Conned by Con-Edison

For years, Consolidated Edison has spent millions to create a persona of rugged capability, the likes of which is featured in advertisements depicting big, burly men accompanied by the words "on it" (meaning, if you have a problem, these guys are on it). Turns out, that's not necessarily the case.

Last Monday, July 17th, 2006-a date which may not live in infamy, but will, at the very least, be remembered with distaste and even grief-Queens was plunged into darkness, leaving up to 100,000 residents without power. Con Ed was faced with several hard decisions. Almost half of the feeder cables that distribute electricity to a half-million people in western Queens had failed. Should they keep the power running and risk more damage to the system, or should they shut down the entire network, causing all of Queens to lose power, but allowing them to solve the problem faster?

Con Ed's top managers at a command center near Union Square in Manhattan decided to leave the network up. Instead, major power users in the area, including the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the prison on Rikers Island, were asked to voluntarily reduce their usage. Kevin Burke, Con Ed's chief executive, agreed with their judgment that fateful evening.

Days passed and, after lasting through the weekend in the heat and the dark, the people of Queens had finally seen the light. As of Monday morning, Con Ed estimated that 22,000 customers in the area had their electricity restored while 3,000 customers were still waiting. But it seems Con Ed considers their customers to be the buildings they power and not the real, live people who inhabit them, so there are likely many more than 3,000 animate customers left to service. How has Con Ed been calculating these figures? Well, it involves an abacus and the high-tech art of roaming the streets and counting the number of dark windows. You can see why there might be some, shall we say, inconsistencies.

Con Ed is offering residents up to $7,000 in damages (such as spoiled food) resulting from the blackout. Originally, complainants had to provide receipts, photo documentation or clean package labels in order to be reimbursed. But by Tuesday morning, Con Ed had waived that requirement. It seems Mayor Bloomberg may feel that this good turn is reparation enough for Queens residents.

At a City Hall news briefing on Monday, the Mayor inexplicably praised Con Ed's Kevin Burke for his handling of the blackout. Bloomberg went so far as to say that the city should be thankful to Burke for doing his best in a difficult situation. The déjà vu moment seemed to directly channel the memory of president Bush's Katrina moment when, 10 days before Michael Brown's shame-faced resignation, he told him, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

Local politicos Assemblyman Michael Gianaris, Councilmen Eric Gioia and Peter Vallone, Jr. stood behind Bloomberg at City Hall during the surreal press conference. Though their presence was intended to show solidarity, the trio could not conceal their disapproval, shaking their heads and rolling their eyes as Bloomberg praised Con Ed. Apparently, this dissension didn't go over too well, as Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler proceeded to scold them in full view of reporters. But these guys would not be shamed.

Councilman Vallone says of Bloomberg's praise for Con Ed, "We [himself as well as Gioia and Gianaris] had no idea he'd say that or we wouldn't have been there. We couldn't disagree more with the Mayor in regards to his position on Con Ed."

Assemblyman Gianaris commented, "There are 100,000 people in Queens who've suffered through a hellish nine days?they have a pretty good idea who to blame," but Bloomberg "wants them to turn around and thank him. They have a right to be in sharp disagreement with the Mayor. If he's not interested in holding the right people responsible, we'll do it ourselves" to "ensure that the truth comes out?and it will," he concludes, referencing the pending investigation into Con Ed.

Bloomberg has assigned Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff to supervise Con Ed's internal review of the situation. But this isn't enough to satisfy Queens officials. Considering the suffering of his residents, Vallone feels it's only right-nay logical-for Kevin Burke to "resign and potentially do jail time." He stresses that Gianaris and Gioia join him in calling for Burke's resignation. Vallone says, "I want a federal monitor placed over Con Ed to oversee their actions, to ensure this won't happen again. If Kevin Burke is allowed to stay, what assurance do we have?"

Vallone is fairly certain who should be held responsible for this crisis. "Con Ed failed to maintain cables which caused the blackout and refused to tell my residents how long it'd take to fix the power. The Mayor's already admitted that, had they not lied about the extent of it, he would've sent resources here earlier," says the Councilman.

The Mayor's press secretary, Stu Loeser, explains that Bloomberg believes the city should concentrate on restoring power, not pointing fingers. That advice might have made sense nine days ago. Vallone's response? "The Mayor says we want someone to blame but no, we want to ensure this doesn't happen again."

As the power in more and more buildings is restored, Con Ed has asked residents to limit their electrical use if possible, as they are still working to stabilize cables. Orla Kelly, 23, a native from Ireland living in Astoria for the summer, said her new hometown was, "like a third world country?everything was destroyed, the smell was unbelievable."

When asked if she felt that the city handled the situation well, she answered, "No, definitely not. They said they were working day and night, but I didn't see it." She reiterated the feeling of many Queens residents, "If it had been Manhattan, I wonder if they would have done something sooner. I couldn't believe that it took nearly a week and they still don't know what the problem is."