Memories Of 2006 Blackout Still Haunt

The lights in the Long Island City network stayed on during last week's blackout in Middle Village, but northwestern Queens residents still worried that it might not be long before their own power is out again.
&#8220We are very worried. One can't go through what we went through last summer and not worry,” said Assemblymember Michael Gianaris on Tuesday, July 3.
Last summer, the network, which includes parts of Astoria, East Elmhurst, Long Island City, Sunnyside and Woodside, went down for more than a week, and some areas suffered through 10 straight days of outages.
&#8220It was quite upsetting to us, everybody not just me,” said 82-year-old Astoria resident Millie Perri. &#8220We were without power for five days.”
In addition, the blackout occurred at the same time as a blistering heat wave and several severe thunderstorms, and local politicians blasted Con Ed for not releasing information about their progress to the estimated 25,000 affected customers - 100,000 people.
&#8220Last year, Queens residents and businesses learned the hard way that Con Ed can't be trusted to keep the power on when the temperatures rise,” said Councilmember Eric Gioia, who advised Queens residents to keep supplies like ice, battery-powered radios and flashlights handy in the event of another outage.
Joseph Giannola, 60, owns several buildings in Astoria, said he spent about $10,000 last year to replace appliances, including an elevator, which short-circuited.
&#8220Of course, I'm worried about it [a possible blackout] because I have tenants and I have kids in the building,” Giannola said, explaining that his Astoria Boulevard apartments house about 80 people in total.
Perri and her husband Salvatore, 84, however, said that they are trying to stay optimistic about the power supply this summer.
&#8220The other day we were kind of on edge, but thank God it didn't hit us. We just hope that it won't happen again,” Millie said.
Salvatore, who is diabetic, had a particularly tough time during the 2006 blackout, his wife said, because the couple had to keep buying ice to keep his insulin cool, and they weren't sure how long the power would stay off.
For this summer, they bought a new refrigerator, have been stockpiling ice and are trying to conserve energy.
&#8220I think it depends on what the weather is doing. We are hoping that Con Ed is more alert this year and is keeping up with the repairs,” she said.