. While supporters point to those long-term benefits, critics argue the city and its contractors should have ensured that damaged properties were restored promptly and properly before asking residents to take on additional responsibilities such as watering newly seeded parkways.
For many residents, the issue is no longer about internet service. It is about whether the neighborhoods disrupted by the project will ever be restored to the condition they were in before construction began.
(Submitted Photos)
31 Responses
What did you expect? All the fiber was installed by illegal immigrants and most of the “restoration” work was too. None of them have any personal interest in doing a good, clean job. The fiber companies don’t care as long as they can get customers.
Doesn’t the city have any contractual oversight?
Yes but most of the alderman don’t care. Alderman Mau brought this issue up years ago and had very little backing
Must be a really tough job to water the seed. Life just keeps getting rougher. The city can lay rolls of sod down only to see it die because of laziness. People sometimes have to step up and this is such a minor matter.
Silly me, I must not understand what taxes are for.
I use hotspot for internet, works great for our family (on a Visible plan, $30/month) and don’t have to ever deal with T(rash)-mobile. I’m not watering the parkway, goofy. I’m still working by on the BS “code violations”. The only time the city GAF is when your AHOLE neighbor complains. Making noise is winning apparently. I miss Kenosha pre-riots. 😔
Same here, I am moving but is going to take about a year to do it. I hope things end up working out for you too in the future
The problem is that we have NO control over. them placing fiber on our properties
It’s not your property. The parkway is public.
Do I just water the clay that they left behind? I think I had my sill cocks shut off for winter by the time that dropped 3 seeds on mine.
Thanks to the cheap ass grass they used my yard is full of weeds.
The Hispanic landscapers in my neighborhood always do a good job.
I beleive they use weed seed. All crab grass.
The color of the grass does not match. Before Trump became president/ new mayor, all the workers were Hispanic-maybe it changed now –not one white or black in the entire 3 mile radius and not one spoke English. I asked them questions and they could not communicate with me. I was frustrated because they just left a mess. This could have been a great opportunity for our youth in Kenosha but lets us not hire our own community members,
You get grass but you’re mad it’s the wrong color? Cry me a river!
The Hispanic landscapers in my neighborhood always do a good job.
The fiber optic internet in my neighborhood is a joke. On the neighborhood Facebook page often there are complaints about outages and horrible customer service.
I find the service awesome and never had an outage since last fall.
You should come and take pictures of our parkway. It looks like crap. Our parkway was once beautiful until the fiber company came and destroyed it. After getting on the city at least a dozen times, they came a couple of weeks ago and sprinkled seed and dirt on our parkway. We have watered it every day and the only thing growing are weeds-not a blade of grass in site. It looks like hell. I am livid
Maybe the mayor should come water the damage, I have it in writing from the start this project will be at no cost to the taxpayers, now this and Bindelli replacing all the walks taken out by fiber city. Kevin let’s get the records of the contract with Bindelli. 🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️😡😡😡😡😡😡. They chopped 4 units of mine sump pump line at the curb and just kept going white PVC coming from your trencher should have been a good indication you hit something other than dirt. 🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦
YES
Calm down, Karen
Sifi/fiber city/city of tomorrow 🤣, it was just T-mobile in disguise trying to cut in on Spectrum’s business. Kenosha leadership was suckered into this “free” infrastructure upgrade. Free is always too good to be true. Besides, Kenosha can’t even keep up with the lawn care of city owned property. It takes a lot of balls to tell people what to do, especially when public property is overgrown and nothing but weeds.
False. T-mobile didn’t sign on until after the fiber was laid. SiFi is the company that did the infrastructure. It can also be used by other companies. There’s supposed to be more than T Mobile soon.
Thanks for the fact check Mr. Snopes. Here’s a fun fact for you. T-Mobile was advertising fiber internet a year before they came to our neighborhood. I’ve still not seen another company.
They didn’t even bother planting seeds at our house. We got a shovelful of dirt and nothing else.
I said screw it, got a $8 bag of seed at Menards and planted and watered my own. I’m the only person on the block who actually has growing grass. Sometimes if you want something done right, you’ve gotta do it yourself.
Thank you for taking pride in your yard. I did the same thing. I’m glad I didn’t fall for the t-mobile sales pitch. Twi of my neighbors across the street switched and had wires laying for months. When they finally buried the wire (2 inches deep) they just ran it up to the house foundation still exposed/unprotected. I expect them to be cut with a string trimmer sometime this summer.
We planted see in all FOUR areas of destruction (we are on a corner lot). We leveled, seeded and watered. We were going to water our grass anyway right? And it looked like shit before…so yeah we took care of it. Right or wrong the shit is done.
They can come kiss my ass and save some spit for the grass. The cruise did a real nice job leveling out the area that they trenched after filling it, except all the topsoil is now replaced with Clay as others have mentioned and the entire parkway came up with as many weeds as it did grass so the mats they put down that I faithfully watered weren’t high quality to start with. In short, after taking care of that front parkway for close to 40 years I don’t give a God damn anymore. I had no say about it being dug up and they’ve got no say about me taking care of it. I’ll paint the goddamn thing green with a weed sprayer and house paint if I have to.
I recall getting a flyer saying that they will restore all damage to look just like it did before they laid the fiber. What a bunch of B.S.! How about a water credit for everyone and make these contractors pay for it! So sick and tired of all these companies that don’t give a crap and make our community look like shit after they are done. Well Mr. Mayor? Time to step up and put these hacks to the payment of us restoring their mess on our own.
This has to be one of the most whining non-issues in Kenosha in decades. Water or reseed the 2 square feet of your lawn and STOP the childish whining.