Results tagged “conedison”

Given that there are manhole fires from time to time—and that many times steam can be seen rising from them—it's no surprise to learn they can leave burns. And now a Bronx woman is suing Con Ed for burns she suffered in 2006. According to the Daily News, "Melissa Mann was crossing Allen St. on the lower East Side on Sept. 5, 2006, when she was hit by a delivery van...She flew through the air and landed on a manhole cover, which burned her instantly, according to a lawsuit filed in Bronx Supreme Court this week." Yikes. Her lawyer said his client has permanent scarring, not to mention seizures, and walks with a cane, "For the temperature of that cap to be so hot that it caused scalding burns to the touch is not right. It poses a danger to citizens walking on the street not to mention any animals walking on the street." Mann is seeking "an award for medical services, lost wages and pain and suffering." Five years ago, a woman got a "manhole tattoo" on her back when she fell (while skateboarding in the East Village) on a manhole.

Long Island Congressman Peter King tried to take care of a campaign donor in the manhole cover business by sending $3 million in federal funds their way for covers that Con Edison refused to even use. Various people connected to the Long Island company Manhole Barrier have donated almost $17,000 to King, who requested the federal funding in earmarks for locking manhole covers they said would thwart terrorists. But Con Ed said no to the covers that would only cover 2% of their manholes, saying they would be an obstacle to firefighters as well. One Con Ed official told the News, "We said 'no,' it's impractical. What are you going to do? Have 250,000 keys for these things?" Con Ed says that security cameras plus the 300-pound weight of their covers should be more than enough to protect from any terrorist infiltration. King is gearing up for a Senate bid, in all likelihood against newly appointed Senate replacement Kirsten Gillibrand.

Federal prosecutors say that eleven Con Edison supervisors (ten current and one retired) forced a contractor to give them over a $1 million in bribes so they'd approve payments on projects like clean-up from the 2007 steam pipe explosion near Grand Central Station. And what's more, the feds have wiretaps of them bragging about it. Classy!

Yesterday lawmakers in New Jersey gave their approval to allow the construction of a $1 billion offshore wind farm as part of an overall plan that calls for 20 percent of the state’s energy to come from renewable sources by 2020. The plan includes the building of 96 turbines beginning in 2013 that will power over tens of thousands of homes. Unlike previously proposed turbines that were seen as potential eyesores on ocean views, these will be deep sea turbines, built 16 to 20 miles from the shore. PSE&G says that the turbines would produce enough energy to enable the company to break even within seven years. New Jersey's bold initiative is expected to provide momentum in New York, where Con Edison is currently investigating how to feasible using wind power would be following Mayor Bloomberg's talk over the summer imagining a city skyline where turbines sat atop New York City buildings.

The Con Edison training and conference facility in Long Island City, Queens has joined a small but growing family of buildings with green roofs, which absorb heat, reduce the need for air conditioning, and help improve air quality. According to the Sun, Con Edison projects that the green roof will save the building up to 30% in energy costs. There are now 21,000 plants atop the three-story facility, including 15 varieties of sedum, a shrub like plant typically found in desert climates which can absorb rainwater and is resistant to pests.

Con Edison has agreed to pay $24 million in damages caused by the steam pipe explosion near Grand Central Station last year. Con Ed will not pass along any of those costs to customers and in addition agreed to return to customers anything beyond $24 million that it wins in pending legal settlements related to the explosion. City Councilman Eric Giola spoke out in favor of the settlement saying Con Ed's “mistakes and bad management don’t just cost New Yorkers money, they also cost lives.”

A year ago today, a 24" steam pipe installed in 1924 broke and caused a massive explosion on Lexington Avenue and East 41st Street. Right after the blast, the Mayor called it a "failure of infrastructure."

Those high natural gas and oil prices have raised the prices for wholesale electricity that Con Ed buys from power-generating companies, and naturally the company is passing those expenses along to us. The company says that residential customers will pay 22% more for electricity this year than they did last summer – almost a quarter of that spike is due to a Bloomberg-approved rate hike.

Earlier there was news of a luxury condo leveling a church and digging up graves, now word is in that the South Williamsburg power plant on Kent Avenue will meet the same fate. The Brooklyn Paper reports that Con Edison has finally admitted its plan to demolish the defunct power plant and neighborhood landmark.

Neighbors of the abandoned Kent Avenue power plant knew something was up back in March, when workers started tearing holes into the 102-year-old red brick building, which has been inactive since the late 1990s.

A $114 million plan to put a waterfront park on the East River, just south of the United Nations, came into focus yesterday; the four-acre site is where a parking lot for a Con Edison power plant used to reside. City Councilman Daniel Gardonick said, "The opportunity to create this riverfront park is an opportunity we cannot afford to let slip away." The Municipal Arts Society renderings for the park envision a floating pylon in the river, featuring a restaurant, viewing platform, exhibition space and ferry landing.

Charles F. Luce, who was Con Ed's chairman and chief executive between 1967 and 1982, died last week at the age of 90 in California. The Bronxville, NY resident died of prostate cancer.

The gas main explosion that rocked a home on 48th Ave. and 41st. St. Wedneday––killing one woman and injuring six others––occurred despite what ConEd and FDNY say was them following proper procedures preceding the incident. Kunta Oza, who died at the age of 69, was burned over 90% of her body. In addition to the six others injured in the explosion, 200 people were evacuated from the block until it was deemed safe to return....

The 69-year-old woman who was burned over 90% of her body in a gas explosion in her Sunnyside home died yesterday. City Councilman Eric Gioia said, "It is with great regret and sadness that I announce the passing of Kunta Oza. My deepest condolences go out to her entire family, and I ask that all New Yorkers keep them in their Thanksgiving prayers." On Wednesday afternoon, calls were made to 911 about a gas smell...

Could this be an instance where Con Ed isn't to blame? The utility says that a garbage truck may have compromised the sidewalk grate a young woman fell through earlier this year! In May, a woman fell 10-12 feet through sidewalk grating outside 150 West 51st street. Luckily, Jessica Hinksmon only suffered minor injuries, narrowly avoiding being electrocuted by an electrical transformer. Con Ed says that a video shows a private sanitation truck driving...

The State Public Service Commission is fining Con Ed $18 million for failing to meet reliability standards during the nine-day Queens blackout last year. PSC Chairwoman Patricia Acampora said, "Hopefully, this order today will send a message to Con Ed that they must be diligent in their efforts to maintain a reliable network, or they will face financial consequences." As far as we're concerned, it seems like Con Ed got off easy. Especially when they...

(con-ed, by huckfunn at flickr)

TIP: According to Paper's Mr. Mickey, Chloë Sevigny is having a tag sale on her block this Saturday. We're guessing there will be lots of vintage Balenciaga. Check out her apartment in House & Garden...pretty nice!

Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg announced a project to commemorate abolitionist activity that occurred in Brooklyn in the 1800s. He named a panel made up of community leaders, academics, and historians to aid the city and Downtown Brooklyn Partnership in asking for and reviewing commemoration proposals.

Yesterday, Con Edison removed the tow truck sitting in the crater where a steam pipe explosion ripped a 15' by 25' hole in 41st Street and Lexington Avenue. The utility will investigate the damage in hopes of getting a better idea of what caused the Wednesday night explosion. Other clean up crews were working on other parts of the damaged area. One contractor who will be washing the facade of a building told WNBC, "It's a mess. Blown windows and a lot of stuff like that."

The city continued clean-up at the site of Wednesday's Midtown steam pipe explosion at East 41st and Lexington Avenue. Vanderbilt Avenue has been reopened, and Third Avenue was scheduled to be reopened today. Clean up of 42nd Street between Third and Park should be done by Monday, while clean up of Lexington between 42nd and 43rd should be done by the end of the weekend. Here's what the city said about the asbestos samples:

The Department of Environmental Protection tests of 12 air samples showed none of them testing positive for asbestos. The steam, humidity, and rainfall probably helped the situation because it prevented asbestos particles from becoming airborne.

Continue reading "Frozen Zone Shrinks As Clean Up Work Continues at Steam Pipe Explosion Site"

As we know, Con Edison and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection have confirmed that asbestos was found in debris after the steam pipe explosion at 41st Street and Lexington, but that there is no airborne asbestos. If you were in the area of the explosion and have contaminated clothing, Con Ed is actually accepting clothes and will dispose of them:

Anyone who was in that area around 6 p.m. who has dust or debris on clothing or belongings should put them in a plastic bag and bring it to the Con Edison customer service van parked at the corner of Madison Avenue and 42nd Street. The van will be at that location for the next several days from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Con Edison will arrange for the safe disposal of these items. Customer care personnel will be available to help people fill out a reimbursement request.

Thirty years ago tonight, New York City lost electricity when a Con Ed substation was hit by lightning strikes and a "cascading effect" caused the system to shut down around 9PM. And NYC, as well as parts of Westchester County, were powerless for over a day in the sweltering heart of the summer. Subways were stuck, mobs set fires and stores were looted.

Well, there's nothing like having a barely-one-hour blackout on a sultry weekday to make you consider stocking up on flashlights, batteries, water, and maybe a Go Bag. Con Ed is still investigating the cause of yesterday's brief power failure to parts of the Bronx and Manhattan; Newsday reported "the blackout was caused when breakers opened at an Astoria substation and cut off power to stations servicing Yorkville and parts of the Bronx." It's unclear why the breakers were opened in the first place.

“Sometimes when you walk on them, they shake,” said Erica Busby, 41, who was on her lunch break on York Avenue on the East Side.

Continue reading "Con Ed 'On It' Again"

Yesterday's storm brought flooding, closed roadways, delayed mass transit, difficult drives, soaked clothing, upended umbrellas and 7.46 inches of rain to Central Park. There were winds of 48 MPH at Kennedy Airport, as hundreds of flights in the area airports were canceled. And some environmentalists noted the irony of Saturday's Sea of People demonstration while the mayor was issuing emergency flood warnings for downtown Manhattan.

Last week, the city released 247-page report that offered a "mild rebuke" to Con Ed over last summer's blackout. Two outside lawyers from Couch and White wrote the report that finds Con Ed did some things wrong, but felt criticism over not shutting down the LIC Network (which many critics think would have shortened the blackout) was unjustified, because no one knows if that would have helped things.

Con Edison participates in a program called PowerWay, which means you can choose the energy supplier that you want, while still having Con Edison deliver the energy. Some Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) even offer incentives such as saving up to 7% on your energy bill for two months. Any problems with your electricity and/or gas will still be handled by Con Edison. You are not charged to switch suppliers, but may be charged $10 in some instances to switch back.

THEATER: There’s a growing cultural phenomenon in Japan called hikikomori, in which young people (as many as 1 million) withdraw into their rooms and refuse any contact with the outside world, sometimes for years. (In America, it’s called adolescence.) The Attic, by acclaimed Japanese playwright Yoji Sakate, is about “a mysterious company that sells tiny ‘attics’ over the internet to people who want to withdraw from society. One man embarks on a quest to find the source of these dwellings after his brother commits suicide in one. On the path to discovering the source are several attic dwellers including a teenage girl and a kidnapper, samurai, polar explorers, soldiers fighting a multi-national war, and many other commonplace and fantastical characters.” John Beer at The Village Voice says, “It might come in a coffin-like box, but this witty, bizarre, and intensely moving production is a rare gift.” - John Del Signore