Thursday, December 26, 2013

Con Ed reviewing what was done about stray voltage warnings on East Village streets


[Avenue A on Sunday]

Several media outlets picked up our post about resident reports of stray voltage on East Seventh Street and East Second Street … (The reports were at the PostFox 5 and CBS New York …)

New York News

The stray voltage reportedly shocked several dogs… and some residents are upset that Con Ed took too long to respond to the issue… as well as did a lousy job of communicating, what, exactly, all the tape and cones were for on the scene.

As one resident told us on East Seventh Street: "This area has had current running through the detailed area for days, with none of the residents receiving any information on the danger. The area has NO SIGNAGE warning of the danger of electrical shock."

Community Board 3 has been in contact with Con Ed officials about the situation. Here's what a Con Ed official had to say about the matter on Tuesday afternoon, via CB3 officials:

We have made all repairs on 2nd and 7th Streets to eliminate any stray voltage. We understand the concern that you and others have raised. We have a comprehensive program in which we frequently inspect for stray voltage and secure an area if any stray voltage is found until the repairs can be made. The program has been very effective and we have been able to promptly find and correct stray voltage, whether it’s from Con Edison equipment, equipment belonging to property owners, or the City.

I understand that there are particular concerns about the setup of cones and warning tape on 7th Street. We are reviewing what was done there and will also take a close look at how we are securing locations in general. Our goal is to keep the area safe. We are happy to discuss the matter with you and the Community Board.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Beware of 'stray voltage' here on Avenue A and East 2nd Street

Resident shocked about Con Ed's nonchalance over stray voltage

In Memoriam: Roger M. Lane

Report: 'Jodie Lane Place' sign is gone; City says it will be replaced

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why didn't they respond with emergency crews right away and fix the situation? Just putting up some cones doesn't do shit to fix the problem. They are lucky someone didn't get electrocuted. This also makes me wonder how many other live zones there are in the East Village at this very moment.

Anonymous said...

This website might be useful here: http://strayvoltagenyc.org/stray-voltage-detection

This was started as a result of Jodie Lane's death. The data plots only go up to 2009, but, the stray voltage found was on the increase -- probably due to improved detection methods and actually having someone go looking for it!.

peter said...

Over the weekend, they had emergency crews on 2 St.btwn B&C.. They also had gypsy cabs parked adjacent to the manhole covers 24 hours a day, between the times the Big trucks were not there. I had no idea what was going on, but they seemed pretty busy.
Had no idea why the cabs were parked there, or now that I find out this info, what powers of jurisdiction or medical training the cabbies have.

Parlor said...

Is Jody Lane the woman who died trying to save her dog that was being electrocuted by ConEd manhole cover by Venerios? I thought that was around 2005? Perhaps there are multiple deaths from ConEds lack of carefullness.

Big Brother said...

That's one looong, self-congratulatory paragraph. I don't care if CONED found velociraptors down there, warning people about the velociraptors is the key part.

EV Grieve said...

@ Gwenn

Jodie died in January 2004. There is more information about her in the links at the bottom of the post.

BB said...

what is happening here is that the salt they put on roadways eats up the insulation of the underground wires, causing them to short, that's why this usually happens in the winter.

Anonymous said...

To BB: We spoke to the ConEd crew doing the repair on 7th St. They told us there was extensive corrosion on an underground conduit and when asked, had no explanation for what had caused the corrosion. The crew transported a damaged section of the conduit for further study.

Big Brother is correct- the core issue is that ConEd provided no signage or verbal warnings to pedestrians about an ongoing danger, though they had subcontractors "guarding" the area aroung the clock for multiple days....