Dear Mr. Mayor,
Please stop blaming PSE&G for your poor leadership skills in responding to a crisis. After 9 days I finally got power back yesterday. There were 6 trees and 3 utility poles down on my block. Everyone involved with PSE&G was doing their job, from the local PSE&G crew to the crew from Illinois. It was not a quick fix. 3 poles had to be replaced and all utilities needed to be marked. PSE&G checked every day on the progress and spoke freely about the procedures and steps that needed to occur. Frankly, I was amazed that we got our power back as quickly as we did after seeing and hearing stories of the devastation to residents of Ridgewood, Little Ferry, Moonachie and other communities. You may have driven around last night (probably the first time) but when a local resident mentioned our problem to you a week ago, you had no idea that our street even existed and never bothered to check on us or visit.
My problem with you Mr. Mayor was your lack of leadership in providing local residents with helpful information. Instead of Robo calling to throw blame on PSE&G, why didn’t you call to tell us where to get hot food, because eating out every meal got to be very expensive. How about calling to say where we could get ice, extra water, computer access, charge our phones, help for our pets, extra blankets, a place to sleep or get warm, or that we were still having garbage pick -up. Not everyone had family to go to or could afford to get a hotel, or a generator and pay the cost to fill it.
In one of your Robo calls you mentioned that we were responsible for taking the tree branches down to recycling center on our own and to not put them in the street. I have no idea of how we are suppose to accomplish that. Meanwhile you had trucks collecting leaves? That is a perfect example of your pathetic leadership.
You sir, failed to do your job as a mayor, so just stop talking and calling, because frankly I’m tired of hearing from you!!
just sign me
A very pissed off 18 year Resident
It’s the OEM’s job for that info…check out their website.
https://oem.ridgewoodnj.net
The mayor has been acting as an advocate for the residents of the village–talking to PSEG, attending meetings with other mayors, etc. Remember, the mayor’s job isn’t deal with every little thing, but make sure that agencies that are in place are doing their job. And I’d say OEM has done a great job–lot’s of communication.
Signed,
A very pleased resident
Please Mayor stay off of this blog you have your own blog ” Paul’s Patch” and its lackey editor James the Troll defending you. We don’t need you or your apologists try to protect your political image.Your first big challenge and you fail. Your robo call with the statement ” Don’t forget to vote” tells it all.
I get updates from PSE&G already, and from the schools.
The mayor’s calls are mostly to remind us that the hurricane was PSE&G’s fault.
Max,
the website was down a good part of the storm. He did a lousy job of making sure the agencies in place were handling the situation.
Stop trying to protect him. his Robo calls and lack of support speaks volumes.
pissed Off 18 year Resident
ALL of the calls (from the mayor, the superintendent, etc.) are mostly self serving back-slapping and generic nanny advice.
It takes about 2 minutes to get around to the meat of the call.
My request is to keep making the calls but restrict them to bare bones practical information…
this school is closed; charging stations are here; these churches have shelters; call this number for tree removal, etc.
Leave the self congratulatory accolades and feel good nanny advice for speeches and newsletters.
This is why I don’t have a house phone.
I’ve been a resident for 43 years, since 1969. I did not vote for this mayor but I appreciate his attention to the matter. PSEG workers do the best they can. PSEG management is to be faulted for not adequately handling the storm that was accurately forecast weeks in advance. The out of state power crews should have been pre-positioned and ready to go the day after the storm. Its poor planning on the part of PSEG management. OR more likely, since PSEG is a publicly traded ‘for-profit’ company, a deliberate plan to minimize their expenses on contractors in an attempt to boost their bottom line, which is profit for their shareholders. I’m sure they will get a ‘rubber stamp’ rate increase from the Boad of public utilities to cover their costs, so they can continue to pay their shareholders and make a big profit. As a monopoly, they can do whatever they want.
We should be ashamed of ourselves: resident 43, PSE&G did pre-position crews near the Jersey Shore where the hurricane came aground destroyed property and lives and where most of the damage was done , Ridgewood experienced however frustrating nothing more than a minor inconvenience , few houses or lives were lost
As for the crews, given the decline in the work ethic in this country , better get used to living in the dark it is going to become a way of life . How ever in this case PSE&G crews worked their asses off in terrible conditions and should be considered hero’s !
Yes PSE&G is a NJ STATE GRANTED monopoly and like all monopolies (econ 101) makes maximum profit when its at maximum capacity with 90% of PSE&G customers off line at one point that mean they are NOT making money ! They have a vested interest at restoring power to pay those shareholders expecting a return on their investment and make the necessary investments in there business to keep the lights on as part of there MONOPOLY LICENSE with the state of NEW JERSEY that gets as you say and I agree gets , “rubber stamped” .
Frankly the mayor like most politicians came off looking like a clueless fool .and should have spent more time looking to nurture a relationship with PSE&G and things would have got done perhaps a bit faster