DC Brau – The Citizen – 01-28-12
courtesy of mosley.brian

This is the most marvelous of cities. It is not the tallest, nor the most tree-covered, nor the biggest, nor the trendiest, nor the richest.

Nor does it have to be to be first in our hearts today.

Gathered in congress in Philadelphia, the representatives of the people declared this to be an independent nation backed by divine providence and the sacred honor of those who lead her. Not long after this place on the Potomac was carved into being from Virginia and Maryland, and brought into existence, but not before much blood was spilled, fortunes lost, and cities and town burned and rebuilt. This city has been built and rebuilt and Kinsella’s army of bulldozers have erased and rewritten and erased this city’s past over and over again. Like a chalkboard, its shadows remain, and the whole combined picture is one of haunting beauty.

This is an incredible city, where all walks of life share small space. Where all backgrounds are represented in her government, and where even the smallest layer of civic life is infused with an incredible spirit of volunteerism and activism. Where neighborhood associations and ANCs are the lifeblood of our participation, no matter how contentious the results end up being.

Gathered on the patio of Fox & Hounds, we started We Love DC four years ago. We launched four years ago today with our declaration of love for the city, it continues on today, stronger than ever. 

Thank you for reading, and cheers!

DDOT crews clear debris on Monroe Street (photo by author)

Author’s Note: This story was written at 6pm tonight. It wasn’t posted until 9:48pm because we still don’t have Internet back in Brookland yet.

I got home after a long hot day in the sun working with my clients to restore their operations, as a friend said that Mayor Gray, fresh off an overnight flight from China on Sunday, would be in my neck of the woods. I walked the two blocks to 18th & Monroe St NE where a large tree had been blown into power lines on Friday. The tree wasn’t the only one down in Brookland and Woodridge, and the storm wasn’t the first to take power for an extended period of time. The previous Friday a microburst struck the neighborhood and again sent mature trees into the elevated power lines that Pepco has refused time and time again to underground.

The Mayor was a welcome sight, as his black-on-black Lincoln Navigator was also accompanied by a pair of dump trucks that are part of the Bridge & Tunnel repair team and a pair of front end loaders. About ten minutes after the mayor met with some of the affected residents, the stump of the tree – freed from Pepco wires on Saturday night late – was hauled off. 

Mayor Gray said, of the outages, that “this will continue to happen,” until Pepco can underground the lines that run through so many residential neighborhoods in the city. Pepco has resisted attempts to underground the lines citing expense, though the utility has never been able to clearly identify a cost that can be agreed upon. The city had budgeted $1-4M for the streetscape along 12th Street NE in Brookland from Rhode Island Avenue to Michigan Avenue, but then Regional VP for Pepco Vincent Orange Sr. suggested that the costs would be much higher, and the money for that undergrounding project was scuttled.

A DDOT front-end loader and the Mayor’s Entourage (photo by author)

The Mayor, and his Director of Communications Pedro Ribeiro were both fairly pessimistic about the chances to get Pepco to listen to the pleas of the area citizens, citing a lack of full autonomy for the council before the whims of Congress, and the heavily-connected resources that the utility wields in the public arena. Gray was also quick to say, “I’m not their best friend right now,” suggesting that the Mayor wouldn’t roll over.

Gray – and the City Council – would be wise to quickly tie any potential rate hike – Pepco is on the record asking the council for an increase in subscriber rates – to a comprehensive plan to underground the lines through major corridors over the next 5 years and increase the efforts made to prevent tree-based outages, and add a longterm plan to underground lines throughout the city.  The city has the opportunity to split the cost for this new conduit system with other providers of local wire-line services including Verizon, RCN and Comcast, all of whom are reeling from major outages throughout the city in the wake of the derecho storm on Friday night, all caused by trees and piggybacking along the same infrastructure.

The Mayor and the Council have a unique opportunity to forge a good coalition of local utilities, and create private sector jobs, while also fostering good will with the citizens throughout the city in an effort to reduce power outages.

Brookland and Woodridge have now had two three-day outages in twelve days – that’s two restocking trips to the local groceries for spoiled milk and meat. A commitment to making sure that this doesn’t happen again would go a long way with area residents to soothe irritated nerves over the loss of household budget control amid recurring storm losses.

Unexpected Thunderstorm
courtesy of Can Wong

More than a quarter of DC area households remain without power this morning in the wake of the severe storm that hit Friday. OPM and many state and local governments have placed their staffs on liberal leave and telework this morning ahead of the start of the holiday week.  At the storm’s height, more than 1.5 million power customers were without power as the 60-80mph winds tore through the area late Friday night.

Power remains out for more than 650,000 homes this morning as Pepco, BGE, Dominion Virginia and others work to repair the damage caused by falling trees and other debris on the power grid. Current restoration timelines are fairly dire at this time, with Pepco releasing a power restoration target of 90% of their customers by Friday. Dominion Virginia’s picture is a bit rosier, with 85-90% of their customers expected to have power by Tuesday, while BGE expects that their repairs will take through the upcoming weekend.

Temperatures are expected to rise into the mid and upper 90s through most of the week with high humidity which certainly looks to make for an uncomfortable week in the nation’s capital.  Cooling centers have been setup throughout the affected areas and will provide some relief for affected residents, some of them are staying open 24/7, but check with your municipality for the latest timing.

The area utilities are citing extenuating circumstances when asked to explain the long repair timelines. The storm is the third worst in area history in terms of outages, and the only non-hurricane event to make the top five list, according to the Post’s Mike Debonis. Area political figures including Montgomery County’s Chief Executive Isaiah Leggett, who said, “Having our citizens having to go through seven days without utilities is not in my opinion the kind of level of services that we should expect.” 

Pepco is currently in the process of asking for a rate hike for its subscribers in the District and Montgomery County, which should go about as well as you might imagine given the abysmal restoration timelines and the inability to draw peer workers to clean up the storm.

More than just the power, Internet access has been dramatically affected throughout the metropolitan area. RCN is citing a fiber cut for many of its outages and the inability to repair until Pepco permits them to work on their broken network. Comcast, while not citing specific issues, says that they are working closely with emergency personnel to repair the damage, but neither Comcast nor RCN would offer any kind of timeline toward restoration of services.

On a more personal note, I wanted to say how proud I was of all my DC friends, I saw a lot of good neighbors out there taking in their friends, taking in strangers even, during this storm. This is the sort of thing that builds community, through the difficulty. The outpouring of support throughout the various neighborhoods, despite variegated disputes over budget priorities and zoning and even the littlest thing. This is a town that can pull together when it matters, and that is always heartening. And we did it all with our mayor 12 timezones away in China. Not bad, DC. Not bad at all.