Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Dinowitz Holds Meeting with Con Ed Officials and Area Residents to Discuss Power Outages


Utility company agrees to add additional power sources to affected neighborhoods
 
   Following meetings held at Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz’s office, Con Edison has agreed to take action to alleviate the constant power outages that affect several buildings on or near Palisade Avenue. At least seven apartment buildings in Spuyten Duyvil experience blackouts several times every year. The widespread loss of power due to Hurricane Sandy highlighted this longstanding problem. All of these buildings lost power as a result of the storm, but for the thousand plus residents of these buildings, losing power – and hot water and heat – was nothing new.

Starting in the fall, Con Edison will split the Riverdale loop in half and add an additional power supply, located on Johnson Avenue and Kappock Street, which will feed the affected neighborhoods additional power. This measure should not only cut down on the amount of power outages but also ensure that the power outages that due occur are much shorter in duration.

“While I still believe the power lines in the area should be buried, this is an excellent first step,” said Assemblyman Dinowitz. “Losing electrical power has been a chronic problem for the people of these buildings in Spuyten Duyvil. It happens when it rains. It happens when it snows. And it happens in nice weather. Cutting down on these blackouts will be a big relief for the residents of this neighborhood and save them a lot of headaches.”

The meeting with Con Ed officials followed a press conference held in October, where Dinowitz, flanked by affected area residents and community leaders, called on the utility company to bury the overhead power lines in the heavily wooded neighborhood. Although Con Ed agreed that the area was problematic, they continue to maintain that burying the power lines is too cost prohibitive. 



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