Con Ed Unveils New Power Station

Con Ed officials last week unveiled a $300 million power substation that will provide 900 megawatts of additional power to Queens, Manhattan and The Bronx.

Con Ed Chief Executive Officer Kevin Burke said the power was needed to meet an increasing demand for electricity, especially during the summer months, to prevent a repeat of last summer's blackout in neighborhoods in Astoria and Long Island City.

The blackout devastated many small businesses in those neighborhoods and pulled the plug on more than 100,000 area residents during a blistering heat wave that lasted more than two weeks.

Business owners and residents had little to say about Con Ed's promise to make sure the lights stay on in Western Queens this summer, regardless of how high temperatures soar.

"The best they were able to do, after we were without power for almost a week last summer, was to go door-to-door asking if our lights were out," Rudy Gianakis a 47th Street resident said.

"The idiots drove through the neighborhood at night, knocking on doors where the lights were out to see if we lost power.

"It took them weeks and weeks to get the lights back on while we sweated and threw out everything in our refrigerators.

"Kevin Burke never responded to our invitation for him to spend a few days and nights in one of our homes or apartments. He was too busy making speeches from air conditioned offices, or jumping out of air conditioned cars to speak to reporters on the street, to make it look like he was sweating it out with us. He's a real hero," Gianakis said.

Burke said in a prepared statement that the agency has "done everything in our power to make sure the power stays on" this summer. Con Ed crews have been working around the clock in Astoria and Long Island City since last summer, installing cable and additional transformers to boost power in the area.

Carol Lauder, 32, whose home on 20th Avenue was without power for more than two weeks last summer said, "It's a wait and see situation. We're really scared that it will happen again.

"We got used to sharing the hose and sleeping in rubber swimming pools," Lauder said.

"When it was all over, Con Ed had the gall to send us electric bills for those weeks. But we have a surprise for them if it happens again. We've all agreed that Con Ed can go to hell before we pay the next bill," she said. - Liz Goff