Bring Dr. King’s message back to Ansonia

Written by Susan Hunter
Wednesday, 18 January 2012 13:06

A change came to the African-American community in Ansonia this year.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration conducted annually at the Greater Evangel Temple Church didn’t take place, as civil rights activists moved their focus on Monday to a Hamden news conference where they called for the repeal of the death penalty in Connecticut.

That action is directly aligned with the stance of King and his family, who opposed the death penalty, and it’s because of the strength and vibrancy of King’s legacy of oratory and idealism that his followers find new ways to look at his message each year.

The children involved in the Tinney Community Center at the Riverside Public Housing complex took King’s message of fellowship to heart as they participated in the Evangel Temple Church service each year.

They brought the message home that King wanted people of all races and religions to respect each other and work out differences in a spirit of peace.

The children weren’t able to participate in another Martin Luther King Day tradition this year. In years past, they and their families, neighbors and friends gathered after the church service at the Tinney Center for an “International Feast.”

People of many ethnic backgrounds brought food from their cultures to share, in a fitting example of King’s belief in community fellowship and acceptance.

The feast didn’t take place because the roof leaks in the Tinney Center, one of the buildings in the Riverside complex that’s targeted for eventual demolition.

It is hoped that despite the shift of focus and locale this year, the MLK celebration returns to Ansonia next year, and King’s message of justice, freedom and fair treatment continues to ring out for the children at the Tinney Center.

It was the absence of his words in Ansonia this year that brought home how important they are as an inspiration for the younger generation and a reminder of our shortcomings for those of all ages.

One New Haven area minister chose to center her sermon on Sunday around Dr. King’s role as prophet and leader, and a church member read portions of Dr. King’s June 6, 1961, speech at Lincoln University.

In the speech, King focuses on the word “maladjusted,” as he goes on to give a new and ironic spin to the word that he weaves through his revolutionary message of justice and freedom.

“But I say to you, there are certain things within our social order to which I am proud to be maladjusted and to which I call upon all men of good will to be maladjusted. … So let us be maladjusted, as maladjusted as the prophet Amos, who in the midst of the injustices of his day could cry out in words that echo across the centuries, ‘Let justice run down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.’

“… I believe that it is through such maladjustment that we will be able to emerge from the bleak and desolate midnight of man’s inhumanity to man into the bright and glittering daybreak of freedom and justice.

“That will be the day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Catholics and Protestants, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! Free at last! Thank God almighty, we are free at last!’”

Storm report should be impetus for change

Written by Susan Hunter
Wednesday, 11 January 2012 15:53

Just two months ago, thousands of Connecticut residents were still immersed in a nightmarish power outage that kept them in the dark and in the cold for up to 12 days following the unprecedented “Halloween” nor’easter.

The storm dumped heavy snow on tree limbs that snapped, bringing down power lines and large transmission lines. The lengthy power outages after that storm darkened many municipalities for days.

Those outages, combined with the widespread and days-long outages caused by Hurricane Irene in August, prompted Gov. Dannel Malloy to initiate reviews of the preparedness and response of the power companies, the state and municipalities.

Each storm knocked out power to more than 800,000 utility customers, and it took as long as nine to12 days to restore power in some cases following the October storm.

The report issued in December by Witt Associates concluded that Connecticut Light & Power wasn’t prepared for the nor’easter, misjudged the worst-case scenario in its emergency response plan and miscommunicated the power restoration goal.

On Monday, the Two Storm Panel released its report, outlining 82 recommendations. They include developing performance standards for utility recovery and restoration linked to recoverable costs; changing engineering standards to accommodate predicted increases in storm surges because of climate change; “hardening” infrastructure to withstand natural disasters; and more collaboration among municipalities, the state, electric utilities, and telecommunications companies with respect to tree trimming.

A lot of hard work went into the report, which was based on testimony provided at nine public hearings. It is not a document that should be skimmed and shelved. Instead, it should be the impetus for action and change.

As the weeks pass and memory softens, people should not forgot the hardship Connecticut residents endured after both storms. People couldn’t heat their homes, cook their meals, drink their water, or take showers. People on medical support systems at home temporarily lost those services. Schools couldn’t open, food rotted in refrigerators, and residents’ faith in the power companies dwindled as the days passed.

Legislators and state officials shouldn’t forget either, as they use the recommendations of both the Witt report and the Two Storm Panel to draft legislation and initiatives to improve the response of the utilities, and of local and state government, in the wake of Mother Nature’s fury.

Especially significant is the recommendation to create a state enforcement division to investigate potential violations of compliance and negotiate administrative penalties with violators.

Legislators should move quickly and assertively during the upcoming session to draw up workable legislative solutions for timely power restoration.

Utility companies must never leave residents in the dark again for so long, and local municipalities must be better prepared to deal with natural disasters.

It is hoped that the recommendations and subsequent legislation will allow all utility companies to improve their preparedness and, in turn, ensure the safety of Connecticut residents.

A vote of no confidence

Written by Susan Hunter
Wednesday, 14 December 2011 10:31

As investigations of Connecticut Light & Power’s tardy response to the October snowstorm reach completion, confidence in the company’s ability to restore power in a timely fashion is waning.

CL&P wasn’t prepared for the nor’easter, according to the Connecticut 2011 Snowstorm Power Restoration Report issued Dec. 2 by Witt Associates, a public safety and crisis management consulting firm hired by the state of Connecticut.

The worst-case scenario in the company’s emergency response plan considered outages affecting 100,000 people, the report found, and at the peak outage time, 809,097 customers lost power as a result of the October storm.

CL&P didn’t adequately pre-stage restoration resources in advance of the Oct. 29 snowstorm, according to Witt Associates, and misled the public about its power restoration goal.

In response to harsh criticism from local, state and federal leaders, CL&P announced changes, including accepting the resignation of Jeff Butler, its president and chief operating officer, naming a new senior vice president for emergency preparedness, and creating a new position, vice president for infrastructure hardening, to evaluate ways to make the electric system more resistant to harsh weather.

We hope the changes will lead the way to revamping the restoration process, so that hundreds of thousands of people will never again have to spend up to 12 days without power.

Northeast Utilities, the parent company of CL&P, has offered millions of dollars to offset costs associated with the outages. The funds target residents who suffered financial hardship, including replacing food that had to be thrown out, paying for hotel rooms and tree removal, and buying generators.

While the financial compensation is appreciated, it doesn’t buy the confidence that people once had in power companies.

That confidence is what is lacking. Rather than money or promises of new executive positions, Connecticut residents need assurance that when snowstorms, windstorms or thunderstorms knock out their power, CL&P workers will be on the job quickly to get the power restored in a timely fashion.

Right now, we have no assurance that this will happen, and that’s a precarious and unacceptable situation.

The massive outages came just two months after 671,789 CL&P customers lost power — many for up to a week — after Tropical Storm Irene blew through the state.

Many people wonder why changes in restoration efforts weren’t made after that storm, and why CL&P was once more caught off guard when the October storm hit.

We now await the findings and recommendations of the Two Storm Panel, the working group Gov. Dannel Malloy created to review the preparedness, response and recovery efforts of Tropical Storm Irene and the October storm.

It is hoped that in the CL&P and Northeast Utilities workplaces, changes are being implemented that will not only improve power restoration but will also restore confidence in a company and electric system we all depend on.

It was too long in the dark

Written by Susan Hunter
Friday, 18 November 2011 15:41

For some Connecticut residents it’s been two weeks, for others 10 days and for still others less than a week since electricity has been restored following the October nor’easter.

The storm came charging up the coast in an unexpected mimicry of Hurricane Irene just two months ago — and put an abrupt end to the fall season, dumping heavy, wet snow on tree limbs that snapped, bringing down power lines and large transmission lines.

Power to more than 800,000 CL&P customers was zapped, and a silence fell over the western part of the state. Power was cut 100% to many municipalities.

Residents in Seymour, Bethany, Prospect, Newtown, and many other towns came home each night to dark and cold houses, warmed only by candlelight. The food in refrigerators went bad, plumbing didn’t work and dirty dishes piled up as residents stuck it out for several days.

Those with young children and elderly family members took themselves to shelters or pooled their resources to pay for hotels. Others escaped to the homes of family members or friends who had power, to sleep on the floor, or not sleep at all.

Some people, anticipating days in the dark, spent money on generators that droned on in neighborhoods that had yet to see utility workers repairing downed lines and removing damaged trees.

We huddled over cell phones and escaped to work, where we heard rumors that outside utility crews had never arrived as promised, that they didn’t arrive because they hadn’t been paid for their work after Irene, and that it took several days for crews to start repairing the damage.

CL&P spokespeople kept up the company line, citing the unprecedented storm and the vast number of trees across the state.

But the hardships imposed by the days-long period without power have stretched thin the patience of residents and of state lawmakers who suffered through the same powerless conditions.

The era of CL&P making excuses is over, for good, it is hoped, and a time of action seems to have started in earnest.

A number of investigations are under way, initiated by Gov. Dannel Malloy and the power company itself, and potentially by federal regulatory groups.

The Connecticut U.S. congressional delegation has asked the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to determine whether CL&P and Northeast Utilities, the parent company, violated the Energy Policy Act of 2005 by restoring power to nearby states more quickly than to Connecticut.

Those reviews may help answer questions that have been circulating, and may lead to solutions to continual power restoration problems.

The wheels have been in motion for legislation that may impose penalties on power companies that don’t adhere to guidelines for timely power restoration and may vastly increase the amount of tree trimming around power lines.

A Massachusetts law that imposed restoration guidelines and subsequent penalties on utility companies appears to have worked well in that state after the nor’easter, legislators said.

We hope the recommendations made by the investigators lead to real change in the form of legislation that will restore trust in CL&P and its ability to respond to Mother Nature.

It’s a pity that responsible and timely power restoration has to be legislated, but if that’s what it takes, then let it happen and let the light shine once more over the woods and hills that we call home.