WPCNR THE POWER NEWS. November 7, 2012:
Paul Feiner, the Town Supervisor of Greenburgh is the first leader in Westchester County to highlight specific criticisms of the way Consolidated Edison has handled the Hurricane Sandy recovery in his community (which as of 11: 15 P.M. still had 3,495 without electricity) and what Con Ed should have been doing. He has sent WPCNR a letter he is sending to the PSC, asking WPCNR viewers to send him additional comments if they wish.
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Here is Mr. Feiner’s communication to wpcnr:
This is the letter I’m sending to the NYS Public Service Commission. Any other suggestions, please e mail me! [email protected]
November 5, 2012
Jaclyn A. Brilling
Secretary to the Commission
New York State Dept. of Public Service
3 Empire State Plaza
Albany, NY 12223-1350
Dear Ms. Brilling,
Con Ed crews assigned to Greenburgh did not work 24 hours during the restoration of electricity. We have an emergency – over 8,000 homes without power for many days. When there are power outages in the future the following suggestions should be considered. I am communicating my thoughts to every elected official who represents the town, state officials, Con Ed with the following requests/suggestions:
· Con Ed should assign crews to areas without power 24 hours a day. No down time until all power is restored.
· Con Ed should call in more of their retirees.
· Con Ed should provide elected officials with a daily accounting of where crews are going to be sent each day and at the end of the day the Con Ed liaisons should account for what streets had power restored.
· Con Ed should have a plan of action in place, working with public safety and local officials on how to deal with the frail elderly and people with significant medical issues.
· During the recent storm many people contacted me with major health problems. They included people who were home bound – unable to leave their homes due to serious illnesses, recent operations. I spoke with residents who had brain surgeries, and depend on oxygen to live. I am sure that the prolonged power outages contributed to additional health problems for those with major medical problems (people who refuse to leave their home during an outage). Con Ed gave no priority attention to their needs.
· All assisted living facilities, hospitals; nursing homes should be contacted in advance of storms and asked to provide those with medical needs affordable temporary places to stay while power is out.
It is ridiculous that the restoration of power is taking so long. The NYS Public Service Commission should also investigate the way this crisis has been handled. I continue to receive calls from people who have major health problems and won’t leave their homes. How many people will develop life threatening illnesses as a result of these delays?
Sincerely,
Paul J. Feiner
Town Supervisor
Cc: NYS Legislators
Governor Andrew Cuomo
Larry Schwartz, Secretary to the Governor
Westchester Municipal Officials
