LIPA Now What?
I am jumping on the Frustration Bandwagon. Peering out of my Assembly office window the day after Labor Day and seeing rain, I knew that any minute the phones would start ringing once again. Sure enough, a woman who had her power restored after eight days post-Irene, lost power once more. And the calls kept on coming.
My own power went on after a mere seven days; looking at the rain, I feared the dark once more. Frustration was rampant in my office as my staff and I just came off a week from ‘Constituent Hell’. My office fielded calls and emails in the hundreds. Particularly compelling were calls from people who depended on electricity for their oxygen tanks and other medical needs at home. One woman had just given birth and needed assistance walking and had a leaking transformer in front of her house. We were able to help her.
Now we must ask: what do we do to make sure this doesn’t happen again? Most of the calls we received were from frustrated consumers who could not talk to a live LIPA person or get an estimated time as to when their power would be restored. On the other hand, when you called my Assembly district office you spoke to a live Sandy, a live Emily, or me.
We did our best to appeal to LIPA and successfully triaged some of the most medically challenged constituents. Emily, my Chief of Staff, intervened on behalf of the Great Neck School District and helped get their school buses rolling. If I had superpowers I would have done more. As a mere mortal state legislator, I promise to revisit this issue with LIPA and other stakeholders.
Kudos to the Town of North Hempstead’s 311 System for easing my office’s burden during the storm relaying valuable communications to constituents suffering from outages or unsafe situations. And thanks to Lisanne Altman at LIPA for taking all of our calls.
Gun Violence: When Enough Just Isn’t Enough
In the wake of 52 shootings and 67 victims, New York City witnessed another devastating weekend just days after Hurricane Irene. Unlike the confusion and unsafe conditions forged by the storm, the shootings were preventable. Dangerously weak federal and state gun laws provide easy access to illegal guns for criminals. We need leaders in both the state and federal government who will work together to pass laws that will help stop the carnage.
Many federal and state elected officials forget that their priority is keeping their citizens safe. Although there was a laser like focus on Irene to mitigate power outages and floods, many of these same officials ignore their obligation to stop the destruction and harm to communities flooded by illegal guns. Ironically in terms of human lives, Labor Day Weekend was an unprecedented tragic storm leaving many innocent children and community members dead.
State Legislators Against Illegal Guns (SLAIG) is calling upon our elected officials to enact common sense reforms and regulations of firearms. Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel, 16th District, Nassau County said, ”New York State legislators are obligated to respond to the devastation of this weekend that occurred in New York City. So too, I implore Congress to remember the two National Guardsmen, sitting in an IHOP in Carson City Nevada, as they were shot in cold blood by a gunman using an AK-47, with a 30 round large capacity ammunition magazine.”
