Feiner: Con Ed Crews Did Not Work 24/7 To Restore Greenburgh Power

Editor's note-The following is a copy of the letter Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner is sending to Jaclyn A. Brilling, Secretary to the Commission New York State Dept. of Public Service, regarding Con Ed's performance during Hurricane Sandy recovery:

Dear Ms. Brilling,  

Con Ed crews assigned to Greenburgh did not work 24 hours during the restoration of electricity. We have an emergency – over 8,000 homes without power for many days. When there are power outages in the future the following suggestions should be considered.

I am communicating my thoughts to every elected official who represents the town, state officials, Con Ed with the following requests/suggestions:  

· Con Ed should assign crews to areas without power 24 hours a day. No down time until all power is restored.

· Con Ed should call in more of their retirees.

· Con Ed should provide elected officials with a daily accounting of where crews are going to be sent each day and at the end of the day the Con Ed liaisons should account for what streets had power restored.

· Con Ed should have a plan of action in place, working with public safety and local officials on how to deal with the frail elderly and people with significant medical issues.

· During the recent storm many people contacted me with major health problems. They included people who were home bound - unable to leave their homes due to serious illnesses, recent operations. I spoke with residents who had brain surgeries, and depend on oxygen to live. I am sure that the prolonged power outages contributed to additional health problems for those with major medical problems (people who refuse to leave their home during an outage). Con Ed gave no priority attention to their needs.

· All assisted living facilities, hospitals; nursing homes should be contacted in advance of storms and asked to provide those with medical needs affordable temporary places to stay while power is out.  

It is ridiculous that the restoration of power is taking so long. The NYS Public Service Commission should also investigate the way this crisis has been handled. I continue to receive calls from people who have major health problems and won’t leave their homes. How many people will develop life threatening illnesses as a result of these delays?    

Sincerely,         

Paul J. Feiner Town Supervisor  

Cc: NYS Legislators Governor Andrew Cuomo Larry Schwartz, Secretary to the Governor Westchester Municipal Officials