James E Longo

After the storm, towns steamed at utilities' slow response

James Boudreau is usually an even-tempered person, but Monday the town administrator was as upset with National Grid as half the town’s residents.

“I don’t think I can say what I feel,” Boudreau said of the utility’s response to power failures from Hurricane Irene damage – and their estimate that all customers may not get their power back until this weekend.

“There’s a complete lack of information,” Boudreau said Monday afternoon, shortly after National Grid officials held a conference call to update Norwell and other area towns.

Norwell has lots of company with its frustrations. In Quincy, Mayor Thomas Koch also said he’s “extremely disappointed” with National Grid’s response there, while Marshfield administrator Rocco Longo said Irene seems to have brought more such delays than any storm he’s seen in 30 years as a town official.

“A lot of people are not happy right now,” Longo said.

In Braintree and Hingham, by contrast, the town-run power systems had all but a handful of customers back online by Monday afternoon. A dozen remained without power in Braintree, and the last 40 in Hingham were expected to have power by Monday night.

“I am very happy,” Hingham Municipal Lighting Plant general manager Paul Heanue said.

National Grid and NStar officials said the prolonged delays are due to the heavy damage to their lines and transmission systems suffered over the weekend.

“The damage is so extensive that in many places, we essentially have to re-build the electric system so we can restore power to customers,” said Werner Schweiger, NStar’s senior vice president of operations. “Given the sheer amount of work to be done, we know this will be a very time-consuming process.”

National Grid spokeswoman Amy Zorich said that utility’s transmission system was also wrecked, with 20 major lines knocked out. She said National Grid has brought in crews from as far away as Colorado and Texas.

Alliance, No New Tax parties make it official - Local Politics - Capital ...

Tuesday was the day to file independent nominating petitions, and Schenectady’s Alliance Party handed in 1,498 signatures – more than double what they need to enter the mayoral and City Council races as a third-party.

Also in a surprise, County Legislature Republican candidates Peter Guidarelli and Richard Patierne also collected Alliance signatures. Alliance spokesman Brian Young said Guidarelli and Patierne approached the party about running on the line, and Alliance didn’t object.

Meanwhile, the No New Tax Party, an offshoot of the Republican party based in Rotterdam, filed on behalf of the following candidates:

Brian McGarry, Rotterdam Supervisor

Christopher Tomaselli – Rotterdam Town Board

Joseph Villano – Rotterdam Town Board

James E. Longo – Rotterdam Highway Superintendent

James Bradshaw – Rotterdam Justice

Seymour Vanderveen – Duanesburg Town Justice

Schenectady County Legislature

Patricia E. Zollinger – District 2, County Legislature

Wade D.

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