BROOKLYN POWER OUTAGES
PLG residents
peeved after days
without service
COURIER LIFE, J B G M ULY 26-AUG. 1, 2019 3
“New Yorkers deserve reliable
electrical service, and quick
restoration when there is unavoidable
equipment failure... It
is unacceptable that right now,
more than 12 hours after the
heat wave broke, there are still
thousands without power.”
State Sen. Andrew Gounardes,
who represents areas
where ConEd decided to shut
off the power, blasted the energy
company for their handling
of the situation.
“Many residents, including
seniors, have been put in an
unsafe situation because the
power company that they relied
on failed. As a matter of public
health and safety, it simply cannot
be the norm that the grid
malfunctions during the hottest
months,” Gounardes said.
“Con Edison has a responsibility
to its customers to ensure no
one has their electricity turned
off for hours in extreme heat.
This was not an unforeseeable
circumstance. ConEd should
have been more prepared and
must restore power to the affected
areas immediately. This
cannot happen again.”
The outage affected traffi c
signals in southern Brooklyn
as well, though Mayor Bill de
Blasio said that most have been
restored as of Monday morning.
De Blasio blasted ConEd at
a press conference in Mill Basin
on Monday for its refusal to
provide a substantial explanation
of what caused the latest
debacle.
“I’m calling for a full investigation
and further that we
examine whether we need a
new entity to handle this situation
going forward. Because
at this point I do not have faith
in ConEd... They’re not doing
their job and they’re not giving
real answers. Is it now time to
do something different.”
Councliman Robert Cornegy
similarly blasted ConEd
Monday afternoon.
“The recent power outages
across Brooklyn represent a
shocking display of indifference
from Con Edison. Intentionally
cutting the power to 30,000
Brooklyn residents in their attempts
to resolve an issue they
should not have had in the fi rst
place, is yet another major misstep
on the part of Con Ed. Even
now, the work has still not been
resolved,” he said. “ConEd just
last week claimed to be preparing
for this heat wave, and admitted
that other outages may
occur. This is simply unacceptable...
If this is the best service
we have from ConEd, we must
fi nd a far more reliable and accountable
solution, and I will
work with my colleagues and
appropriate agencies in our city
to see that we fi nd it.”
BY CHANDLER KIDD
Some Prospect-Lefferts
Gardens residents remained
in the dark three
days after Con Edison intentionally
cut power to
certain parts of the borough,
and one local lawmaker
is accusing the
utility provider of stripping
energy from communities
of color in order
to keep white customers
cool.
“It is only in communities
that look like ours
that this is acceptable,”
state Sen. Zelnor Myrie
said. “We want the problem
fixed now.”
The energy company
cut the power to southern
Brooklyn neighborhoods
— including Canarsie,
Marine Park, Mill Basin
and parts of Flatbush
— at around 8:30 p.m. on
Sunday, claiming the deliberate
blackout was necessary
to prevent damage
to the grid during a heat
wave that struck the city
Friday.
However, because Prospect
Lefferts Garden residents
residing on Hawthorne
Street are tied into
Canarsie’s power grid,
the decision to shut off
the lights in the southern
Brooklyn neighborhood
also affected their neighbors
up north, according
to Assemblywoman Diana
Richardson, who relayed
information provided by
the utility company at a
public meeting Tuesday.
At the gathering,
Richardson claimed
that hundreds of Hawthorne
Street dwellers remained
without juice as
of Tuesday night, despite
ConEd’s claim that power
had been restored to all
but one building along
the thoroughfare.
“Currently on this
block we have roughly
300 to 500 people, and I
dare to say even more residents,
who are currently
affected,” Richardson
said Tuesday afternoon.
A ConEd spokesman
said preemptively cutting
power was the best option
at the time, as an outage
was inevitable.
“The residents where
we had to cut service during
the heat wave were going
to lose power regardless
of whether we took
action or not,” Robert Mc-
Gee said. “They were being
served by electrical
lines that were failing under
the extreme heat and
power demand. The preemptive
service disruption
allowed us to restore
those customers quicker
than if we had done nothing.
We regret the distress
caused to our customers.”
The power outage rendered
air conditioners
and refrigerators barely
functioning along the
street, and Myrie said
that inoperable elevators
stranded elderly Hawthorne
Street residents in
their buildings, cutting
them off from desperately
need prescription refills
and doctor appointments.
One senior Hawthorne
Street resident, Legia Argentin,
has lived with
only one working light in
her apartment since the
blackout started.
“I had to run an extension
cord to the only working
outlet in my unit for
my fridge to barely run.
I hope they fix it soon.
They are taking their
time,” Argentin said.
The energy company
has managed to restore
service to more than
30,000 Brooklyn customers
who lost power during
the initial blackout, and
Myrie blasted ConEd for
leaving his constituents
last.
Transformers were installed Sunday night in the Flatlands, one of several southern Brooklyn neighborhoods
affected by the blackout. Steve Solomonson