RAINS IN BKLYN
wide-spread destruction and blackouts
COURIER LIFE, AUGUST 7-13, 2020 3
pared with more rural areas
in the city, where power
lines are above ground, and
therefore more susceptible to
weather.
Unconent with the multiday
repair works, Park Slope
Assemblyman Robert Carroll
renewed his calls to disband
private companies’ control
over power distribution in
the state — which is a cause
he has championed in the legislature’s
lower chamber for
several years.
“Private power utility
companies are dishonest brokers
that manipulate state
and local politics for their
own monetary gain and to the
detriment of our environment
and ratepayers,” he wrote on
Twitter. “I think it’s time for
#PublicPower. Cleary profi ts
are going to shareholders and
CEOs and not keeping the system
in good repair!”
The newly-crowned Democratic
nominee for central
Brooklyn’s 25th State Senate
district, Jabari Brisport,
echoed those sentiments, saying
that private utilities were
too profi t-driven to be trusted
with control over utilities.
“ConEd consistently
makes it as apparent as possible
that regardless of the
context, they prioritize profits
over their workers, their
clients, and their cities,” he
wrote on social media. “Our
energy needs to be treated
like a public utility with democratic
control. No more unnecessary
200k+ blackouts.”
Meanwhile, Brooklynites
and the city’s Parks Department
found themselves cleaning
up after thousands of
massive trees were uprooted
by the strong winds, which
reached upwards of 70 miles
per hour.
The Parks Department
was responding to nearly
20,000 tree-related service requests
citywide following the
storm, according to an agency
spokesperson who said it will
“take some time” before the
city is fully cleared of debris
caused by Isaias.
“We are actively managing
nearly 20,000 incoming treerelated
service requests due to
Tropical Storm Isaias. Inspections
and work to clear fallen
trees and branches are in progress,”
said Anessa Hodgson,
who added that the department
prioritizes emergency situations
and impassable streets
when choosing which reports
to attend to. “As this was a major
storm, the work required
for full city clearance will take
some time.”
Brooklynites reported the
second-highest number of
downed trees behind neighboring
Queens — where more
than 5,000 felled trees were
reported — with 2,834 reports
to the Parks Department as of
Wednesday morning.
Bay Ridge Councilman
Justin Brannan took aim at
the lack of funding for the
Parks Department, saying
that he’d “bet more than 50
percent” of the fallen trees
had previously been reported
to 311 as potentially unstable
— but the agency lacked the
proper funding to make sure
they were attended to.
“We wouldn’t be in this
position in the fi rst place if
suffi cient tree work would
have been done in advance.
Fighting for more money in
the budget for tree pruning
and tree care isn’t sexy but
it should be,” he said. “An
ounce of prevention is worth
a pound of cure.”
In Canarsie, one resident
says a tree she’s long-complained
about toppled over
onto her family’s home of 34
years Tuesday afternoon.
“We have been telling the
city about the tree, it leads
to sewer back-up,’ said Gailyen
Bender. “Thank god my
brother wasn’t sitting outside.
I’m more worried about
the foundation.”
A Queens man was the
only recorded fatality from
the tropical storm’s wreckage
after a tree fell onto the car he
was sitting in.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo on
Wednesday declared a state
of emergency for counties including
Kings and the Bronx
to help with clean-up and
power restoration.
Photo by Lloyd Mitchell Photo by Todd Maisel
Photo by Todd Maisel