UCCA 'Lights Out' Offer Remains
BY LIZ GOFF

When the lights went out, and back on in 48 minutes in parts of The Bronx and Manhattan last week, United Community Civic Association President Rose Marie Poveromo recalled an offer she made to Con Edison CEO Kevin Burke during the well-remembered 2006 blackout- an offer she stands by.

"It's an offer I hope I never have to pay," Poveromo said. "But if the lights go out in Astoria again this summer, I want Kevin Burke to spend a few days and nights at my family home."

Poveromo originally made the offer to Burke while she and her neighbors were sweating it out through a sweltering 2006 heat wave for eight days without fans, air conditioners, refrigerators- or anything cold. "Of course he never responded," she said.

Burke, along with Mayor Michael Bloomberg were two of the New Yorkers who lost power during last week's 48-minute blackout, a Bloomberg spokesperson said.

"Isn't it amazing how Con Ed was able to get power back to Kevin Burke in under an hour, when it took them nearly two weeks to restore our power?" Poveromo commented. "We live in Con Ed's backyard. We live next door to all the power plants, but they couldn't find a way to plug us in for two weeks, with each day near 100 degrees. Forty-eight minutes? Kevin Burke probably didn't break a sweat before his power was restored."

Poveromo said she and her neighbors are "praying" that Con Edison keeps its promise to keep the lights on in their Northwest Queens neighborhood this summer.

"They've been digging up our neighborhoods for almost a year now," Poveromo said. "Let's hope all the digging keeps us plugged in."

Con Edison spokesperson Chris Olmert said Mother Nature was the culprit in last week's blackout. Con Edison could not explain the "transmission disturbance" that knocked out power on June 27, throwing the evening rush hour commute into turmoil and casting further doubt on the agency's ability to cope with summer power demands.

Another fast-moving storm knocked out power to almost 5,000 customers in Middle Village on the afternoon of June 28. Power was restored about six hours later.

"Our engineers are examining possible links between the outages and lightning strikes in the area," Con Ed said in a prepared statement.

At a press conference near the Astoria transmission substation that failed on June 27, Assemblymember Michael Gianaris steamed at Con Ed's failure. "We are left to hope for the best and prepare for the worst," Gianaris said. "This is an unreliable, unaccountable monopoly that is running our utility system. We must stop coddling Con Ed."

Con Ed officials said last month they have made more than $90 million in improvements to the utility's distribution system in Northwest Queens, which Poveromo said does not seem to be borne out by her experience. "Last year I was helping a friend of mine through her last days in my home," she explained. "She died on May 17. On May 18, I called Con Ed to tell them the person using the life support equipment had passed away and they didn't need to alert me if they thought there might be a power failure so I could take her to an emergency room- those are the instructions they give. I called again and I wrote to them. I'm still getting calls about if the power goes off take the person to an emergency room. I got one just last week. Apparently they aren't computerized. They never seem to catch up. If that's an indication of how prepared they are for this year, it's not a good sign."

Burke did not reply directly to Poveromo's comments. Con Edison Director of Media Relations Michael S. Clendenin, however, reiterated, "We restored power in 48 minutes to two networks affected by a transmission disturbance caused by a severe lightning strike near one of our substations. Service was restored quickly because, unlike last year's outage in Northwest Queens, there was no damage to equipment."

Regarding other, scattered outages during last week's heat wave, Clendenin added: "Smaller outages we handled last week were caused by storms or heat related problems- normal occurrences during heat waves- and were similar to outages experienced by other utilities in Long Island and New Jersey."

Poveromo was not mollified. "My offer to Kevin Burke stands," she retorted. "If you can't keep our lights on this summer, you must spend a few nights and days at my home. Don't chicken out. Come sweat with us."