Power Outages Are the New Black!

Con Ed has pretty crappy luck. No sooner than a few hours after announcing that most of the Queens neighborhoods plagued by a week and a half power outage had electricity did three feeder cables in Staten Island fail. Luckily, this power outage that hit 16,000 customers (about one in every 10 Con Ed customers on SI, according to the Advance) only lasted six hours, ending around 10PM. Which meant Mayor Bloomberg had to cancel a trip to Queens and visit Staten Island instead. Gothamist totally gets why he did that - he's already hated in Queens, so he might as well preserve his rep on the Island. Con Ed described the power outage on Staten Island as being a "different animal" than the one in Queens, but SI does have more blackouts than any other borough (perhaps as revenge for wanting to secede to NJ?). At this rate, the Bronx, followed by Brooklyn, and then Manhattan should be getting blackouts in the coming weeks.

And Mayor Bloomberg is no longer going to Ireland as planned, so he can do some damage control in the wake of his mediocre performance during the Queens power outage. On the slightly bright side of things, the city is trying to expedite Queens residents' and business owners' claims with Con Ed: Con Ed will waive the requirement for grocery receipts so people can file for the full $350 reimbursement while businesses may opt for a special low-interest loan program. And the city will have a "Power Up Queens" advertising campaign to encourage New Yorkers to visit the affected neighborhoods in Queens. Papers are donating ad space, there will be a special restaurant promotion, guides will be printed up. The MTA, however, has yet to confirm that weekend subway service to Queens will be normal.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on July 27, 2006 9:55 AM

Comments [rss]

Justin

can someone please explain exactly what bloomberg was supposed to do to make the electricity flow in queens? he's not the frickin power company. he cant make electricity unless he first buys Con Ed.

Oh and while we're at it, if I hear the news media use the blackouts/power outages in Iraq as a reason why Iraq isn't going well again, will someone please remind them of Queens and pretty much the whole state of California in the summer time.

K

^^ shows how much the average nyker knows, and how much they like to THINK they know :)

jai

"We Astorians generate 60% of the city's power and ConEd doesn't give a shit, it all goes to the rich fucks in Manhattan. Maybe we should demand that power generated in Queens stays in Queens"

Ummm, generation / distribution of power are separate markets now. This was all done during deregulation. Con Ed is a pipes and wires company now, and no longer in charge of where and how much power to generate.

Those "powerplants" you see across the river in Manhattan are steam plants now.

k

Hey, NYC is trendsetting for London:

http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1831828,00.html

Barry Popik

I've added "coneheads" to the NYC slang dictionary:

http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/conehead_snl_sketch_and_movie_mets_yankees_pitcher_david_cone_con_ed_worker/

krunkymunky

all this hatred for manhattanites. i can't say i'm a big fan of my fellow manhattanites either but if Manhattan south of 110th St had a 8 day blackout ... the US economy would pretty much have a million-shit freakout.

zzmggm

Trendsters and the moneyed from Manhattan and Brooklyn are repelled by the very idea of Queens - do you think the campaign will inspire anyone?

Hmm

I hate to say this, but does anyone else think that the 'Power Up Queens' campaign may be flawed - "Hey New Yorkers, go visit these restaurants that haven't had power for a week" - might there be food spoilage issues?

MissPinkKate

Seriously- get your own power source, Manhattan! Put every hipster on a bicycle and make 'em work!

Rodney P. Sweetchops

I'd be very surprised if Manhattan (south of 110th street) ever was hit with a serious blackout. We Astorians generate 60% of the city's power and ConEd doesn't give a shit, it all goes to the rich fucks in Manhattan. Maybe we should demand that power generated in Queens stays in Queens.

Toby

I think that one cause for the more frequent blackouts on Staten Island, is that the majority of the electric wires are above ground on poles, and can be dammaged by storms and the like. The adavantage of wires on poles is that it makes the problem much easier to fix, one reason why the problems there were dealt with much quicker.