Mayor Bloomberg finally got in touch with Con Ed to discuss understanding what caused the a woman's death when she stepped on an electrified grate on the sidewalk. But now New Yorkers are frantic about being electrocuted, adding to other worries like, as the Times's Ian Urbina notes, "falling debris, unstable scaffolding and suspicious packages." It also seems that dog owners are navigating the streets more carefully because their dogs will act up when near electrified areas. The NY Times ran a photo (right) of Michael Zorek, with his son Jeremy and dog Scooter. Apparently Scooter sensed a hot spot on West 86th Street, where many other dogs had acted oddly, and Zorek called 311. Con Ed was there the next day to fix what was a short circuit.

Now, Mayor Bloomberg is trying to face the city's fears about the issue (apparently he was "confronted" by a senior citizen during a visit; the senior citizen said she'd been complaining about live wires in Carroll Gardens for two years), but didn't have much of an answer about what could be done to prevent electrocutions, saying "I'm not an engineer, we'll have to see what we can do." However, Dahl astutely pointed out that Bloomberg actually did graduate from Johns Hopkins with a degree in engineering; further examination shows it was a degree in electrical engineering. Mayor Bloomberg, we're watching you. more ›