12 Days No Phone
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A frustrated Johnson Road man is staging a protest against Verizon. Necmet Morgul of Johnson Road saw his street devastated by last week’s storm. Cars and homes were crushed, 5 trees fell across the road and it appeared as if the street had it’s own private tornado.
Six days following the storm, Con Ed had repaired power lines and that same night the cable came back. Morgul credits village crews with clearing debris quickly to allow the repairs to take place. However, now 12 days after the storm, he still has no phone or internet service to his home. As he works out of his home he has been unable to communicate with customers and says that his children need the internet to do their work. Though several Verizon trucks are visible on the street, according to Morgul, little seems to be happening. As a result, Mr. Morgul has been sitting outside at the corner of Johnson Road and Boulevard with a sign that registers his dismay.
He has received three text messages from Verizon answering his pleas. Last Sunday they reported the problem was resolved (though it clearly was not), on Monday they told him they were still working on it and Wednesday they told him that crews had been dispatched to his street. For a communications company, Morgul doesn’t think Verizon is doing a very good job communicating!
The Verizon workers on the street have a plausible explanation for the delay. They explained that in situations where power lines are down Verizon is the last team to get access to the lines. First live wires must be cleared, and then trees removed. Following this work Con Edison can restore the power and cable lines can be repaired. On Johnson Road they need to fully replace all Verizon lines and they hope to have phone service restored by the weekend. The crew that is now on the street has travelled here from Poughkeepsie and is surveying the site to assess what needs to be done. Why was no one here earlier? They shrugged their shoulders in response and said that many are without service in Westchester and they are doing the best they can.
Bleached and More News from the Greenburgh Police
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A disgruntled former girlfriend had an unusual confrontation with her ex at the Candlelight on Central Avenue on Monday March 15 around 7 pm. Greenburgh Police responded to a 911 call about a fight at the restaurant. They learned that a woman, holding a brown paper bag, had entered the Candlelight and confronted a table of diners. She pulled a bottle of bleach from the bag and splashed it on them. Fortunately no one was injured but their clothes were damaged by the bleach.
Police interviewed the diners and one identified the assailant as LaShawn Frazier, age 53 of 25 Cliff Street in Hastings. Greenburgh Detectives went to the woman’s home and arrested her for Criminal Mischief in the 3rd degree, a Class E Felony. Ms. Frazier was arraigned at Greenburgh Town Court, released on $2,500 bail and is due back on court on Friday April 9th.
Here is more news from the Greenburgh Police:
Hungry? Bing Zhong Chen was in the process of delivering food from New Garden Chinese Food to a home at 105 Juniper Hill Road, White Plains, around 2 on the afternoon of 3/15 when the three black teens approached him. The bag was grabbed from his hands and the boys fled into a basement entrance of 105 Juniper Hill Road. Chen summoned the police who searched the area and found boys fitting the description walking into the woods. When the suspects saw the police they ran, hid behind some trees and began to take off their clothes and throw them to the ground. Greenburgh Police pursued them and stopped them in a wooded area behind 116 Taramar Way in White Plains. The suspects were identified as Kenneth Mirtil, age 19, Jose Campos, age 17 and Dion Beamon, age 17, all of White Plains.
Raccoon: Police removed a large raccoon from a bedroom of a Ravine Drive home in Hastings on the morning of Tuesday 3/19. The raccoon had been there since the previous night!
Theft at Marshalls: A man, wearing new sneakers was stopped as he walked out of Marshalls on Saturday March 20th. He was observed earlier taking off his old shoes and replacing them with a pair of Air Jordans. He also took several men’s shirts, but when store personnel attempted to catch him, a struggle ensued, and he fled. The shirts were recovered but the man escaped wearing his new footwear. Though police have not found the man, he was identified as Alphie Philmon, age 32, when store personnel reviewed the tape from the video camera.
600 Homes Still Without Power - Thursday March 18
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Here is today's update from Mayor Carolyn Stevens on Con Ed's progress in restoring power to Village residents. The number of households withour power in Scarsdale is down to a little over 600 - Con Edison expects to have 500 back by about 11:00PM tonight. That will leave about a 100 hundred more homes to be restored. Those 100 are scattered over the Village in no particluar pattern. At present there are 45 crews working on 8 outages - those 8 outages represent the 500 households they hope to get back by tonight. The are presently working on a large loop in and around Mamaroneck Road including Sheldrake, Cushman and Secor; Drake and Ferncliff; Sherbrooke, Donellan, Johnson Park and Windmill; and Brite and a couple of other streets in Arthur Manor near the Eastchester border.
The Public Service Commission will decide if Con Ed has to pay any claims for food or losses. Storm claims are normally denied - however if the outage is more than three days (which this has been) the Public Service Commission may review the circumstances and award payment for food losses. For more information, check the Con Ed website under Storm Claims. You may also wish to write the Public Service Commission to encourage them to make Con Ed pay certain damages.
On the Con Edison website you can also find a map that shows the location of outages. Check it out at: http://apps.coned.com/weboutageinfo/stormcenter/default.aspx
Storm Countdown - Friday March 19
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We are in the home stretch. As of 9 am today, just 43 homes are without power.
Con Ed must have worked through the night on Thursday because as of 10 pm on Thursday night 471 homes in town still had not power. Just seven outages were responsible for the loss of power in 370 homes and there were a total of 69 outages that needed repair.
Con Ed's goal was to have the major outages cleared up by 11:00 PM last night and it appears that they reached their goal. The other outages were affecting smaller numbers of homes and should be simpler and quicker to fix. Everything is targeted to be in order by Friday night.
We are Getting There …Storm Notes Wednesday
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Mayor Carolyn Stevens reports that we are making progress though we still have a long way to go. Yesterday, frustrated with Con Edison’s performance in Scarsdale, Stevens appealed to our elected officials… including Nita Lowey, Suzi Oppenheimer, Amy Paulin and Bill Ryan. They all followed up and today we saw the results. Up until today we had only one crew to de-energize the lines, and no workmen to restore the power.
This all changed today when crews from as far away as Georgia and Michigan were visible on the streets. They arrived last night and at first they stood around waiting as they did not have our grid plans. Once this was corrected they were able to get to work.
As of 9:00 pm tonight, we have 1,500 households without power – this is out a total of 5,600 homes – so some are still in the dark. However, Con Edison is now making rapid strides and 18 crews will work through the night. By Friday, everything should be back to normal. The number of road closures is down to 27 and 17 are being worked on now. With the exception of Sherbrooke Road, all roads are expected to be cleared by 9 am tomorrow morning.
Our elected officials were not the only ones paying attention to Scarsdale today. Mayor Stevens was interviewed by Fox News, ABC, and CBS and if you have power you may be able to see her on television tonight.
Here is an update from Mayor Carolyn Stevens on today’s status:
As you probably know by now, the Scarsdale Schools will be open tomorrow. Power was restored to Fox Meadow, Quaker Ridge and Greenacres Elementary School this morning. Post Road traffic lights have been fixed and we have crews here working on resetting the lights. Con Ed has a significant presence in the Village today and power is finally being restored. Village tree crews have worked with Con Ed line crews to open a number of streets and school bus pick-up should not be an issue tomorrow. As of 9:00 pm we have 1,500 households without power but that number seems to be diminishing by the hour. We may have crews actually working through the night. Con Ed has been contrite and recognizes that they dropped the ball and they appear determined to make sure everyone is back by Friday - if not before.
For people who have damage to their houses the Building Department has prepared a sheet to explain if a building permit is required and an expedited procedure to receive one. You can view the form here.
The New York State Insurance Department has established a special help line for those having difficulties with their insurers - that number is (800) 339-1759 and it is available 9 AM -5 PM.
In addition, a Scarsdale10583.com reader, let us know that you can file a claim with Con Edison for spoiled food. You can claim up to $200 in food by supplying an itemized list. For up to $450 in coverage for food and medications you need to supply receipts.
Instructions and forms can be found here: http://www.coned.com/customercentral/lawclaims.asp
Please comment below and let us know where you live, and if you do or do not have power!
