August 10, 2020
Thomas Flacone, CEO
Long Island Power Authority
333 Earle Ovington Blvd. Suite 403
Uniondale, NY 11553
Daniel Eichorn, P.E.
President & CEO,
PSEG Long Island
333 Earle Ovington Blvd.
Uniondale, NY 11553
Dear Mr. Falcone & Mr. Eichorn,
We Village Mayors are contacting you collectively representing various parts of Manhasset, Port Washington, and Roslyn to demand immediate deployment of additional resources into our communities. Our residents and our teams have patiently tried to work cooperatively with little to no operational support. Our communities continue to manage serious public health situations presented by downed lines, COVID-19, and residents now not having power for six days. The continued delaying of restoration times and lack or operational support is unacceptable.
Despite all of the failures throughout the PSEG system of operations and communications, the people of PSEG, like our municipal representative team, led by Kim Kaiman, and our crews on the ground are operating professionally under the harshest conditions including systematic failure. While billions of dollars have spent to improve the system since Superstorm Sandy, we can tell you this region is experiencing the same failures.
While we are aware that crews have been called in from out of state, there are clearly not enough boots on the ground. Residents could have instituted evacuation plans days ago but instead they, and our teams, were repeatedly told restoration times would be within 24-48 hours of each passing day. This is all compounded by COVID-19 and the desire for our residents to not put themselves in harm’s way.
Our Villages have cleared the roads and done all the things we needed to do to assist LIPA and PSEG with recovery but we are not seeing the same support from your operational teams. The frontline workers are doing their best to get the job done but it is clear to us that more help is needed to immediately address the safety and electrical restoration needs of our communities and all of Long Island.
We look forward to an expeditious response to our concerns and are willing to discuss them immediately at your convenience. Given this is the beginning of hurricane season we cannot let this experience be repeated.
Sincerely,
Ed Adler, Mayor-Village of Sands Point
Jim Avena, Mayor-Village of Manorhaven
Lawrence Ceriello-Village of Munsey Park
Barbara Donno, Mayor-Village of Plandome Manor
Nora Haagenson, Mayor-Village of Baxter Estates
Brian Herrington, Mayor-Village of Flower Hill
Thomas Minutillo, Mayor-Village of Plandome
Kenneth Riscica, Mayor-Village of Plandome Heights
Bob Weitzner, Mayor-Village of Port Washington North
cc:
The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo, New York State Governor
The Honorable Ralph Suozzi, Chairman Long Island Power Authority
The Honorable John B. Rhodes, Chairman-Public Service Commission
The Honorable Anna Kaplan, New York State Senator
The Honorable Anthony D’Urso, New York State Assemblyman
The Honorable Laura Curran, Nassau County Executive
The Honorable Delia DeRiggi-Whitton, Nassau County Legislator
The Honorable Judi Bosworth, Town of North Hempstead Supervisor
The Honorable Mariann Dalimonte, Town of North Hempstead Councilwoman
