The night the traffic lights went out in Middle Queens

 

QNS

Following rampant power outages in his district on Nov. 30, Councilman Robert Holden released a letter calling for a meeting with NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell, DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez and OEM Commissioner Zachary Iscol to discuss what caused the outage and what steps could be taken to prevent it from happening again in the future.

Holden expressed concern over the city’s failure to swiftly address the Nov. 30 outages in Maspeth and Middle Village in which thousands of residents lost power for as long as five hours. Traffic in the area was drastically affected by this, according to Holden, as the outages occurred during rush hour.

 According to Holden, additional police officers were not deployed to the 104th Precinct until the end of the outages. Holden cited a desire to know what caused the outages and delayed response, as well as wanting to know how outages like this will be handled in the future.

“The areas affected routinely suffer due to overhead lines that cannot handle rain storms,” Holden said. “The transformers on Eliot Avenue blow often, including last year on Election Day. After two conversations with Commissioner Iscol, I still did not understand what additional resources our district would be receiving, nor what the emergency response was other than ‘monitoring the situation.’ It was only after 10:00 p.m. did the 104th Precinct receive additional police officers. Considering heavy rains and strong winds were forecasted, it would make sense that the Office of Emergency Management and NYPD would have coordinated for expected power outages in Queens.”

Holden said he wanted DOT Commissioner Rodriguez to take part in the meeting so his office could discuss plans for when a large amount of traffic lights go out. Holden is hopeful that such a meeting could help ensure each department is better prepared for the next massive outage.

MTA command center upgrade collapsed during weekend subway blackout

 

 NY Daily News

 

The MTA spent $63 million over the last five years to upgrade the backup power systems that failed Sunday night and caused a catastrophic subway meltdown, records show.

The agency in 2017 approved a contract to upgrade electrical systems at its rail control center and power control center, two buildings in Hell’s Kitchen that are essential to the operation of the subway.

Those upgrades included the installation of a new rooftop emergency generator for the rail control center at an adjacent building, adding to two backup generators that were already in place, MTA officials said.

The work also included an “automatic transfer switch” that would automatically switch power in the building between Con Ed lines and generators as needed, according to the contract description.

When much of the city’s power grid was interrupted at 8:25 p.m. Sunday by an outage Con Edison said lasted “a fraction of a second,” a battery-powered backup system at the rail control center switched on, MTA officials said.

The system was supposed to automatically activate the emergency generators and “return to Con Edison power when it becomes available, but that did not occur,” the MTA said in a statement Monday.

Instead of switching to generators or switching back to Con Ed, the system kept operating on battery power — and the batteries drained after 45 minutes.

“We are investigating why that happened, as are two independent engineering firms,” MTA spokesman Tim Minton said Tuesday.

Additionally, the system didn’t alert managers that it was malfunctioning, and that the rail control center was at risk of losing power, the MTA has said.

Queens is still the most powerless days after the hurricane

Gothamist

While crews with Con Edison have made progress restoring power to the five boroughs following the wind-related outages caused by Tropical Storm Isaias, more than 33,000 customers remain powerless in the five boroughs. And they're not expected to get their electricity back until 11 p.m. on Sunday night.

Manhattan stands as the only borough where full service has been restored to Con Edison's customers, according to a press release Con Edison sent out early this morning. Queens holds the largest number of outages with 19,000, with the Bronx at 9,700, Staten Island with 3,200, and Brooklyn with 1,400 customers still out. In Westchester County, 53,000 customers remain without service.

The storm on Tuesday packed a wallop, bringing gusty winds of 70 miles per hour in New York that caused widespread outages. At the height of the blackout, some 300,000 customers were left without power. That prompted Con Edison officials to deem the outage is the second worst next to Superstorm Sandy.

Con Edison has enlisted the help of outside utility companies to help restore power, with 1,230 contractors working alongside the 1,700 Con Edison workers. They say crews have been working "84 straight hours" since the storm hit, clearing out downed trees that became entangled in wires.

The New York City Office of Emergency Management has been managing tree removals across the city.

"Queens specifically has been the hardest hit," said OEM commissioner Deanne Criswell of the downed trees. "Right now, we have over 1500 people working on clearing trees across the city, and 153 of those are in Queens. We're continuing to bring in additional resources, and reassigning some of of other personnel from city agencies to help support the tree removal efforts."

Flushing, Bayside, Astoria, and Woodside are being given priority to have downed trees cleared. It will take next week to have all those trees removed.

The restoration also came when a pop-up blackout knocked out electricity to 180,000 customers on Friday morning. The incident--which cut off power to 187,000 customers in the Upper West Side, Upper East Side, and Harlem in Manhattan, and 77,000 customers in Maspeth, Queens.

Update:

CBS New York's report from Woodhaven, one of the men at the end of the video says it all about the city's and Con Ed's response.

Con Edison intentionally shuts off all power in Southeast Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods

PIX 11 News

 Looks like Gothamist thought my headline was good.

Three towns in Staten Island got blacked out from Con Ed substation fire

NY Post


Power outages hit Staten Island Tuesday evening when a fire erupted at a Con Edison substation — just days after mass outages hit tens of thousands of customers on the West Side of Manhattan, officials said.

About 2,000 Con Edison customers in New Dorp, Grant City and Oakwood lost power after the fire at the facility on Railroad Avenue soon after 6 p.m., a Con Ed spokesperson said.

The outages are scattered across about a five-mile radius of the substation and are expected to last until about 2 a.m., the spokesperson said, adding that two generators were working to reinforce the system.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, but it is not believed to be related to the heat, he said.

After being opaque about the cause of Saturday's blackout, Con Ed is being glib about potential blackouts

NY Post


Con Edison warned Monday that New Yorkers may have to endure another blackout this weekend, when the temperature is expected to reach a sweltering 97 degrees — and feel like 106.

“We expect that there could be service outages — those things happen during heat waves,” company spokesman Mike Clendenin said.

Later in the day, Con Ed further fueled fears of a potential power outage when it completely backtracked and blamed a fault in a 13,000-volt power cable that caught fire for triggering Saturday’s blackout.

On Sunday, company President Timothy Cawley had called the idea of tying the incident to the failed cable “sort of a non-starter.”

AccuWeather predicted four straight days of 90-plus degree temperatures beginning Friday, with a 97-degree peak on Saturday, when humidity and other factors will make it feel even worse.

Surely, these things happen and will continue to happen when you have energy devouring billboards like the new ones in Times Square that are about 3, 5 and 20 stories and are a block wide. And also deriving from massive tower development by the Hudson, particularly the brand new Hudson Yards.

How is Con Ed going to handle Google's expansion and Disney's new studios on Soho's west side?

Maybe this is why they are being glib. Con Ed's VP for "government relations" used to work for the city's Economic Development Coporation. (Thanks to Kristin Theodos)

Steinway going green

From DNA Info:

Steinway is playing a new tune.

A parking lot at the Queens headquarters of the famed piano-maker is getting a green makeover.

The nonprofit New York Restoration Project (NYRP) is transforming the 53,500-square-foot concrete lot by installing storm water capture systems that will help absorb about 404,000 gallons of water a year — a project the group hopes will inspire other property owners to turn their parking lots into green spaces.

"A lot of the surface area of western Queens is paved," said Christopher Vanterpool, NYRP's director of capital administration. "Whether it’s a parking lot or schoolyard or someone's driveway, a lot of the opportunities for trees…have been paved over."

The group is looking to bring more green to the borough's concrete spaces, working with the City Parks Foundation and the North Star Fund's Greening Western Queens Fund, a $7.9 million initiative that funds environmental projects in the Queens neighborhoods that were affected by the 2006 blackout.

The Steinway & Sons project will cost in the low six-figures, and is one of several similar NYRP projects the organization is undertaking that will cost a total of $400,000.

Once the project is complete in a few weeks, the lot at 18-1 Steinway Place in Astoria will have dozens of new trees, a thousand new plants, an irrigation system that waters the plants and 340 feet of bioswales — planted areas that absorb and filter rainwater — around its perimeter.

The new, porous surfaces at the parking lot will absorb rainwater, helping to reduce runoff that would otherwise end up in the sewer system and potentially cause overflows that end up polluting the city's waterways.

Will white rooves prevent blackouts?

From DNA Info:

An environmental group is looking to help Astoria go green — by coating its rooftops in white.

The White Roof Project is bringing its initiative to Queens for the first time next month. The nonprofit covers sunlight-absorbing black tar roofs with white solar-reflective coating to keep buildings cooler, cut energy costs and relieve stress on the power grid.

Their first Astoria roof-coating will take place next month and is being funded by the U.S. Power Generating Company, which operates a power facility in the neighborhood.

White Roof Project is working with Queens Community Board 1 and Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. to find a local nonprofit or affordable housing group that would benefit from the rooftop makeover, which can cut a building's energy costs by up to 40 percent.

The white coating not only saves individual tenants money, but aids the whole city by reducing stress on the energy grid, lessening the likelihood of blackouts and so-called brown outs.

Astoria was home to a massive blackout in 2006, when much of Western Queens lost power for a staggering nine hot summer days.

Yeah, it's hot outside!

Not the city's fault there's blackouts?

From NY1:

Grocery stores and gas stations could soon be shelling out sacks of cash on electrical upgrades.

The Daily News reports state legislators are mulling over a bill requested by Mayor Michael Bloomberg that would require stores to be blackout ready.

It could cost store owners up to $20,000 to rewire buildings to make them able to quickly switch to alternative power sources.

They would not be required to install backup generators.

The city says the legislation would ensure residents have food and fuel in an emergency, and that stores would benefit because they could continue making money.

The bill affects grocery stores with 60 or more employees or 20,000 square feet of space and gas stations with 25,000 gallons of fuel capacity.

The legislation is based on task force findings after the city's 2003 blackout.

Sure thing, why upgrade the power grid? Make the small business schmucks pay for it!

Group hopes to create garden with blackout money

From the Daily News:

A DEVASTATING blackout that hit western Queens could be the spark to energize a green oasis under a proposal to build a unique community garden.

Astoria-based Cidadao Global wants to build a garden on property that also would double as a community center for recent immigrants. It would be funded by a chunk of a $7.9 million initiative that came out of a settlement with Con Edison after the 2006 power outage.

"There's nothing like it in Queens," said Ramona Ortega, founder of the nonprofit group - one of many submitting proposals to get a piece of the settlement for "greening" projects.

"It would be a garden space where many organizations can share the immigrant experience," she said of the project, which she estimates would cost $500,000 during the next three to four years.

Cidadao Global, which serves mostly Brazilian immigrants, will submit its proposal to the Greening Western Queens Fund next month. That fund will be used for projects to benefit Long Island City, Woodside, Sunnyside and Astoria, which were affected by the 2006 blackout.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance," said Ortega, 35, who wants to create a garden run with the cooperation of different immigrant groups in the neighborhood.

Ortega said she hopes the garden will connect diverse groups in the neighborhood.

The need for this kind of center is very real, immigrant advocates said, pointing to blighted properties and a general lack of open areas.

Con Ed didn't pay out enough

From the NY Post:

Con Ed reimbursed only a fraction of the money lost during a 2006 power outage in Queens that lasted 10 days.

That's according to a Pace University study that says the July 2006 blackout affected 174,000 people and cost about $188 million. The report says the utility reimbursed residents and companies $17 million.

Assemblyman Richard Brodsky says the company should be required to pay for all the damages. He says he's sponsoring a bill that would require utility companies to pay for any negligent damages for which they are responsible.

Con Edison spokesman Chris Olert said losses could have been much worse. He said the company is doing a better job at tracking and preventing power outages.

State investigators said the massive outage was triggered by a failure of company executives to heed warnings by employees that large portions of the Queens power grid were in need of repair.

Could we have another major blackout?

From CBS 2:

Four years ago, 174,000 people across Queens lost power for a week when Con Edison equipment failed.

"I couldn't keep full hours because of the electric," said Sim. "I was keeping half time hours."

Assemblyman Michael Gianaris says another blackout could easily rock New York.

"The investment in infrastructure was terribly inadequate," he said. "They were spending millions on executives, increasing dividends to shareholders, but one of the places they were not spending money was improving the wires underground."

Con Edison's response? Wrong, they said.

"With any heat wave you can have power outages," said a Con Ed spokesperson.

Peak energy use expected today

From CBS 2:

The Big Apple is holding its collective breath Tuesday and dreading the possibility of brown-outs or even a blackout like the one we all suffered through four years ago.

Power wires sparked and ignited in Corona, falling down on parked cars and causing power outages. Several homes were evacuated in the middle of a swelteringly-hot night because of the dangerous fire conditions.

As crews worked on the downed wires, Con Ed was preparing for its record for peak energy use on a 97-degree day in 2006 to be shattered Tuesday when demand is expected to increase once offices re-open.

Unlike the blackout four years ago, Con Ed said they already have extra crews in the field, more on standby and have been investing a billion dollars a year to improve infrastructure.

Astoria blackout money debate gets political

 

Power for the People holding greening sessions

From the Daily News:

Peering into the dark streets from her fourth-floor apartment during the July 2006 blackout that affected western Queens, Alyssa Bonilla would never have imagined the debacle would one day lead to the greening of her neighborhood.

But that's exactly what's underway in Sunnyside, Astoria, Woodside and Long Island City, thanks to a group called Western Queens Power for the People.

The group, which Bonilla joined in the first few days after it was formed, sued Con Edison for damages resulting from the blackout that dragged on for nine days during a heat wave. Part of the $63 million settlement included funds for community greening projects.

Power for the People and the North Star Fund, the administrator for the green projects, have scheduled two "visioning" days - the first on Saturday.

The public forums will give the community a chance to learn more about the settlement and discuss ways to use the $7.9 million available for greening projects. Half of that is designated for the planting of street trees.

Solar panels, water catchment systems, green roofs, even windmills, are just some of the ideas that come to mind for the Power for the People members.

Group members said they are also committed to green education and creating green jobs. But they noted the final decision on how to use the funds will come from public discourse.

The first visioning session will be from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, at Sunnyside Community Services, 43-31 39th St., Sunnyside. The second session will be from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., March 27, at the Greater Astoria Historical Society, 35-20 Broadway, Long Island City.

Blast from the past

August 10, 2006

Dennis Hughes
President
New York State AFL-CIO
50 Broadway
New York, NY 10004

Dear Dennis,
I am writing to you to express my deep concern about the events that transpired during the recent blackout in Northwest Queens. Many of my members were held up to ridicule and scorn by the New York tabloids the Daily News and Post. My staff spoke to the editorial writers of the Daily News who later printed what was tantamount to a retraction, but as you know the N.Y. Post is a virulently anti-worker anti-union paper and the less said about them the better. What was particularly galling was the response of the Democratic Legislators (with the exception of Cathy Nolan (D-NY)) to the crisis in Queens. In their zeal to attack the performance of Con Edison while pandering to the legitimate anger of their affected constituents, they indiscriminately attacked Con Edison and any and all associated with it. They made no distinction whatever between the managerial corps at Con Edison (the decision makers) and the everyday rank and file Con Edison unionized worker. They stoked the anger of the community to the boiling point. As a result of their actions our members were subjected to an unparalleled vicious verbal assault by members of the community along with being pelted by rocks, eggs, tomatoes etc. along with being spit at while doing live electrical work. Amazingly during the restoration we only had one worker severely burnt, two others overcome with smoke inhalation and one heat stroke victim while working 16 hr shifts for 14 consecutive days to restore electrical service to the community. In speaking to some of my members they felt large segments of the affected community were on the verge of riot. What these politicians did was tantamount to yelling fire in a crowded movie house. As you know our Union has had wall-to-wall coverage at Con Edison since the 40’s. To have a highly trained, highly skilled unionized workforce subjected to the scorn and ridicule of Democratic Officials is hard to take. To this day Assemblyman Gianaris, City Council members Vallone and Gioia, have yet to make a distinction between the hardworking union men and women of Con Edison and the managerials who make the decisions on investments in upgrading the infrastructure. They take our money, our phone banks and our endorsements and when the chips are down often abandon us. I know at the upcoming C.O.P.E. Convention some of these same politicians will be receiving the endorsement of the N.Y. State AFL-CIO. I am asking at the very least for you to read this letter to your Executive Council before your endorsements.

Fraternally,
Harry J. Farrell
President

Gianaris to the rescue!

From the Queens Gazette:

With the Floral Park gas leak explosion and fatality fresh in his mind, Assemblymember Michael Gianaris went to the aid of Astoria residents forced out of their homes following a Con Edison power outage and elevated carbon dioxide levels, the lawmaker reported yesterday.

Did he wear a Superman outfit? Why is the Gazette reporting his involvement as fact but not interviewing anyone he helped? Does anyone believe this crapola? Are we about to hear an encore by the three tenors (Gioia, Vallone, Gianaris) about Con Ed?

Astoria has another blackout!

From AM-NY:

Astoria residents temporarily without power, evacuated

It was déjà vu all over again for a block of Astoria residents yesterday after an outage left scores of residents without power on one of the warmest days of the year.

The neighborhood, hard hit during a days-long power outage in the summer of 2006, got a little taste of power trouble starting at 11:45 a.m. yesterday when a smoldering service box containing electric cables sent carbon monoxide into nearby homes and severed power.

About 40 people were evacuated and 25 customers lost power. A customer represents one meter, so potentially hundreds of people were left powerless. The incident happened on Crescent Street, between 23rd and 24th avenues. Power was restored by evening, said Chris Olert, a utility spokesman.

The cause of the outage is under investigation.

(Marlene Naanes)

And it's only April....

Interesting how they will evacuate for carbon monoxide (a gas) but not natural gas.

Photo from mercurialn on Flickr