42 Minutes Of Darkness

Suddenly, and without notice, the lights went out for 335 Northeastern Queens residents last Thursday. At 10 p.m., The black-out, which short-circuited parts of Flushing and Whitestone came on the heels of June 25th power outage on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, disabling more than 76,000 customers.
"Our block was out," said Tammy Carrion of East Elmhurst. "It wasnt that hot even. Nobody had their air conditioners on. The only light was the moonlight. This happens every summer."
"These things can happen," explained Arthur Coronson, Con Edisons Manager of Public Affairs. "Cables are old and damaged. Salt from the winter couldve gotten in. These things fail on a regular basis."
Power was restored to Queens less than 42 minutes later.
At a recent City Hall press conference, New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani blasted Con Ed for the third day in a row, charging it with a "very, very serious management breakdown." The mayor went on to report that the city was on the verge of settling its lawsuit stemming from last summers Washington Heights blackout, but had decided to end settlement talks, "in light of what happened [on the Upper East Side]."
City Council Speaker Peter Vallone this week suggested that Con Edison may be using power disruptions to put pressure on state regulators to approve construction of new electric power plants. The power plant issue has been especially charged in Vallones Astoria district, where there has been mounting community opposition for three new plants. Vallone is the honorary chairman of a civic coalition fighting the proposals.
"Now were told, we need to build more plants," said Vallone. "Does clean air count? … Are the plants here to provide power for New York or for the Northeast?"
Vallone and fellow Council Member Karen Koslowitz will conduct a public hearing next week on the electrical generation and delivery system and will pose such questions to Con Ed, state officials and executives from other power companies.
The council has questioned not only the necessity of new power plants but also, if New Yorkers are using too much power, than why are utility companies spending 76% less on conservation than in 1993? "It is essential that we hold hearings to find out what is going on with our Citys electrical power system," said Koslowitz. "We need to make sure that New Yorkers have enough power and a well maintained system to deliver power. We saw last summer the terrible consequences that result from power outages; senior citizens trapped in their apartments; working people unable to get to their jobs; business losing entire inventories of perishable stock. This cannot become a routine summer occurrence in our city."
Con Ed officials say they are facing a major long-term problem in generating capacity.
" While there is enough electric power for New Yorks needs today, we will face a serious problem in the near future," Con Edison said in a recent statement. Last summer a spectrum of what the utility giant calls "beige-outs" to all-out black-outs paralyzed the city, some for days at a time. Con Edison responded that the power company is spending an addition "$315 million on a comprehensive five-year program to improve its electrical distribution system, including more than $40 million on upgraded feeder cables and circuit breakers.