What Happened, Con Ed?

One of many manholes that exploded throughout Astoria, Long Island City, Hunters Point, Woodside and Sunnyside as feeder cables burned and electrical power to more than 10,000 homes and businesses was cut off. Photo Vinny DuPre As the Northwest Queens power blackout moved relentlessly into its second week, with very slow progress in repairing the damage, Con Edison reported yesterday the number of homes without power had dwindled to 1,000, but the utility did not have a timetable for when the entire area would get its power restored.

In another development, Governor George Pataki, who has pretty much been on the sidelines during the breakdown, said in a letter to Congressmember Nydia Velazquez (D-Queens/Brooklyn) that he was appalled at Con Ed's slow response and said he had not taken any action to try to remedy the situation because Mayor Michael Bloomberg had not made the necessary formal declaration of an emergency that is needed for the governor to act.

Meanwhile, the virtually universal call for public hearings to try to determine why Con Ed was taking so long to restore power to almost 100,000 people bore fruit as Assemblymember Michael Gianaris announced the Assembly will hold a public hearing at La Guardia Community College on Monday, July 31. Final details are yet to be worked out, he said.

Assemblymember Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) demands vital city services be sent to the thousands of local residents affected by the week-long blackout. Pictured with the assemblymember are l. to r. Gus Prentzas, Democrat State Committeemember, City Councilmembers Peter Vallone Jr. and Eric Gioia, Assemblymember Marge Markey and state Senator George Onorato. All last week, local lawmakers issued frantic calls for federal, state, and city agencies to investigate the causes of the blackout and to shed light on the power failure that struck Astoria, Long Island City, Woodside, Sunnyside and Hunters Point 11 days ago.

At first, Con Ed said the power failure involved only slightly more than 1,000 customers-customers meaning buildings, not individuals. The utility gradually raised the figure to 10,000 and eventually to about 100,000. Hundreds of businesses as well as house and apartment dwellers, were also victims of the blackout. With the sharp drop in shoppers, many are facing bankruptcy.

The blackout left the stricken communities with no light, no refrigeration, tons of spoiled food and no air-conditioning to deal with soaring temperatures.

As the Red Cross was called in and other emergency measures were taken, hundreds of electrical power technicians were imported from nearby cities to assist Con Ed workers in repairing feeder cables.

The project required workers to go from block to block and from manhole to manhole to bring the stricken system back on line. Work proceeded at a snail's pace.

Amidst it all, Mayor Michael Bloomberg could find no reason to blast Con Ed for the breakdown of the electrical flow into countless homes and businesses, which only increased the frustration of public officials and their constituents.

Following the mayor's continued defense of the beleaguered utility on Monday at City Hall, Assemblymember Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) commented, "It's an amazing head-in-the-sand moment. Has he not seen what we've been seeing for a week?"

City Councilmember Eric Gioia (D-Long Island City), who also was at the press conference with Councilmember Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria), seemed perplexed as he blurted:

"I almost walked out. I was shocked and disappointed by [Bloomberg's] defense of Kevin Burke [Con Ed chief executive officer] today.

Gioia has been demanding that Burke be held responsible-and fired-for the crippling breakdown. Vallone and Gianaris also declared Burke should be fired.

Vallone said at the Monday news conference that he wanted a federal monitor to oversee Con Ed for the next few years because of its problems with blackouts and in other areas as well.

Gianaris had called for Assembly hearings last week at the start of the blackout in hopes of finding out what caused the power stoppage and preventing similar situations in the future. The Assembly was set to convene a hearing this Friday, but it was postponed and will he held sometime next week, Gianaris said yesterday.

Meanwhile, other lawmakers have made similar demands.

Congressmembers Joseph Crowley, Carolyn Maloney and Velazquez have called for federal hearings; state Senator George Onorato wants the state Public Service Commission (PSC) to call Con Ed officials on the carpet; Borough President Helen Marshall appealed to Pataki to declare Northwest Queens a disaster area, as did Crowley, making the area eligible for federal monetary aid, and Velazquez and Marshall said the federal Small Business Administration (SBA) should be called in to assist the hundreds of small businesses that are being driven into bankruptcy by the seemingly never-ending blackout which has closed down their businesses.

Gianaris asked Queens District Attorney Richard Brown to launch a criminal investigation of Con Ed and Brown responded saying he had "directed my Economic Crimes Bureau to conduct a thorough review of all the facts and circumstances surrounding this week's power outage to determine if there is any basis for the filing of criminal charges."

Marshall announced she had also asked City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to hold hearings at City Hall on what caused the blackout and why it's taking so long for power to be restored.

Responding to Marshall and Velazquez, whose district includes a small part of Queens, Pataki said he will ask the state Public Utilities Commission to investigate.

Local lawmakers were clearly frustrated by the slow pace of Con Ed's work force and the inaction of high-ranking officials.

On Monday, Crowley (D-Queens/The Bronx) insisted that Pataki declare the blackout zone a disaster area to trigger federal aid.

"If a hundred thousand people anywhere in this country were without power for a week, it would be declared a disaster. Why not Queens?" the frustrated lawmaker asked.

In calling for Congressional hearings, Maloney (D-Queens/Manhattan) declared, "Astoria residents are not only without power, they are without answers. Western Queens produces 60 percent of the city's power, yet the electrical grid in the area is obviously in need of repair.

"This is the last place we would expect to lack power. While the current crisis may be the result of the collapse of Con Edison's distribution system in the area, it still seems odd that when the entire Northeast went dark three years ago, Astoria had its power back within a day."

She added, "This incident vividly demonstrates the vulnerability of our power grid in the nation's most prominent terrorist target."

In her plea to Pataki, Marshall emphasized, "The loss of electrical power is more than an inconvenience, it is dangerous to the health, safety and economy of these communities." She asked that the Small Business Administration be directed to start an outreach effort to the business community "so that they can begin to recover from this terrible and unfortunate man-made disaster."

Onorato (D-Astoria) stressed that one thing clearly evident about the power outage is that the power infrastructure is inadequate and greater investment is called for to ensure there is no repeat of the present situation.

Onorato said that in any investigation it might undertake, the PSC should advise the state what steps are necessary to carry out an infrastructure upgrade.

"Perhaps federal action is necessary to make sure that our power system is able to operate properly in the summer and every other day of the year," Onorato added.