WPCNR THE POWER NEWS. January 20, 2006: A resident of Battle Hill Houses, the senior complex at 13-15 Harmon Avenue in Battle Hill reports Con Edison restored power to the building as of 6:30 P.M. Friday evening. Heat, lights, all are now working that resident says. The apartment complex had been without power from about 8 AM Wednesday morning until 6:30 Thursday evening, powered first by the White Plains Fired Department special services truck, then by a rented generator provided by the landlord.
Dennis Power Reported Considered for County Position.
WPCNR County Clarion-Ledger. By John F. Bailey. January 20, 2006: WPCNR has been told by knowledgeable sources that Dennis Power, former White Plains Councilman, recent candidate for Mayor of White Plains, is being considered by County Executive Andy Spano for the post of Director of Economic Development for Westchester County government.
Dennis Power Moving on Up to the Machaelian Building? Mr. Power, center with Mayor Alfred Del Vecchio (Mayor of White Plains, 1976-1993), and Sy Schulman, (Mayor of White Plains, 1993-1997) in October, 2005 on steps of City Hall. Photo, WPCNR News Archive.
When asked by WPCNR Thursday evening at the White Plains Times launch party at Vintage Restaurant, if he had been offered the position by the County, Mr. Power denied it. Asked if he had discussed it with Andy Spano, Power said he had been in talks with the County. Power told WPCNR he would inform WPCNR as soon as there was anything. Asked if he would accept the Director of Economic Development job, Mr. Power said he’d be in touch if it were offered.
The Department of Communications of Westchester County could not be reached for comment. The County Office of Economic Development to WPCNR’s knowledge and is reported on the county website as headed by Sal Carrera. WPCNR has contacted Mr. Carrera to see if he has plans to leave the position.
Chairman of the County Board of Legislators, William Ryan who represents White Plains, attending the same launch party, was asked about whether he knew Mr. Power was under consideration for the post.
Ryan made reference to the fact that Mr. Spano, the County Executive knew Mr. Power had resigned his position with the Hudson River Museum (last spring), and had the option of going back there, and added, “Let me just say this, Andy Spano would like nothing better than to see Dennis Power as Director of Development.”
Mr. Power resigned his position as Director of Development for the Hudson River Museum last May to devote full-time to run for Mayor of White Plains.
He was lobbied by the Democratic Party of White Plains to run for Mayor in late May when no other challengers of the Mayor, including Mr. Ryan stepped forward.
Power was heavily recruited by party insiders to run, after Ron Jackson, the African-American advocate volunteered to run for Mayor. He accepted and Mr. Jackson’s candidacy was given a “show” hearing by the Democratic Party after Mr. Power had already sent out letters to Democratic District Leaders for their support in the Mayor’s race, inferring he already had the nomination.
Power held two news conferences in June, then did not campaign flamboyantly for the months of July and August. He began his campaign with more vigor in September, concentrating on bringing more citizen involvement into development decisions and city planning.
He criticised the Delfino Administration relationships with developers. He was endorsed by former White Plains Mayors Alfred Del Vecchio and Sy Schulman who issued detailed statements on Mr. Power’s behalf, sharply critical of the White Plains Renaissance track record in growing the city.
However Mr. Power did not exploit a number of issues that could have been made against the Delfino Administration in a campaign that got started too late and was underfunded 10 to 1 by his own Party in contrast to the Delfino war chest, which was reported as $250,000, to Mr. Power’s $25,000.
Power has worked with the Westchester ARC as Director of Development in the 1990s, before moving to the Hudson River Museum. He has been involved in providing housing for the homeless. A community presence throughout Westchester, he organizes the Friendly Gathering party every year, one of the highlights of the city social calendar.
Con Ed Cuts Into Number of Households Still Powerless.
WPCNR THE POWER NEWS. By John F. Bailey. January 19,2006 UPDATED January 20, 2006, 8:50 A.M. E.S.T.: The Con Edison Communications Center reported to WPCNR Thursday evening at 11:15 P.M. that the company has only 9,000 households to restore in Westchester County down from 15,000 as of 1 P.M this afternoon. No figure was available for White Plains customers.
The spokesperson told WPCNR they have restored power to 31,000 customers since the “Big Blow” of Wednesday morning swhooshed through Westchester County at just below Category 1 Hurricane force, with windgusts up to the 70 mile per hour mark.
Earlier today, Joe Petta, a spokesperson for Con Edison confirmed that Con Ed has brought in a large number of crews from upstate and surrounding areas because of the serious nature of the storm damage, which Petta described to WPCNR as “unprecedented.”
Asked whether this indicated that Con Edison was inadequately staffed to handle the such widespread damage, Petta said, “We believe we are adequately staffed. This storm was unprecedented.” He said the company called in Con Edison crews from “other service areas” and other companies, just as occurred in emergencies elsewhere in the country. Asked if Con Ed also pulled in out of area crews to handle last Saturday evening’s wind and rain damage, Petta said “Yes,” and he confirmed to WPCNR that Con Ed asked for these crews to come back for Wednesday’s massive repairs.
Meanwhile, as of 5 P.M. Thursday afternoon the Battle Hill Houses apartments filled with senior citizens was being powered by a rented generator brought in by the landlord and efforts were being made to get the heat going in the building. That power is now reported back on as of 6:30 P.M. according to a resident.
Paul Wood of the Mayor’s Office said the building was privately owned, and that it was the landlord responsibility to notify Con Edison there were persons using health-related devices that ran on electricity living in the building. Mr. Petta told WPCNR that Con Edison has lists of buildings which need to be restored first in outages for specifically that reason: persons living there need electricity for life support apparatus. The rest of Battle Hill as of 5 P.M. appeared to this reporter to have electricity restored.
900 Homes Without Power in White Plains, 100 Restored. 10 Streets Out.
WPCNR THE POWER NEWS. By John F. Bailey. January 19, 2006: Con Edison reported to WPCNR moments ago that as of 2 P.M. today, 900 households are without power within the city. Joe Petta of the Con Edison Communications office told WPCNR that 1,000 city households had lost power during Wednesday storm, one hundred restored.
Commissioner of Public Works, Joseph Nicoletti, gave WPCNR his personal assessment of the city situation at this time reporting the following areas were without power: Saxon Woods off Mamaroneck Avenue; Heatherbloom, Windward Street, Prospect Street, Macy and Heatherbloom, Old Mamaroneck Road at Bolton and Bryant . Mr. Nicoletti said he was waiting for Con Ed engineers to clear wires at those areas to clear trees down with wires on them. The Commissioner reports 26 trees or limbs were downed in the city. The closest experience to this, he recalls was a microburst about a dozen years ago.
Nicoletti told WPCNR he works closely with a Con Ed district office contact advising him of where White Plains needs Con Ed assistance in determining whether downed wires are live wires or non-hot telephone or cable lines, before roads are cleared.
The Commissioner said wire shutdowns are complicated depending on the kind of line it is high voltage or as low as 240 volts leading to homes. “You need a different (Con Ed) expertise to shut down different lines,” Nicoletti said. Sometimes, in clearing wires, the Con Ed engineer being sent out is unable to shut down the line and has to call for a specialist for the specific kind of wire. He did not pinpoint whether that was the case in White Plains the last two nights.
Nicoletti said the city faxes Con Ed areas that are out in situations such as the last 24 hours. Con Ed advises him when they are sending a crew out, and “we’re right on it,” Nicoletti reported that when Con Ed arrived at key areas of the city last night he had three crews ready to dispatch to go in after Con Ed determined it was safe for them to remove a tree or limb covered with a wire.
In the past Nicoletti said, Con Ed supplied liaisons to various cities in times of emergencies, but over the years, he said he has developed relationships that he can call on when he needs Con Ed’s assistance or attention to clearing main roads and special situations.