WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER SETS RECORD VISITS FOR YEAR 7,017,658 VISITS! 2,098,003 VISITORS MADE 6 VISITS A DAY EVERY DAY. 63,330 UNIQUE VISITORS MADE 133,730 VISITS IN DECEMBER. WPCNR AVERAGED 17,284 VISITORS A WEEK, VISITING 31,270 TIMES.

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WPCNR THE LETTER TICKER. From Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner. August 10, 2020:

As of a half hour ago 1,300 residents of unincorporated Greenburgh were out of power. The police desk believes that  an additional 200 residents of Poet’s Corner should have power back very quickly – if they don’t have power as of now. 

That’s frustrating: getting very inaccurate info from Con Ed. This morning, for example, residents of the complex I reside at received a text message that our power was restored. It wasn’t.  It’s not fair for a major company like Con Ed to send residents inaccurate info. This is happening all over the town. 

Another complaint: The maps listing outages have wrong info.  Some neighborhoods have reported that the maps claim no power outages when there are.  

Estimates regarding restoration are not even close to being correct in some instances. I met someone whose power was restored a few days ago. He received a text message saying that power would be back later this week. Others have received estimates that power will be restored Tuesday, Monday and Wednesday?

How can a major company like Con Ed that has experience dealing with storms and outages handle outages for a non hurricane so poorly?

Another complaint: Con Ed did not do enough to help those with severe medical illnesses. I received calls from residents who were out of power who live with residents with brain cancer, residents staying at home (hospice). Residents who require oxygen to live or need their insulin to be kept cold. Con Ed made little effort to help them (Greenburgh police did offer assistance).

Con Ed should not make people provide receipts for food outages since most people don’t keep food receipts from supermarkets. They should provide everyone with a credit. Anyone out of power for many days lost food that they purchased. 

Con Ed messed up big time, they were unprepared. They didn’t have crews ready to be of help.  And people suffered.  They need to be more customer friendly.  And make it easier for people to get reimbursed.

PAUL FEINER
Greenburgh Town Supervisor

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WPCNR CORONAVIRUS REPORT. From the Governor’s Press Office. August 9, 2020:

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today updated New Yorkers on the state’s progress during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The number of new cases, percentage of tests that were positive and many other helpful data points are always available at forward.ny.gov.

“Our daily numbers remain low and steady, despite increasing infection rates across the country, and even in our region – and we had the lowest one-day positive rate since we started. That’s an incredible achievement, all thanks to the hard work of New Yorkers,” Governor Cuomo said. “New York’s progress shows that a data-driven, phased reopening works. We have followed the data since day one, and now we are an example for the rest of the country to follow. But we must not become complacent: Everyone should continue to wear their masks and socially distance.”

On Friday and Saturday, the State Liquor Authority and State Police Task Force visited 2,294 establishments in New York City and Long Island and observed 60 establishments that were not in compliance with state requirements. A county breakdown for yesterday and Friday’s observed violations is below:

• Bronx – 2
• Brooklyn – 2
• Manhattan – 22
• Queens – 26
• Staten Island – 4
• Nassau – 3
• Suffolk – 1

Today’s data is summarized briefly below:

• Patient Hospitalization – 548 (-25)
• Patients Newly Admitted – 66
• Hospital Counties – 30
• Number ICU – 131 (-2)
• Number ICU with Intubation – 66 (+2)
• Total Discharges – 73,689 (+80)
• Deaths – 7
• Total Deaths – 25,202

Of the 65,812 test results reported to New York State yesterday, 515, or 0.78 percent, were positive. Each region’s percentage of positive test results reported over the last three days is as follows:

REGION	THURSDAY	FRIDAY	SATURDAY
Capital Region	0.7%	0.9%	0.8%
Central New York	0.8%	0.8%	0.7%
Finger Lakes	0.8%	0.8%	0.9%
Long Island	0.9%	0.9%	0.6%
Mid-Hudson	0.7%	0.7%	0.6%
Mohawk Valley	0.9%	0.9%	0.5%
New York City	1.1%	1.1%	0.9%
North Country	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%
Southern Tier	1.2%	1.2%	0.3%
Western New York	1.7%	1.7%	1.6%

The Governor also confirmed 515 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 420,860 confirmed cases in New York State. Of the 420,860 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows:

County	Total Positive	New Positive
Albany	2,595	14
Allegany	79	0
Broome	1,126	6
Cattaraugus	165	0
Cayuga	152	1
Chautauqua	253	0
Chemung	171	0
Chenango	216	1
Clinton	127	0
Columbia	540	1
Cortland	95	0
Delaware	105	0
Dutchess	4,607	7
Erie	8,904	54
Essex	55	0
Franklin	54	0
Fulton	296	1
Genesee	277	0
Greene	292	1
Hamilton	8	0
Herkimer	274	1
Jefferson	142	2
Lewis	41	0
Livingston	176	0
Madison	412	0
Monroe	4,956	34
Montgomery	176	4
Nassau	43,655	27
Niagara	1,498	4
NYC	227,832	248
Oneida	2,146	4
Onondaga	3,576	11
Ontario	360	3
Orange	11,159	3
Orleans	298	0
Oswego	253	0
Otsego	116	0
Putnam	1,449	2
Rensselaer	765	4
Rockland	13,942	6
Saratoga	757	2
Schenectady	1,058	0
Schoharie	69	0
Schuyler	22	0
Seneca	89	0
St. Lawrence	263	0
Steuben	298	0
Suffolk	43,786	37
Sullivan	1,489	1
Tioga	193	0
Tompkins	234	0
Ulster	2,062	5
Warren	308	0
Washington	259	2
Wayne	250	1
Westchester	36,205	25
Wyoming	118	2
Yates	57	1

Yesterday, there were 7 deaths due to COVID-19 in New York State, bringing the total to 25,202. A geographic breakdown is as follows, by county of residence:

Deaths by County of Residence
County	New Deaths
Bronx	2
Erie	1
Herkimer	1
Nassau	1
Queens	1
Rensselaer	1

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WPCNR THE LETTER TICKER. From Chris Burdick, Bedford Town Supervisor and Democrat Nominee for 93rd Assembly District. AUGUST 9, 2020:

8.8 4:30pm SATURDAY AFTERNOON UpdateTropical Storm Isaias and Power Outages IN BEDFORD.

 With more resources available in NYSEG service area, I am cautiously optimistic that the estimated times of restoration are realistic and might be advanced. I have significant concerns over Con Edison’s efforts, which have been absymal. 
After my ranting the last couple of days, we finally have crews in town to handle restoration (not just “cut and clear”), however, the resources remain insufficient. 
Being on a Con Edison call this (Saturday) morning with municipal officials from other Westchester towns, their plight is even worse – blocked roads (residents trapped not able to get in or out), critical facilities inaccessible, dangerous live wires. 

 Status of Outages  NYSEG outages as of this writing is 1229 out of 6685. Con Edison is reporting 236 of 1053 (this is more recent than on website).
Both utilities note that you may not see trucks on your street as they would be working at substations, transmission lines which serve your street.   

NYSEG Restoration Plans and Estimated Times of Restoration

NYSEG senior operations personnel report their restoration work plan for today that there are 50 crews working on circuits either in Bedford or serving Bedford: 

1.    Four make safe crews with the town (addressing the giant tree on Cresent Ave) – this is the reason for periodic outages in Bedford Hills and Katonah.

2.    17 crews on Bedford substation (NYSEG, Oneonta, contractors and 1 local Bedford crew)

3.    18 crews Cantitoe substation

4.    10 RGE crews working out of Golden Bridge substation working towards water treatment plant (power restored)

NYSEG Estimated Time of Restoration as of this writing:
Updated Restoration Times
3:00 PM- 364:00 PM – 197:00 PM – 18:00 PM – 469:00 PM – 57510:00 PM – 102
Closed Roads Except where crews are working, all roads in Bedford now are open.  

Con Edison Restoration Plans and Estimated Times of Restoration 

I spoke a short while ago with senior Con Edison operations personnel. They have several crews working on circuits in Bedford or serving Bedford. The crews are “cut and clear” crews as well as line crews responsible for restoring power. 

There is a crew dedicated to the “Mt. Kisco Loop”, which is a circuit which covers about 150 of their 226 customers without power. There also are crews on McLain and Old Wagon which then will move to other roads as they complete work from there.

Explanation on Power On and Off Again Friday night Katonah residents lost power though power previously had been restored to them.  The reason for last night’s outage is due to NYSEG crews needing to “open a circuit” (this means de-energizing the circuit) to allow them to work on a massive downed tree in Bedford Hills. This may occur from time to time until the work is complete – three crews are working on it today, as noted above.

Workplace, Internet and Charging Facilities   We have the courtroom at the Town offices at 321 Bedford Road open as a workplace, internet and charging facility. Additionally, wifi is accessible outside in the lobby. As noted previously, space is limited due to social distancing and you must wear a facemask or will be asked to leave. It will be try to keep it open until 9:00 PM tonight.  

Dry Ice/Water As noted yesterday, we distributed dry ice and water this morning. We do not know at this point whether dry ice will be available tomorrow.

Showers; Parks  Shower facilities will be open today only until 6 PM. Residents arriving to utilize the showers will be required to sign-in and wear a mask upon entry. We ask that showers are limited to 5 minutes in duration. We also recommend the use of footwear (flip-flops, water shoes) when taking a shower. Shower stalls and bathrooms will be disinfected/sanitized routinely during operating hours. 

Other Park Operations: When we are able to re-open pools, they will operate on normal operating hours of 10am-8pm, and the pool sessions and reservation system will be in place.

BVMP – power has been restored, and pool is being attended to by staff today for reopening tomorrow, Sunday, August 9th

KMP – power has been restored, and pool is being attended to by staff today for reopening tomorrow, Sunday, August 9thBHMP – no power at park. Operating as a shower facility today. Depending on when power is restored will determine ability to reopen. 

As noted previously, the parks do not have power, so as I previously announced we had to close the pools. We have made arrangements for a generator to provide sufficient electricity capacity for the pool house only at the Bedford Hills Memorial Park.  

The pools require substantial electricity (pumps, etc) so we are not able to open them at this time. Rec & Parks staff continue to maintain pools with available power from generators, and have cleaned the pools and pool grounds from storm debris. When power is restored, additional steps need to be taken to fully prepare the facilities for the public’s return. Once that is complete, we will reopen as soon as possible. 

CHRIS BURDICK, BEDFORD TOWN SUPERVISOR

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WPCNR THE LETTER TICKER. From Bedford Town Supervisor Chris Burdick, Democratic Nominee for Assembly District 93 -WHITE PLAINS-HARRISON-BEDFORD:

6:30 PM 8-7-20 UpdateTropical Storm Isaias and Power Outages

Update on Restoration; Opening RoadsClosed Roads/Single Lane Roads Significantly reduced the number of blocked streets (meaning totally blocked) from 42 to 2: Holly Branch and Tarleton (both NYSEG service area).  
If your road is still closed please email tparker@bedfordny.gov

Con Edison Customers Without Power  Every day since power was knocked out, I have requested a crew to restore power to the 590 Con Edison customers in Bedford without power. I bring it up time and time again but to no avail.

I was told earlier this evening by a pleasant gentleman at the Con Edison “municipal desk” that he can’t “put in a general ticket” for the entire town for service restoration. It only can be done one address at a time. I don’t blame the fellow who answered the call, but I find this policy unfathomable and infuriating.  

So let’s see what we can do collectively. I am going to ask that collectively we inundate Con Edison with “tickets” to restore service.  This is done by reporting an outage – if you haven’t already done so.  

There are two ways to report the outage:Call 1-800-752-6633 or go online at https://www.coned.com/en/services-and-outages/report-track-service-issue/report-outage-status. 
Please see if you can get a confirmation and e-mail it to Timothy Parker at tparker@bedfordny.gov  I can’t tell you whether this will work, but I think we need to give it a try. 
Thanks for your continued patience and understanding – we here at the Town are doing everything we can to get your service restored.
NYSEG is reporting on its outage list 2843 of 6685 customers without power, though we know there continue to be streets which were erroneously de-listed. At peak over 6200 were without power, and I do know that a good number of streets have been restored.   NYSEG estimates on power restorations

• By 8:00 PM tonight 101
• 9:00 PM tonight an additional 1062
• By 10 PM an additional 46
• By 11 PM an additional 5

Critical facilities (e.g., senior housing, police station, water filtration plant all has been or should be restored tonight). 
Con Edison is reporting 595 of 1053 customers without service. The estimated time of restoration keeps getting pushed into the future, so I’m no longer going to list it since it is so unreliable. Both utilities should have done far better. I find Con Edison’s response to the storm especially outrageous. 
Workplace, Internet and Charging Facilities   We have the courtroom open as a workplace, internet and charging facility. Additionally, wifi is accessible outside in the lobby. As noted previously, space is limited due to social distancing and you must wear a facemask or will be asked to leave. 

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WPCNR THE LETTER TICKER. AUGUST 8, 2020:

In recent years there been a number of power outages in our area. Many residents have experienced significant outages for many days after each storm.

After each storm the same thing happens. Con Ed holds daily conference calls with municipal officials and lawmakers. Elected officials always criticize Con Ed. Then there are investigations and hearings. And we are told it won’t happen again.

And, it does -during the next major storm.

The problem- as I see it – is Con Ed is short staffed – doesn’t have adequate crews. It takes days after a major storm for Con Ed to get the crews they need to restore everyone’s power. And usually a week or more to get everyone who lost power back with their service.

We all know that Con Ed was unprepared for this storm. We all know that the problem was that Con Ed did not have adequate crews to quickly restore power.

They should have had outside contractors in place before the storm. They should have hired the crews before the storm. Many of us have seen few Con Ed crews since the storm.

The NYS Legislature should provide the Governor with emergency authority. His office should be given the ability to hire crews to respond to anticipated storms in the event that Con Ed does not –in advance of storms.

Con Ed should be required to provide the Governor with hiring plans prior to any anticipated storm. If the Governor doesn’t approve of the plans he or she should have the ability to override Con Ed and to hire outside contractors –who would be paid by Con Ed.

I asked Con Ed officials if residents will get reimbursed for damaged food. They indicated people should complete a claim form on the Con Ed website. They said that after the last storm and people were denied. I think the State Legislature should mandate that Con Ed reimburse for damaged food after a storm.

PAUL FEINER

GREENBURGH TOWN SUPERVISOR