At Least They're Not Being Gouged
I don't know how much coverage this has been getting nationally, but thousands of people in Queens, NY have been without power for seven days now. (Think of how beastly hot it has been here during the past week.) Caterers have had to dump wedding cakes, AC isn't working, and, to top it all off, Con Edison doesn't even know what the problem is! I think these customers should just switch companies, don't you?
What's really hilarious is the changing story coming from Con Edison. Last Tuesday, they said 190 customers in Queens, 700 in the Bronx, and 100 in Manhattan were without power. On Thursday the reported number was about 100,000 people. Mayor Bloomberg promised that by Sunday (yesterday) everyone's power would be back. According to one newspaper, only about half had their power restored.
As I stressed above, Con Edison doesn't even know what the problem is. It's not that a storm knocked down a bunch of lines, or that there was a blackout because of too much usage during a hot day. Con Edison's press releases are things along the lines of, "At this time we cannot be certain of the cause..."
Anyway here's a piece I wrote about the annual pleas to "conserve water and power" in big cities. Gooo socialism!
Comments (9)
Strange: the same problem seems to be pervasive in Iraq. Ironically, US energy officals recently traveled to Iraq to share their expertise.
Published: July 24, 2006 9:17 AM
...NYC routinely suffers from deferred maintenance on its infrastructure -- from subways & roads to water & electric utilities.
City politicians & heads of semi-public utilities can always make their short-term budgets look good by cutting spending on routine maintenance of their systems -- since the negative effects will not be publicly obvious for years or decades... on somebody else's 'watch'.
Like a private car-owner who "saves" money by not changing his car's motor oil, or replacing worn tires--
the "savings" seem immediate.... and the real costs are hidden.
Published: July 24, 2006 9:27 AM
Dr. Reisman has an interesting take on planning by state agencies and utilities in his book "Capitalism." He writes that, in addition to the many problems involved with state planning, inflation makes their job even worse because the utilities and state planners are constantly fooled by it. They never plan for enough inflation, so they rarely have enough funds for maintenance.
Published: July 24, 2006 10:24 AM
I frequently travel on I-84 through southeastern New York and can attest to the horrid condition of this interstate highway; and this in the state with one of the highest state tax burden in the United States. It would not surprise me if the rest of the state's infrastructure isn't similarly crumbling. As the state and federal government extend into new areas of activity, the previous areas slowly fall into disrepair.
Published: July 24, 2006 10:38 AM
Yancey,
I-84 is a federal road therefore NY state's tax burden is irrelevant. New York's resident's pay out more in federal taxes than they get in return. I think that is the case for about 10 others states. NJ, NH, MA, CT come to mind.
I can only confirm that indeed the roads in New York city and close suburbs is atrocious. The highways have way too many pot holes, the urban streets have serious pot hole problems & constant road blocking contruction (during peak hours). Many highway off-ramps are too short, and therefore a red light on the service road can cause the right lane to accumulate 1/2 mile of traffic on the highway itself. There are too
many cases where the on-ramp is too short as well, forcing cars to stop completely when they need to merge with right lane drivers going 50 mph. This is a breeding ground for accidents and traffic congestion.
The belt parkway (a loop road around Brooklyn's periphery) is a notorious peak time potholed parking lot, especially during weekends when the draw bridges are constantly raised for wealthy yacht owners in the better parts of brooklyn.
The exclusive franchise given to a company in 1994 to extend an HOV lane (about 10 miles) on the Long Island expressway had been dicking around for 11 years until the gov stepped in again and kicked them out. They handed the franchise to a more competitive company that managed to finish the rest of the job in a few months in 2005. It was not uncommon between 1994 & 2005 to sluggishly pass through this 10 mile stretch and observe 50+ workers sitting around doing nothing but soaking up your tax dollars. Of course every community along the way had to make sure that a sound barrier was built exclusively for them.
Published: July 24, 2006 1:19 PM
Con Edison, a regulated utility, provides electric service in New York City (except for a small area of Queens), and most of Westchester County.
Published: July 24, 2006 1:26 PM
quincunx,
I thought the interstates were jointly managed by the federal government and the state, with funding for upkeep the responsibility of both.
However, I will look into it. I just know that when crossing the border from New York to Connecticut, I don't have know where the actual border is in order to tell that I have crossed it-I can just count the potholes.
Published: July 24, 2006 2:06 PM
quincunx;
"The exclusive franchise given to a company in 1994 to extend an HOV lane (about 10 miles) on the Long Island expressway had been dicking around for 11 years until the gov stepped in again and kicked them out. They handed the franchise to a more competitive company that managed to finish the rest of the job in a few months in 2005."
The firm in question was Modern Continental, one of the contractors on the Big Dig in Boston.
The company that stepped in was local contractor J.D. Posillico. I have worked with them, and the superintendent who successfully brought the project to a close is a friend of mine (Hi Angelo!)
The feds kick in a percentage (it varies) for the construction of interstates, and a somewhat lower one for repairs, but it is the state highway authority that lets the contracts and oversees the work.
For state highways, the formula is different, but I think the feds still contribute.
The Belt Parkway was built and maintained by the NY City DOT. From this site on the Belt Parkway;
http://www.nycroads.com/roads/belt/
"The New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) maintains the Belt Parkway and the Mill Basin drawbridge, which was a 35-foot vertical clearance over mean high water and a 131-foot horizontal clearance. Surrounding rights-of-way are maintained by the New York City Parks Department. Major reconstruction work is undertaken by the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), which also installs signs and reference markers."
One can only imagine what waste occurs when so many agencies are brought together with federal and state funding.
Published: July 24, 2006 4:47 PM
A fun picture I took on the Belt Parkway a few years ago;
http://www.libertyguys.org/photos/resize_height.asp?path=D:\Inetpub\wwwroot\libertyguys.org\html\images\gallery\LOW%20BRIDGE.jpg
I have a picture of the unlucky truck too, somewhere.
Published: July 24, 2006 4:50 PM