26 THE QUEENS COURIER • SEPTEMBER 5, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Queens legislators voice support for a public utility provider
BY MAX PARROTT
mparrott@qns.com
@QNS
Aft er the blackouts that swept the Upper
West Side, south Brooklyn and southeast
Queens following the heat wave and ensuing
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storm in July, the state Legislature held
a joint hearing on Wednesday, Sept. 3, to
interrogate Con Ed’s preparedness and
response to the disruptions.
While the hearing was premised on
assessing Con Edison’s emergency
response, a group of legislators, including
a notable number of Queens representatives,
pushed to expand the scope of the
conversation to consider whether a public
agency would be more eff ective at providing
energy to the city than the private
company.
Th e fi rst half of the hearing focused on
the testimony of Con Edison President
Tim Cawley, who maintained that the
company’s decision to intentionally shut
off the power to south Brooklyn was the
correct thing to do in response to circumstances
that he claimed were unforeseeable.
“Th ese outages did not occur because
of a lack of infrastructure, or neglected
maintenance or investment,” Hawley
claimed.
In response, Queens legislators including
Senator Michael Gianaris and
Assemblyman Ron Kim all confronted
Cawley with lines of questioning
that attacked the tension between Con
Edison’s investor-driven profi t motive and
the public interest.
“When you have a private entity like
Con Edison, who at least in part, predominantly
responds to its investors as
opposed to the public interest, you’re
making decisions on which of the grids
to improve, not necessarily 100 percent
focused on what is in the best interest of
the people of the city,” said Gianaris.
In response to Gianaris’ and others’
questions on this theme, Cawley avoided
getting defensive. Instead, he simply
responded that it was outside of his scope.
“I won’t share a whole lot about my
opinion. Certainly you folks can look at
that,” he said.
Th e enthusiasm about the prospect of a
public utility system was not without its
skeptics. Nicole Maliotakis, a Republican
assemblywoman from Staten Island, said
she found the idea “mind-boggling.”
“Just look at NYCHA. Look at our education
system. Look at our transit system,”
she said.
Senator Leroy Comrie, on the other
hand, remained mute on these structural
issues in questioning Hawley. Th e Jamaica
senator was more concerned over how
southeast Queens was being left out of the
conversation. Comrie very vocally called
for the hearing aft er at least 8,000 people
lost power in Queens — the vast majority
of them in the neighborhoods around
Jamaica.
“I’ve asked you twice now to give us an
update on the Queen’s outages and I’ve
yet to hear anything from Con Edison
about the reasons behind the Queen’s
outages,” said Comrie.
Aft er Cawley fi nished his testimony,
legislators got a chance to speak with
the John B. Rhodes, chair of the Public
Service Commission, the agency that is
in the middle of an investigation into
the blackouts. Legislators took up issues
ranging from the blackouts, to the company’s
proposed rate hikes and also
pressed him for his opinion on transferring
to a public utility.
But on the debate over state versus private
ownership, Rhodes remained agnostic.
When Senate Energy Committee
Chairman Kevin Parker asked him about
it, he dodged and said that the challenge
facing any energy provider is serving the
customer best.
“Th at is a challenge that exists whether
the utility is publicly owned — investor
owned — or an actual publicly managed
entity,” he said.
Rhodes was not completely impartial
on the topic of the company’s rate of public
reinvestment, however. Senator Julia
Salazar raised a detail in Con Ed’s most
recent rate proposal, which she said justifi
es a rate hike as a way to increase its
return on equity to more than 9.75 percent.
Rhodes admitted that he thought that
return on equity was too much.
East Elmhurst teen cuff ed allegedly plotting terror attack in Queens
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
edavenport@qns.com
@QNS
An East Elmhurst teenager was arrested
on Th ursday, Aug. 29 for allegedly telling
undercover agents that he was planning
an ISIS-inspired attack on the city, according
to reports.
Th e suspect, who was identifi ed in published
reports as Awais Chudhary, allegedly
exchanged messages with an undercover
FBI agent on stating that he wanted
to commit a knife attack somewhere in
Queens. He was arraigned before the U.S.
District Court in Brooklyn on Aug. 30
and was ordered to be held without bail.
If convicted, Chudhary faces a maximum
sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment.
Chudhary, who is a U.S. citizen born
in Pakistan, allegedly began to exchange
text messages with the investigators aft er
allegedly expressing his wish to carry out
the attack in the name of the Islamic terrorist
group ISIS. Chudhary also allegedly
wanted to record his act of terror to
inspire others to commit similar acts.
In his messages, Chudhary allegedly
identifi ed potential locations of the attack
as the pedestrian bridges over the Grand
Central Parkway to the Flushing Bay
Promenade (the Promenade) and the area
of the World’s Fair Marina (the Marina).
On Aug. 23, Chudhary allegedly told the
undercover agent that he planned to use a
knife “because that’s what he knows,” but
if the undercover agent could instruct him
on how to build a bomb, he would consider
using an explosive device at a “minibridge
over a busy road with many cars.”
Th e very same day, Chudhary allegedly
sent a screenshot of a document entitled
“Islamic State,” with the subheadings
“Places to Strike,” “Th e Ideal Knife”
and “Knives to Avoid,” to the undercover
agent. Th e document also allegedly
included a diagram of the human body
with directions where to stab a victim.
Chudhary also allegedly sent the agent
videos of pedestrian bridges over the
Grand Central Parkway, and said that he
was considering throwing explosives over
the fencing at vehicles passing below.
Charges say that Chudhary allegedly
conducted multiple reconnaissance trips
to the targeted locations. On Aug. 24,
FBI agents allegedly surveilled Chudhary
enter the Promenade in the vicinity of
27th Avenue and Ditmars Boulevard and
take videos and photos with his cellphone
of various locations, including the
Marina, a nearby gas station, a doughnut
shop and a security camera near the
doughnut shop.
Between Aug.25 and Aug. 26, Chudhary
allegedly ordered online a tactical knife,
a mask, gloves and a cellphone chest and
head strap to facilitate his recording of the
attack. Chudhary was arrested on Aug. 29 as
he attempted to retrieve the items from an
online vendor’s retail location in Flushing.
A search of Chudhary’s house allegedly
uncovered videos on Chudhary’s phone of
Flushing Bay Promenade and the World’s
Fair Marina, both of which are in walking
distance of his home.
Photo via Shutterstock
Photo courtesy of the offi ce of Senator Michael Gianaris
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