8 THE QUEENS COURIER • AUGUST 27, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Residents, electeds demand accountability from Con Edison
after slow response to outages caused by Tropical Storm Isaias
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Northeast Queens politicians and residents
voiced their frustrations and off ered
suggestions Wednesday, Aug. 19, during
a virtual town hall meeting about Con
Edison’s lack of response and preparedness
following the aft ermath of Tropical Storm
Isaias that caused widespread power outages
and downed trees in the borough two
weeks ago.
State Senator John Liu hosted the Zoom
forum with his colleagues during which
they gathered testimonies from constituents
of Whitestone, Douglaston, Bayside,
Hillcrest, Floral Park and Bellerose ahead
of a state legislative hearing on Th ursday
to address the emergency storm response
and customer communication by utility
companies.
“Th is is a situation where we do believe
that Con Ed should’ve done better in the
days leading up to this storm,” Liu said.
“Th ey had days to prepare, but not only
that, they had years to prepare because
it seems like many of the lessons that the
utilities companies should’ve learned from
Superstorm Sandy eight years ago, was still
not learned.”
Th e lawmakers’ goal is to propose new
laws that will hold utility companies like
Con Edison accountable, according to Liu,
and provide relief to families that have
suff ered immensely during tropical storm
Isaias that ripped through New York City
on Aug. 4.
Tree pruning is an issue that many participants
in the forum discussed, as they’re
still dealing with downed trees — some
of which were deceased and needed to be
pruned.
Marie Marsina, who has resided in
Douglaston for over 25 years, said there are
still trees blocking a quarter of the street as
cars drive by.
“Not having power for six days jeopardized
my health, safety and livelihood,”
Marsina said. “If there was a need for me
to have an ambulance or fi re truck come
to my house or block, that would’ve been
a problem.”
Th ough Con Edison is reimbursing customers
for loss of spoiled food and medication
during the power outage, Marsina said
buying food was an added expense.
“We had to order-in three meals a day
and go to a restaurant or had it delivered,”
Marsina said. “We’re in a pandemic and I
don’t choose to go out. I don’t want to have
State Senator John Liu hosts a virtual town hall with his colleagues gathering feedback from constituents who were impacted by Tropical Storm Isaias.
to go out to eat and worry about jeopardizing
me and my family’s health by contracting
coronavirus.”
Another Douglaston resident, Joseph
Centrone, said he has two refrigerators —
one that stores about $2,000 worth of fi sh
and meat, and another with wine and food.
“I was told Con Ed would accept losses
up to $250 with documentation; I don’t
do that,” Centrone said. “Why do we have
to prove that everything we had was lost …
I didn’t lose much, but if I was told that it
would’ve been more than a day, I would’ve
gotten a generator. Th e delay in telling us
the truth is my biggest complaint that is
echoed by us and my neighbors.”
In Hillcrest, Beverly Sanders said her
102-year-old neighbor and aide had lost
power and she was unable to call for assistance.
“I fi rst called Con Ed and they were not
communicating at all,” said Sanders, who
instead received help from Liu’s offi ce.
“We felt like our story was being ignored
and a few days later, the power was turned
on. Just with communication, we have to
change that. We are people. Our stories are
very important, and we want to feel that
someone is hearing us.”
Kim Cody, president of the Greater
Whitestone Tax Payer’s Association, said
they were also unable to check on community
members who might have been
in danger.
“I have never spoken to a human person
at Con Ed; it’s always a machine that says,
‘We’re busy now, call back later,’” Cody said.
“We were without power for six days and
hooked up to a generator. When Con Ed
came, they drove by and went elsewhere.
Th e city is also at fault for not pruning and
removing dead trees and that should’ve
been taken care of.”
Fortunately, for Lourdes Villanueva
Hartrick of the Bellerose Commonwealth
Civic Association, their neighbors didn’t
lose any power, but there were several fallen
and uprooted trees, she said.
“I was very fortunate that my car wasn’t in
my driveway, or else the tree would’ve completely
destroyed my car,” said Hartrick,
whose tree was healthy and pruned a few
years ago, but became deceased.
“We had many trees come down that
were on the streets and there is still a lot of
debris. I think the city has to invest in going
around looking at trees and making sure
they’re in good condition,”Hartrick added.
According to Councilman Peter Koo,
there have been recent budget cuts to city
tree pruning and maintenance, a resource
that he says is critical and key to make
trees stronger and more resistant to storm
damage.
Th e lawmakers echoed Liu’s sentiments
regarding Con Edison’s pace of restoring
power to residents citing lack of “communication
and transparency.”
“If people knew it was going to be a day,
two days or three, they can make plans
but they Con Edison didn’t say anything,”
said Assemblyman David Weprin,
who sponsored the Responsibility Utilities
Bill that protects homeowners from shouldering
the fi nancial burden of repair cost
when damage is done to their property by
Photo by Carlotta Mohamed
utility companies.
While constituents said Con Ed’s monopoly
should be ruptured, Assemblyman Ron
Kim said there are some major private
equity fi rms and hedge funds that are driving
the agenda behind Con Edison.
“New Yorkers are paying 20 percent
more than the national gas price that
everyone else is paying around the country.
While smaller towns’ and states’ rates
are decreasing, our rates are increasing and
the customer service and response time is
getting worse every year,” Kim said. “Th e
CEO of Con Ed is making $9 billion a
year — they’re making $13 billion in revenue,
$60 billion in assets and 10 percent
of the company is owned by a hedge fund.
It’s up to us to do our part to make sure
they’re fi nancially incentivized to change
their behavior.”
Meanwhile, Acting Queens Borough
President Sharon Lee, who has also
received complaints through Constituent
Services, said they were reminded during
the pandemic that power is an essential
service to everyone’s livelihood.
“I’ve heard from constituents who felt
trapped in their own homes due to exposed
wires hanging mid-air and over driveways,”
said Lee, who is calling on Con Ed
to issue a full rebate in August to 73,000
customers in Queens who lost power as a
result of the storm. “We were disproportionately
impacted and it was unacceptable
in spite of multiple and recent rate hikes,
which were justifi ed specifi cally for more
reliable service to harden the infrastructure
and protect against storm damage.”
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