By Dan Murphy
While Yonkers is the City of Hills, and has experienced many power outages over the last 20 years, the length of time it took Con Edison to restore power to thousands of Yonkers residents after Tropical Storm Isaias has left Mayor Mike Spano, Council President Mike Khader and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins using adjectives like “reckless”, “unacceptable”, “disgraceful” and “outrageous” and has resulted in a call for an investigation.
That investigation has also been called by Governor Andrew Cuomo and by Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, who will go to bat for her community in Albany. “I am well aware of the problems many of you are still facing due to Con Ed’s failure to restore power in a timely manner. Con Ed’s response to the storm is outrageous and will be investigated. In fact, the Senate and the Assembly will be holding a joint hearing in the upcoming weeks on the outages and the response. I will keep you informed. I have been aggressively seeking information about where and when the power will be restored, and I am not happy with what I have heard,” said Stewart-Cousins.
Mayor Spano went to Social Media to Tweet and Post of Facebook his anger at Con Ed. “This week I toured the city and spoke to a number of residents, and we all find ourselves asking the same question, ‘Where is Con Ed?’.
“It is abundantly clear, Yonkers has once again been overlooked by Con Ed in its restoration efforts. They have been moving at a snail’s pace here in Yonkers and it is time we hold them accountable.
“It is time for Con Ed to step it up. After Hurricane Sandy, you would think utility companies would have come to terms and realize that this is a new climate we are facing. Simply put, Con Ed was not prepared for Tropical Storm Isaias, and Yonkers is left to feel the devastating effects it’s had on our communities. As a result, I am in complete support of Governor Cuomo’s call for an investigation by the Department of Public Service into the utility companies and I urge them to impose significant financial penalties on Con Ed as a result of their negligence,” said Spano.
Council President Khader said, “Khader– Two years ago after a big storm I spoke out against the disappointing response by ConEd and called for an investigation in to the matter. Fast forward to today and Yonkers has once again been left in the dark by the utility company. This is not acceptable. Folks are understandably frustrated. I will be looking into what the City Council can do to bring accountability at a local level. We need quicker response times and more crews on the ground. The people of Yonkers deserve better.”
DPW Sanitation and Street Maintenance Crews have been out over the past 10 days picking up residential storm debris such as organic yard waste, twigs, branches and small tree clippings, small cut up logs (3-4 foot in length tied in a bundle), and raked debris (preferably tied). The Organic Yard will also operate under extended hours this to give residents another opportunity to dispose of storm debris.
