There was a largely unnoticed 3-block power outage in Hunters Point on Thursday, August 24. It began at about 4 a.m. and work crews were on the scene fast. However, when I called the Con Edison Customer Service department at 1:30 p.m. to find out when power might be restored, I was told they had no record of an outage and no indication that they had a crew there. Does anyone there know how to run a company?
Ray Palermo
Long Island City
Plan Before Building
Your recent article “Con Edison CEO Burke still has a few answers” concerning the power outrage endured by western Queens residents had elected community leaders wondering how this could occur and who was responsible. Con Ed's hierarchy should have had the knowledge of the physical state its equipment was in, so they deserve the lions' share of the blame.
As angry City Councilmembers blasted Con Ed's CEO while western Queens sat in the dark, where were they as the area's population increased over the years? Were the city planners satisfied there would be sufficient energy capacity available when new high-rise condominium construction began along Queens Boulevard and were local elected officials actively involved and kept in the loop?
Will the building of those new apartments along the Queens Boulevard corridor destabilize an already overtaxed power grid for years to come? Would the adjacent communities of Maspeth, Elmhurst, and Rego Park also suffer in the future?
Too many questions, no answers.
Non-elected people appointed to represent these communities need to seriously rethink the energy needs of western Queens. Let us stay focused and get it right this time.
B. Alan Wittman
Maspeth
One Reader's Endorsement
This is a wake up call!
Primary elections are coming up on Tuesday, September 12th, and every Democrat in the 10th State Senatorial District should be out voting for Shirley Huntley, a long-time community activist who is running against incumbent Ada Smith, a woman with an extensive history of bizarre behavior.
As a former member and officer of Community School Board, District 28, and President of the current School Council created by Mayor Bloomberg, Shirley Huntley has what it takes to be our representative in Albany.
Unlike Mrs. Smith who is a do-nothing politician, Mrs. Huntley is eager to tackle the problems of our communities. She actually knows our communities from Jamaica to Kew Gardens and Forest Hills, and south to Howard Beach. I live in Kew Gardens and Shirley lives in Jamaica; during the twenty-five years that we have worked together on projects, Shirley has demonstrated resourcefulness, energy, enthusiasm, tenacity and integrity.
Ada Smith has done little for the communities she was elected to represent, including her own. Make a choice on Primary Day to vote for Shirley Huntley.
Carol Berger
Kew Gardens
Race-based “Survivor” Over The Line
CBS has announced that the new season of its long-running hit reality show, “Survivor”, will feature teams divided by race into white, black, Asian, and Latino “tribes,” which will face off weekly against one another in athletic and strategic competitions for rewards and immunity from getting voted off the island where the show takes place. This is yet another unmistakable sign that network television has sunk to a new low in its never-ending quest for ratings.
The last time I checked, America still has more than its share of racial and ethnic tensions. The brutal and tragic beating in Douglaston two weeks ago of four Asian Americans in an apparently racially motivated attack is a case in point. Spotlighting racial rivalry by pitting groups of people divided along racial lines against one another in high-intensity competition on a top-rated prime time program certainly could not help matters.
Our goal, as utopian as it may be, should be a colorblind society, in which, in the words of Dr. King, people are judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. Survivor is blatantly contravening the spirit of this ideal by reinforcing racial-consciousness among its contestants and, by association, its audience.
The executives at CBS need to reevaluate their priorities and consider if their choice of format for “Survivor” is of benefit to our society.
I hope that millions of television viewers will choose to boycott “Survivor” because of its objectionable and divisive format, and CBS will be dissuaded from ever trying to utilize race for the pursuit of profit again, not because the show offends us as whites, blacks, Asians, or Latinos, but because it offends us as Americans.
Daniel Egers
Whitestone
Who's Running Con Edison?
By QNS News Team
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