All Long Islanders recall the weeks of frustrations and unanswered questions that followed in Superstorm Sandy’s wake. Now, a Plainview communtiy group is giving residents the chance to hear from the new power authority set to take the lead in all of the island’s utility concerns.
The Concerned Citizens of the Plainview-Old Bethpage Community, Inc. recently announced its upcoming Spring Community Forum featuring guest presenters from PSEG, the island’s new power company, along with the Sustainability Institute of Molloy College. The forum will be held at the Plainview-Old Bethpage Public Library from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Monday, March 31 in the lower level meeting room.
Concerned Citizens president Carol Meschkow said that with the forum, the organization seeks to continue an ongoing dialogue with the local utility provider. On the other end of that dialogue will be PSEG’s vice president of electric operations, who will share the company’s history and philosophy on customer service and how the company differs from the island’s former power provider, National Grid/LIPA.
“We want to hit the ground running with PSEG,” said Meschkow. “After all of the tragic events in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the prolonged recovery, and harsh winter of 2014, it is imperative to be as informed as possible and to partner with our new utility in sharing our expectations, especially as summer signals the beginning of a new hurricane season.”
The PSEG representative will also discuss the company’s tree trimming program, address the community’s aging utility poles, energy incentives, emergency preparedness, response management, as well as offer critical contact information for the utility.
Also on hand that evening, the executive director of the Sustainability Institute of Molloy College will discuss carbon monoxide detection — an important subject given the recent incident involving an accidetnal poisoning at Legal Seafood at the Walt Whitman Mall in Huntington.
The Sustainability executive director will discuss the importance of energy audits and why home appliances should be checked, as well as the benefits of strengthening standards to detect carbon monoxide in lower concentrations. Meschkow said the Molloy representative will clue residents in to the dangers of low concentrations of carbon monoxide in homes.
“They estimate that about 150,000 homes and other buildings on Long Island have undetected levels of carbon monoxide and this could be making people sick,” she said. “They are very concerned with young children at risk. It is clearly time for mandatory new statutes, and to take a fresh look at the sensitivity of the current thresholds of CO detection.”
Meschkow said residents can do more than simply listen to lectures from these two experts, they can also engage in a question and answer period in order to fully understand these timely issues.
“To have this chance to meet and ask questions on these two topics is a golden opportunity for residents,” she said. “Plainview is a very thoughtful and concerned community full of great activists who really care. And this forum is just what the community needs to ask the questions that really matter.”
The Concerned Citizens of the Plainview-Old Bethpage Community welcomes all residents to this free program and to visit the website at www.concernedcitizenspob.org to learn more about the organization.
