The good news is that it can’t possibly get any more miserable in my house. After three-and-a-half days without power the indoor and outdoor temperatures have pretty much equalized. My refrigerator thermometer (no longer needed in my fridge) recorded 36 degrees in my living room this morning, about halfway between today’s expected high and expected low. So if I’m forced to sleep yet another night in an unheated house, it certainly couldn’t get any worse than last night.
Of course I’m far from the only one suffering through the power outage, a fact I was reminded of constantly throughout my four hours on 710-KIRO last night as I took calls from cold, tired people throughout the region. Some just wanted to complain, and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that. Some called to offer take in those less fortunate, and it was wonderful to hear such generosity. A few callers actually seemed to be enjoying the adventure. More power to them. (So to speak.)
But most were clearly frustrated at least as much by the lack of useful information out there as they were by the inconvenience and discomfort. Puget Sound Energy customers — of which over 200,000 households were still dark last night — were especially angry over what they felt to be a lack of responsiveness from their power company. After three hours of callers bashing PSE on-air, I finally challenged the company to call in and give me an update… and to their credit they did.
Likewise, Seattle City Light eventually responded to repeated calls from linemen who were angry that they were being pulled from the field last night when they felt they were still fresh. City Light Superintendent Jorge Carrasco called in to explain that only crews that had been out in the field for 17 hours or longer were being pulled, but linemen continued to call KIRO to refute him. This went on for hours, with linemen and customers growing increasingly suspicious until finally a manager called in to explain that yes indeed, most crews were being called in from the fields, but only so that they could synchronize teams the next morning in the daylight. One can disagree with that strategy if one wants, but at least it’s a reasonable explanation to what at first seemed to be an unreasonable management decision.
I mention all this because it points out how important good communications and PR is, not just to corporations and government officials, but to customers and constituents. I know a few government communications officials, and I love to tease them as sell-outs and hacks (yeah… I’m talking about you Sandeep,) but the truth is they provide a valuable service.
It’s one thing to be kept in the dark due to downed power lines. We all understand the enormity of the situation and the incredible work the linemen and other crews are putting into restoring our power. But it is just damn frustrating to be figuratively kept in the dark about the pace of repairs, and the decision making process that has led management to focus their efforts on some areas over others.
Stations like KIRO have pretty much covered the outage 24/7 since the wind storm hit, and company and public officials are being just plain stupid if they’re waiting for us to call them to get the latest updates and information. The linemen in the field are so dedicated to their work that they’re calling to complain when they’re pulled off the job. The communications staffs need to be just as tireless and proactive.
The media, legacy and new, is a valuable resource. Use us.
POSTSCRIPT:
As long as I’m lecturing corporate America, I thought I’d send a message to Starbucks… a message sent via the free WiFi network provided by Tully’s. Perhaps Tully’s free WiFi hasn’t directly generated enough extra business to make up for the revenues they could have earned by charging for the service, but it has certainly generated an enormous amount of goodwill and customer loyalty. Given a choice, I’ll certainly choose Tully’s over Starbucks in the future, if only out of a sense of gratitude.
There’s more to running a good business than counting beans — even when it comes to selling coffee.
How’s your spawn-of-Satan dog handling this whole thing? Did he bite the KIRO staff? If it gets REALLY cold, you can do like they do out on the prarie; cut him open and warm your hands with his entrails.
Then again, I don’t think your daughter would like that one very much.
I think an interesting point about the repair work is the seeming egalitarian nature of it… As my family was driving back to our cold Bellevue house from Seattle last night over the 520 bridge, it was impossible not to notice the very dark Gold Coast of Medina. Even the world’s richest man had to run his own generator these last four days!
Seattle City Light expects most of the power to be restored to their customers by midnight tonight. So there is hope, Goldy.
But Puget Sound Energy customers are another story. I hear that Woodinville may not get power until Thursday, and the Woodinville-Duvall road is closed.
Godly;
I’d invite you to stay at my house, but I’ve already got two dogs that don’t get along with each other, requiring us to keep gates up around the house to keep them seperated. My wife who assumed that (a) she knew better than I did on this or any other subject, and (b) getting a second dog would solve the problems with the first dog. Adding your dog and cat to the mix would probably be a disaster.
On other topics:
It appears that replacement of the 520 bridge is being stymied by the “unsolvable” lack of 2 billion in funding.
I’ll never cease to be amazed at the penny-pinching of people in this area when it comes to things which benefit the public.
Think about it. 2 Billion might seem like a lot of money, but we have approx. 734,376 households in King County. Divide the 2 billion among those households, and divide it again over 20 years of payments upon government bonds, and it comes out to approx. $136.00 per year, plus interest, per household. That’s eleven bucks a month.
Spread it out over thirty years, and include Pierce and Snohomish county in the numbers, and you get a figure which is almost half that. Change the numbers so they are weighted by income rather than as a flat tax, and then you can have Microsoft millionaires who live in Magnolia but commute to Redmond in their Hummers over the 520 bridge start picking up more of the cost.
My dad was in local government for 30 years, and took the excellent Clinton-era (ie. pre-Horse Commissioner) FEMA training for local government officials on how to handle natural disasters.
He said that one of the things they taught was to have all of your leadership people, in succession, at a press conference, telling the public what’s going on and reassuring them. When he sees disaster press conferences on TV, he knows who’s going by the book and who’s winging it. I think those pressers are supposed to happen regularly during the crisis.
Would make sense to me that big, regulated monopoly utilities (private or public) should really follow the same plan.
RHP @ 5,
Are there plans for tolls on the new 520 bridge? If not, there’s your $2 bil.
pse & city of bellevue ministry of information make memories of life in kazakhstan these latest dark days
Yes, a lot of places were out of power, regardless of their economic strata, but by Monday noon, which neighborhoods still have no power?
let’s see; Madison Park/Broadmoor? They have power
North Capitol Hill? They have power?
Mayor Nickels hood? He has power, boy does he ever?
Laurelhurst? HA!
But Skyway, where I live?
My freezing ass will be the last to get warm, I fear.
Yes, I know what City Light said about how Southend damage was most severe, but it sure seems as though their priorities about where to do repairs first was wealthier neighborhoods. Am I paranoid, or just brain rattled from cold and darkness?
MY WIFE DID A LITTLE DRIVIN’ A WAYS BACK ON THE “DARK” SIDE. EVERYTHINGS A BIG MCMANSION THEN A LINE OF TALL TREES FOR PRIVACY THEN ANOTHER MCMANSION, ETC.
IT ONCE WAS ALL FOREST NOW THOSE TALL TREES ARE JUST MATCHSTICKS IN A STRONG WIND.
BET YOU DIDN’T THINK OF THAT WHEN YOU BOUGHT YOUR DREAM HOUSE, EH EASTSIDERS?
YOS LIB BRO – Same thing happened in Gig Harbor – rich guys’ houses got struck by trees in the green belt/privacy forest and power will probably be out for another day or two. Wind storms are a fact of life in this area, and those who choose to have big houses amid throngs of trees should be willing to pay haigher premiums for homeowener’s insurance and be willing to suffer the unpleasantries of a big wind storm.
asdf at 7: Yes, its tempting to just put tolls on the bridge. But I’m against tolls generally, for a couple of reasons.
First, I remember the tolls on the original 520 bridge. I never had to pay them because I didn’t use the bridge, but I remember the rejoicing in this town when they were removed. I remember the toll plaza was the source of several accidents, at least one fatal. It makes more sense to keep it open than to slow it down or encourage lane-shifting as people jocky for the “less full” toll gates. Yea, I know, technology is supposed to make that better, but I’m pretty skeptical.
Second, my experiences in Japan with toll highways shows how bad it can get. Every few miles there is another toll gate. It slows traffice, and it becomes very expensive to travel by highway. Businessmen there tell me that when they go golfing, each person has to chip in $50 to $100 just for the highway tolls.
Third, the current momentum toward building toll lanes on otherwise private highways, or allowing toll permits to use HOV lanes, strikes me as an attempt by Republicans to get exclusive use of a express lane by paying only a small portion of the cost, with the rest of the public picking up the rest. That reminds me too much of the what’s happening in Russia, where government leaders and industry big-shots get to use the center lane that is supposed to be used only by emergency vehicles.
While I’m warming up to the subject, during the Monday “commute from hell” last month, it took me 8 hours to get from Bellevue to Everett. I was surprised to see the carpool lanes full of traffic. Then I rememebered the campaign to open the carpool lanes to general traffice after 7:00 P.M. The result? Emergency vehicles, tow trucks, DOT sanding trucks & snow plows, etc., couldn’t get through traffice to help solve the problems, and everybody was stuck. It was a predictable result caused by pressure from people who hate the DOT and hate carpool lanes and want to use them for themselves.
You don’t have to go to Japan to see toll booths every few miles. I remember driving through someplace in Illinois — it might have been the Dan Ryan Expressway, but it was so long ago I honestly don’t remember which road it was — and having to slow down every few miles and throw another few coins in the hopper. Expressways aren’t supposed to make you stop every few miles, or so I thought.
My wife and I listened to your radio program for the first time last night, after being driven to distraction by some of the “plucky” hosts over at KOMO 1000.
It was nice to hear from somebody who actually got it, who wasn’t just talking about how fun it was to play “pioneer” in the living room of a dark, cold house. We’ve been out of power since Thursday and live right around the corner from Shorewood Elementary.
As one woman who called into Dave Ross’ show put it: we live in the city for a reason, and superior access to city services is one of them. I could understand the delays if I lived in the outlying areas. But we’re just over the border from the Seattle city limits. I’ve lived all over the country in my nearly 40 years and I’ve never had a power outage last for four days.
At any rate, you were a gust of warm air last night. At the risk of pissing off locals, maybe it was the East Coast in you that we really needed to hear.
I’ve often wondered why Starbucks charges for WiFi access when essentially every competitor in the area offers it for free. Clearly Starbucks isn’t making many coffee sales to customers who were drawn in by the WiFi access.
A couple possible explanations come to mind: (1) In most other U.S. cities there aren’t many competitors offering free WiFi, so as a national corporate policy this makes sense. It’s too much trouble to allow differentiated policies in different cities. (2) Starbucks has more cost-insensitive, brand-loyal customers than its competitors. So it can make more money by charging them for WiFi than it could by attracting new customers with free WiFi.
Right. So now we’re being told not to expect power til midnight Tuesday. We live in West Seattle which, if I’m not mistaken, is part of a MAJOR AMERICAN CITY. Seattle is always whining about not being considered a “real”/world-class city: is it any wonder why it’s not? I’m from Chicago, and you can bet your sweet cheeks that this shite wouldn’t fly in the Windy City.
I’ve somewhat lucked out in that my apartment in Seattle has had power for all of this, but my job, located way out in Snoqualmie, hasn’t had power since Thursday.
Today, we were told to stay home again as the temperature in the office is approaching 30º, and it looks like more of the same tomorrow.
“I know a few government communications officials, and I love to tease them as sell-outs and hacks … but the truth is they provide a valuable service.”
I’m a hack, and I’d sell out in a minute — if someone would pay me to bash Republicans! Which, BTW, is a valuable service.
2 Even the world’s richest man had to run his own generator these last four days!
He’s probably got a generator the size of a hospital backup powerplant hooked directly into a natural gas line … and he can afford the fuel bill.
Dave @14, Rebecca @16,
Absolutely. I’m tired of people telling me that I should have been better prepared. I don’t have a fireplace. There’s no way to keep my house warm.
I live in the middle of a major city, and I shouldn’t be expected to own a 3000 watt generator. There is absolutely no reason why any of us city folk should have been prepared to be without power for 4 to 5 days.
5 I understand your reasoning, but I’m on a fixed income which is not adjusted for inflation, and I use the 520 bridge on average once every 3 or 4 years, so forgive me if I like the idea of spending the $11 a month on food, medicine, and heating bills — and suggest drivers pay tolls for the bridge they use every day.
I’m sitting in an icy-cold office next to the southeast corner of Bridle Trails, helping keep a temporary network stitched together running off a couple of portable generators. We’ve been told we might get mains power back by Wednesday–first, they have to re-string the distribution line to the Northup substation. Presumably, they’re also putting up new poles to replace all the ones up on the hill that snapped off like matchsticks Thursday night.
I can’t help but wonder how many times undergrounding was brought up for this oh-so-affluent neighborhood of “gentleman horse ranchers” and the cheapskates all said, “Hell, no!”
16 According to what I heard on KOMO radio today, the problem is (a) feeder lines downed out in the tules, and (b) crews can’t easily get to those areas because of lack of roads, no access for heavy equipment, and the need to walk in with chain saws and other equipment. Assuming that’s true, while your impatience is understandable, you can’t ask power crews to do what has to be done in less time than it takes to do it.
21 Sigh. You’re an incorrigible flatlander, Goldy. Around here, power lines cross hills, and the hills have trees on them. Get a generator. Really. Just get one.
And be happy you’re on public power! The mayor appoints the superintendent of City Light, and you can vote the mayor out of office. People who depend on investor-owned utilities can’t do a damn thing about the utility’s management or service, no matter how bad it gets.
Yessirreebob, good ol’ Seattle bolshevik is a better way to go than sucky capitalist power. Another market failure.
Yessirreebob, good ol’ Seattle bolshevik power is a better way to go than sucky capitalist power. Another market failure.
The way things are going in the Cascade foothills, they may have to call Christmas vacation one week early.
Proof That U.S. Detention Camps in Iraq Are Run By Fucking Idiots
A Pentagon spokesperson, responding to press inquiries about two American contractors who say they were mistreated in a U.S. detainee camp in Iraq, said there was no record of either man complaining about their treatment.
Like … torturers are gonna keep RECORDS of prisoner complaints about being tortured?
Got Power back last evening. With two little ones, keeping warm at night and hot meals were a definite priority.
I was able to keep abreast of PSE progress via my cellphone (treo). PSE updated the status every 6-8 hours. I found that helpful.
One thing seems clear. We are not ready for a REAL cut in services. Anyone who belives that because they live in a MAJOR CITY shouldn’t have to deal with 3-4 days without power is silly. This was but a tickle of what a real disaster would look like. How bout Katrina level? No water, fuel, natural gas, propane, electricity, food or shelter?
Taht is the scenario we are staring in the face if the big one were to hit.
I for one take this storm and aftermath as a lesson of what I need to be prepared for myself….Cause no one else, especially the government, is going to be there to help. I need to be prepared…
I think that’s a lesson that extends beyond this storm and any disaster.
More Proof That U.S. Detention Camps in Iraq Are Run By Fucking Idiots
The two American contractors worked for a company they suspected of shady dealings, such as supplying arms to Iraqi militias and death squads. One of them notified the FBI, and became an FBI informer. Among other things, he told the FBI where to find weapons caches in the compound where he worked. After U.S. troops found the weapons, the two Americans were arrested, carted off to a high-security detainee camp, and informed they were being held as “suspects” because they worked for a company that had weapons caches.
http://tinyurl.com/wco5r
Roger Rabbit Commentary: If you’re an American contractor working for a company in Iraq that’s supplying weapons to the enemy, whatever you do, DON’T tell the American authorities because if the fucking idiots find the weapons they’ll probably think you’re one of the bad guys, and arrest and torture you.
Can you say, “management problems?”
Newsweek is reporting that the economy in Iraq is “Booming”.
If a lib rag like Newsweek is making that statement, there must be some serious sphincter tightening in the anti-war crowd. ” oh no, good news in Iraq!”
Personally, since things are “booming” over there, why not start the debt payment process now? Reverse the flow of money from Iraq back to USA?
#15
(1) In most other U.S. cities there aren’t many competitors offering free WiFi, so as a national corporate policy this makes sense. It’s too much trouble to allow differentiated policies in different cities.
This makes sense to me as being partially the reason. Think of business travelers that need WiFi around the country. They’re willing to pay ~20/month (or ~$4 per one-time use).
(2) Starbucks has more cost-insensitive, brand-loyal customers than its competitors. So it can make more money by charging them for WiFi than it could by attracting new customers with free WiFi.
I really don’t see sbux making a lot of money off this. I do see it being pure profit. T-mobile probably gives them a shockingly good cut of the revenue with almost zero cost to SBUX.
No matter what SBUX says about it being the ‘third place’, they really don’t want people cluttering up their lobbies for hours on end using WiFi. The entire corporate MO is to squeeze every drop of efficiency out of their stores. If you notice the changes starbuck stores have undergone over the last ten years you can see this in:
*Menu items
*automated espresso machines
*cash registers that expedite credit card transactions
*frappucino-making equipment that is more efficient
*Drive-Thru
*how their pastry cases are always changing to more efficient layouts.
A lot of customers don’t think of this because there lobbies are generally nice and comfortable (unless it’s a commuter type store). They think luxury-ish. It’s that ‘persona’ so to be speak that allows them to charge 10% higher than most other places (along with a consistent product borne from efficiency).
Personally I hate Tully’s coffee as I think it tastes like ass. And I’m not a coffee snob; I enjoy coffee just fine at IHOP and Denny’s. Not my favorite but not bad either.
But not charging for WiFi is commendable on the part of Tully’s. Here, here!
Oh, I forgot. Anybody who has lived near a toll highway will tell you all the routes you can take to avoid it. It’s a bit more difficult with a bridge, but my prediction is that if you put a toll of 520, you will just drive more traffic to I-90, transferring the problem to that bridge (and the connecting highways) rather than solving the 520 bridge problem.
And everybody in the region benefits from an efficient transportation system, even if they don’t use the bridge or any particular highway. Better transportation equals more jobs, cheaper prices for goods on the shelves, better emergency service, etc.
@35 agree
“If you build it, they will come”
I said this a few threads ago, but since you brought up the subject of utility company communications:
The spokepeople the utilities have available to the radio stations say absolutely nothing that’s of use. Why can’t they say “We’re working the problems in the order of doing the things that will get the most people back on-line most efficiently, and today our emphasis is on these areas: ____,____, and ____.” Specifics, not platitudes, are all that we ask for.
Goldy, I listened to the show, and there was one thing that some of the callers just did not seem to get, which is the idea that infrastructure had to be recreated from remote, high-voltage feeder lines back in, like a tree. People without power were only thinking about their “twig” in the system, ignoring the trunks and branches that needed to be put whole first.
I know there were lightning cells in that storm, but some of the flashes I saw Thursday night were substations going “pop!” I don’t think callers thought about the excess equipment (line, power poles, transformer parts) that probably had to be flown in from cross-country. The whole process of restoring power to everyone is larger than can be easily imagined – feeder lines, substations, then patrolling individual neighborhoods and streets for downed trees on smaller distribution lines, downed poles to be replaced, etc.
I have to tell you, those power crew guys are my heroes. And they don’t even get to showboat, like the firemen with their shiny engines.
Oh, before I forget, though, I do agree that the communication by the power company management(s) left a lot to be desired, and I also think the mayor and other local leaders should have been out there, making comforting noises at least.
The thing I noticed in your commentary that is truly an outrage when people are so inconvenienced is the notion that the top guy (Carrasco) doesn’t know what’s going on. It is so frustrating when the guy in charge is saying one thing while people are looking out their windows and seeing something different.
Both the schools, PSE and City Light have got to do better at communicating. It is like they think they can just diss us and get away with it.
Having said that, PSE is one of those bottom-line companies who will never have ample people to do the job in emergencies. City Light honestly does better than anybody because as a government agency, they really don’t keep a skeletal crew. And they shouldn’t. They have to be prepared within a reasonable range.
Also, crews who think they are still fresh may not be. I think we can all give these guys a break and allow them to be somewhat rested rather than take chances in a very dangerous environment.
Sorry, Goldstein, you are so cold. That is tough. Why don’t you go visit your ex for a while? She might have some sympathy.
One more thing: rph . . . tolls are fine with me. Bring ’em on. If people want to drive around and pay for the gas it is going to take, that’s their choice.
33 If the economy in Iraq is “booming,” why are U.S. planners talking about ways to put unemployed Iraqi men to work so they won’t join militias?
Double-digit growth looks great on paper, but if you’re starting from 95% unemployment … ?
35 The 520 bridge had tolls on it for years, and drivers didn’t avoid the bridge. And there was a lot less traffic and a LOT less congestion in those days.
35 “Better transportation equals more jobs, cheaper prices for goods on the shelves, better emergency service, etc.”
It’s been my experience that prices for food, gas, prescriptions, etc. readily go UP in response to natural disasters, deficit spending, oil shocks, etc.; but NEVER come back down again, no matter how many bridges you build.
Once people get used to the higher prices, when costs come down, businesses pocket the money as increased profit. So why the fuck should consumers pay for bridges? If building the bridge will make consumer products cheaper, tax the businesses that don’t lower their prices.
libertarian @11…….. so which houses in gig harbor got trashed? was it by any chance the big white [faux] victorian right on the harbor?
Does Tully’s provide health care for all its employees you selfish asshole? God forbid you pay for wi-fi so some mom can have health care for her sick child. I hope you gag on your wretched latte.
HorsesassH*le @48,
I don’t drink lattes. Drip coffee or green tea.
Props for your humor — I stand corrected. Please gag on your drip coffee or green tea.
After you’re done choking explain to me how you’re any different than the Wal-Mart patrons who flock to low prices created on the backs of sweatshops and non-union labor? Starbucks spends more on employee health care than they do on coffee — hardly bean counters in my book.