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Before last week, Mayor Bloomberg could pretty much do no wrong. Sure, he wasn't exactly Republican or Democrat, but the city was running and that's all that mattered. But now, after the Queens blackout, he's in the crapper with Queens residents, business owners, politicians - and many other New Yorkers who are wondering why the mayor couldn't get a grip on the crisis. The Daily News, . And the Mayor's continuous defense of Con Ed and its CEO Kevin Burke, earned him a "Say Watt?" cover on the Daily News and has been driving everyone else crazy. Mayor Bloomberg said, "I think Kevin Burke deserves a thanks from this city. He's worked as hard as he can every single day since then, as has everybody at Con Ed." Yes, but has he worked as hard as someone without power? Put him in a Queens home for 8 days, some of those days in 95 degree heat, and have him do his job that way. But we do feel for the Con Ed workers, who are getting harrassed by frustrated Queens residents - they are just doing what they are told, hopefully they are bearing with it.
About 1,000 customers are still without power. According to the NY Times, it turns out that Con Ed decided to keep the power on in Queens, instead of shutting it down and causing a wider blackout (which would have affected more people, but would have been shorter). The Daily News wants to "put Con Ed under the lights," which it will be once there's a chance for officials to examine what happened.
Here's the city's update on the blackout so far. And did you see WCBS's Town Hall: What Went Wrong (link) last night? It was interesting and great that Queens residents got to ask officials questions, but the production was a little haphazard.
Photograph by jasoneppink on Flickr
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Powered at least until the heat hits above 90 again...
Just out of curiousity ... what is the estimated cost of the QNS blackout? and how does it compare to Bloomberg's 2005 election expenditures (around $68 mil, right?)
Has anyone seen the wooden boxes that are covering the wires along some streets (30th Ave, 43rd Street, etc)? The decision to do a half-assed job first, then come back and fix it later seems shoddy to me. Isn't that how this whole thing started in the first place?
Excuse me for being ignorant, but what DID go wrong? I've read all the articles and seen the newscasts, but I still don't know. I just know that people are without power and they are pissed. I don't know which side to be on because I have no idea what happened. Did something burn out? Was something flooded? Was the system simply overstressed? What was the initial trigger to all this?
Since no one in the press has the slightest idea of how electricity works, much less how to operate a power plant, their opinions are really worthless. Believe it or not, there's not a large "On/Off" switch under the pavement.
I do understand the difficulty in not having power.
However, the rest of the city and much of Queens does have power.
Why have the residents (consumers), in light of the their situation, not gone to other parts of the city (by bus or car, surely they're not electric), and bought the essentials? Water (drinking and washing), Flashlights, batteries, AM Radio, Dried Food, etc? I know this is a Con Ed issue and perhaps they should be blamed, but since you are in this situation, getting what you need should be TOP priority.
This is why NYC needs alternate power sources such as windmill power. We have the shore breeze ideal for this kind of alternative power...
ed lover's Ex, what makes you think those of us that could didn't?
There were over 100,000 people affected by this. The ones the press have focused on were the elderly (some of whom are physically uncapable of doing what you suggest), the business owners (who cannot move their business temporarily into parts of the city of power), and the angry.
And only "perhaps" ConEd should be blamed? Mike, is that you?
Memo to Mayor Bling and all past and future mayors:
Don't screw with Queens, man!
To wit:
http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F70E12FA3B590C708EDDAB0894DB404482
Will they never learn?
If nothing else, this should prove how tough NYers are and how well we can go it alone when we have to. With a mayor and governor like this, it's like having no government at all.
Anyone else get feelings of Katrina-like deja vu when Bloomie was making his speech? I was almost expecting him to say "You're doin' a heckuva job, Burkie."
I live in the LES and was the last to have power during the big blackout a few years ago. It didn't strike me as classist, more likely the spaghetti that is this city's antiquated power system. It's not Bloomberg's fault.
Hey, Con Ed changed their claim for spoiled food procedure somewhat for northwest Queens residents.
realist --apples and oranges. Plus, I don't think folks are blaming Bloomie for antiquated power system as much as his reaction in his role as mayor of the citay.
"It's not Bloomberg's fault."
Granted it's not Mayor Bling's fault, but still I wouldn't go around thanking the idiot Conned Ed CEO for doing such a fantastic job when all through the 6+days of the Queens' blackout he couldn't give an answer as to when the power will be restored and what caused the blackout. You're being paid $$millions$$ of dollars for being on top of your company not for sitting on your ass and not knowing shit. Hell, if that was the case any lazy ass Conned Ed repair crew that you saw sitting around with their thumbs up their ass throughout this whole ordeal could've been just as qualified to do the CEO's job as well.
The Times has a good write-up of what actually happened:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/25/nyregion/25astoria.html
For the person who asked about cables running temporarily on the streets: They only do this if there is a problem getting the cables run under the streets quickly. Before the new cables go in, the old ones have to come out, and they sometimes have a lot of connections to undo.
They did this same practice after 9/11 to restore power downtown. Sometimes the fastest way to get things up and running is to do it in a temporary fashion, and fix it properly later. Would you rather wait two more days for power? I noticed it's getting hot again...
Fixed the non-clickable link...sorry.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/25/nyregion/25astoria.html
Would the Mayor let the top execs in one of Bloomberg's own private companies get off so easy in a fiasco like this?
So ed lover's Ex, my 80-year-old neighbor who uses a cane and lives on the fifth floor should have taken the subway to Manhattan for food then hoped it was still running to take her back? Or the mom with a newborn and two other kids? I'm shocked that anyone in New York would think everyone was so upwardly mobile. If you spend your entire social security check to fill your fridge, then your fridge dies, how are you supposed to feed yourself? There was no food available for blocks on end.
AGAIN with the old people...
Anyone who cannot take care of themselves past a certain age should be put in a nursing home. Then we wouldnt have this problem.
It's not the mayor's fault the lights went out. It IS his fault for not being there 24/7, calling in the troops to go door-to-door and give supplies from DAY ONE. It took him days to realize it was a big deal. Hence the Katrina déjà vu that a number of other commenters mentioned.
This is what happens when people elect an inexperienced mayor (aside from his first term, this is his first time in government, by the way). Running a city is not the same as running a corporation. Situations like this aren't taught in business school.
Although I despise Giuliani, we all know damn well he would've sent in aid a lot earlier than Bloomberg. Thank god a terrorist didn't strike. If Con Ed's bumbling can foil Bloomberg, imagine what a terrorist network could do.
Oh wait, he's the "best mayor ever," I apologize.
Ack, Jeebus! You're too kind. Why even put them in nursing homes and waste precious dwindling resources for people who can no longer contribute to the society. Do what any good dystopian society would do and just kill them off.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logan's_Run
Soylent green...is us!
lol Logan's Run
BRILLIANT!!!
Anyone who cannot take care of themselves past a certain age should be put in a nursing home. Then we wouldnt have this problem.
Jeebus: obviously you need to educate yourself about caring for our elderly, you asshole.
Nursing Homes are the best places to put our elderly Bill. They are taken care of quite well there, except for the occasional screaming and abuse by the employees. But that doesn’t happen as much as it used to. Not to mention all the fun activities they can get involved in with people their own age, such as scrambling for medication or watching soap operas
Hell it was Judas who mentioned Logan's Run! I just wanted to stick them in a home. You should be more open minded Bill.
You're a freaking laff riot, Jeebus. Like how you stole yr name from Homer Simpson, completely original, like your big fat ginormous brain, I'm sure.
Anyway, it will be interesting to see how all this temporary cable holds up in the next heat wave - or thunderstorm - but not as interesting to see ConEd's long term plan about how to upgrade the fucking system, as Eliot Spitzer pointed out to them (quite unnecessarily) in 2002. Clearly, it's just not a priority in their profit-making plan. BTW, their went UP during this whole thing. Can we see an analysis of that in the news, please?