ConEd will be hogging up some parking spots ahead of another transformer replacement

Via the EVG inbox from your friends at ConEd…

Due to transformer replacement work at the Avenue A substation, pedestrian traffic and some parking spaces will be affected from November 17 to December 14, 2014.

There will be no parking on both sides of East 6th Street from corner of Avenue A to the end of the substation from Monday, November 17 until Sunday, December 14, 2014.

On the day of the transformer installation tentatively scheduled for March 1, 2015, East 6th Street will be closed to vehicular traffic and there will be parking restrictions on Avenue A between East 5th Street and East 6th Street on the weekend of February 28.

These disruptions are necessary to accommodate cranes, heavy equipment, and an oversized trailer needed to remove and replace the transformer. This work will help us continue to provide reliable electrical service in your community.

There will be no interruptions to your gas or electric services during this operation.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

Hope that you have noted all this in your 2015 calendars.

Anyway, so you know what all this means?

Big crane and transformer photo opps galore!

[January 2012!]


[March 2014 photo by Allen Semanco]

Anyone know how many transformers are inside the substation… and how often they actually need to be replaced….?

H/T EVG reader Creature

Today in photos of a 200,000-pound transformer on Avenue A

[Photo by Allen Semanco]

Woo, here it is. The new transformer for the Con Ed substation that has blocked traffic on Avenue A this weekend.

This will be a painstaking precision operation…



… so the new transformer doesn't end up inside Sophie's.

Report: Several dogs jolted by stray voltage on East Village streets

[Sunday on East 7th Street]

The Post has more details about the reports of stray voltage on various East Village streets, such as East Seventh and East Second.

In particular, residents were pissed that Con Ed didn't tell residents about the potential danger … simply putting up some cones and yellow tape with a subcontractor sitting nearby in a car. Meanwhile, several dogs were zapped by electrified manhole covers...

Here's the Post with more from East Seventh Street between Avenue C and Avenue D:

It took calls to 311, 911 and, finally, a visit from the NYPD before a Con Ed repair crew arrived ... And while cops were talking to the safety manager, a passing pit bull got jolted.

“The yellow tape is out there to keep people away from the energized objects,” Con Ed spokesman Allan Drury told the Post on Monday.

Con Ed workers discovered the problem early Friday but had limited access to the area because of tightly parked cars, he said.

Repairs were completed on East Seventh Street late Sunday, he said.

Another neighborhood dog, a black standard poodle named Maybelline, was zapped so violently on Sunday that her heart stopped temporarily, said the dog’s owner, Catherine Kord.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Resident shocked about ConEd's nonchalance over stray voltage

Resident shocked about Con Ed's nonchalance over stray voltage

Yesterday, we noted that Con Ed has caution tape up around some manholes and light poles on East Second Street from Avenue A to Avenue C…

This isn't the only part of the East Village with possible stray voltage. A resident points out that the same thing has happened on East Seventh Street between Avenue C and Avenue D dating back to Wednesday …

"On Wednesday, a series of cones and caution tape went up ... covering multiple cars, motorcycles, tree pits, garden gates, approximately six or seven buildings wide. Movie being made? Crime scene? Art installation? Nope, there's live current running through tree pit fences, railings, cars, street lamp posts and the pavement. A number of dogs have received severe shocks, including Maybelline, the black standard poodle, whose heart stopped as she fell to the ground convulsing, yelping and writhing in pain."



"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," according to the resident, who has documented the various offenses. The resident also notes that a Con Ed subcontractor has sat in his car since Wednesday watching over the scene, but never talking to passersby.



-----



Eventually the NYPD get involved.



"Con Ed's subcontractor tells the police this car, surrounded by a couple cones and caution tape (no signage provided) is sitting over live wires.
Hmmmmm, might want to let neighborhood folks in on what's happening," said the resident. "Thanks Con Ed for being on it! So on it, that the police had to place a call to get a ConEd emergency crew on the scene."

-----



After the NYPD put in a call, an emergency Con Ed crew arrived on the scene yesterday afternoon around 4. The emergency crew blocked the sidewalk with more cones and tape to prevent pedestrians from entering the area. As of last night around 8, the crew was awaiting for a tow truck to remove the car sitting on the live wires.

Updated:
Con Ed reported that crews have fixed the stray-voltage problems on East Second and East Seventh streets.

Beware of 'stray voltage' here on Avenue A and East 2nd Street

You may have noticed the caution tape up around the manholes and light poles and what not on Avenue A and East Second Street (there are more manholes with caution tape further east on Second Street).



One of the ConEd guards sitting in some sort of town car told an EVG reader the reason for this presence: "stray voltage."

Con Ed making strides so that the East 13th Street substation doesn't explode again

[14th and C last Nov. 4 via faces]

On Monday, Con Ed officials unveiled the repaired substation on East 13th Street nearly a year after Hurricane Sandy.

As you'll painfully recall, the storm surge caused a relay station inside the substation off of Avenue C to explode, leaving the lower half of Manhattan eating peanut butter, drinking warm beer and [______] in bags, among many other things worse than that.

Con Ed issued this video to show their improvements to its systems as part of a $1 billion plan to fortify critical infrastructure from major storms. Per Con Ed officials: Overhead equipment is now tougher and more resilient. Substations have new walls and raised equipment. Gas and steam infrastructure also is protected with water-proofing measures.

And here's WABC with a report... Last November, Fortune published an inside look at the Con Ed's Sandy experience. Find that here.

[Updated] 200 East Village ConEd customers without power

We've heard from a few readers around East Sixth Street and Avenue C who lost their power late last night.

According to the ConEd outage map, there's a "manhole problem":



The estimated power return is 11 a.m.

Updated 9:30 a.m.

East Sixth Street between Avenue B and C is currently closed... and there are at least 15-18 ConEd trucks on the scene...





Updated 11:34 a.m.

ConEd is now estimating that the power will be restored by 3 p.m.



Updated 2:30

We're told that ConEd has restored the power.

Steamed on Avenue A and East 10th Street

Per EVG reader Chris this evening on Avenue A and East 10th Street...

Sounds like a jet engine up close — hear it really loud inside halfway down Ave A. Con Ed's got a truck there. Just seems like a lot of steam.

Fall Friday flashback: Yesterday's First Avenue manhole explosion, the movie

On Fridays this fall, and probably winter and spring and... we'll post one of the 12,000-plus EVG, uh, posts from yesteryear... like this one from Oct. 27, 2010 ...

------------


Many thanks to EV Grieve reader Jason B. for this video...

A few highlights:

• The onlooker in the beginning eating a banana
• The firefighter dragging the Voice box out of harm's way (32-second mark)
• The young man crossing the street right in front of the smoking manhole and getting yelled at (46-second mark)

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated]: Explosion, fire on First Avenue and Ninth Street

From ConEd to shining ConEd

Sunset on East 14th Street this evening ... via EVG reader Emily...

How much of a rent discount for not having gas for cooking?

A resident is looking for a little advice about the current situation in his or her East Seventh Street apartment building. (It's a different building than the one we wrote about here in March 2011.)

Some background.

On April 12, workers shut off the gas because tenants had been smelling a gassy odor in the building. The residents didn't have hot water or gas for cooking for nine days. The hot water returned on April 20 — but there still wasn't any gas for cooking.

According to the resident, the building's landlord, Koppelman Management, was difficult, if not impossible, to reach. When someone did get in touch with a building rep, they apparently blamed the matter on ConEd. On May 7, full gas service was restored to all but five of the apartments. To date, gas for cooking is still not available in the five apartments.

Tenants have called 311, though the resident described the exchanges as "ineffective." Meanwhile, the resident says management offered a 15-percent discount on the May rent for the gas outage from April 12-May 7. But the resident, who's in one of the five units still without gas for cooking, thinks that's a low-ball figure, considering people have spent more than 15 percent of the rent on food in the past five weeks.

So far, the resident hasn't paid the May rent, and won't until the issue is resolved.

"The entire building is pissed off but everyone is at a loss for rules/laws, etc. This building has never properly been taken care of and ... this has been a constant problem. [Residents have] had rent strikes in the past just to get regular maintenance done."

Any constructive input? Do you calculate what you think you spent on food and subtract that from the rent? Other options?

[Updated] Meanwhile, on First Avenue...

Near Sixth Street. Via EV Grieve reader Duke... who notes, at 9 p.m., "situation normal." ConEd is on the scene.

And now with sound...

About the Boiler Dilemma

From the EV Grieve inbox...

Beware — The push is on right now to get all buildings in NYC to convert their boilers to Natural Gas.

Don't let this happen to your building! As we all know, East Village buildings are increasingly populated with at least a few, and usually with a majority of young business-oriented tenants with a strong sense of entitlement who care little about the future of the neighborhood. When decisions are made about the maintenance and preservation of their buildings, the only criteria they consider is immediate cost, convenience and mainly the future sale price of their domiciles.

ConEd is giving New Yorkers the option to switch to #2 heating oil boilers — OR offering substantial discounts for conversion to gas burning boilers. Both options continue our dependance on the use of fossil fuels. There ARE alternatives, but ConEd and Bloomberg are both pushing natural gas. ConEd is the sole supplier as well as deliverer of gas — unlike the current heating oil or alternatives, so the switch to gas will add billions to ConEd and Oil and Gas Corporations' already outrageous profits.

The City’s new heating oil rules require buildings to stop using heavy oils by 2030, (and if your boiler uses #4 or #6 oil, you mush switch soon). Building owners are tempted to convert to gas, due to its current low price. But what is the true cost of “cheap” gas, when fracking could ruin our air and water, and bring radon-laden shale gas to our stoves? Are conservation, solar thermal and biodiesel realistic alternatives?

More info here.

Avenue C sinkhole update

Here at 13th Street yesterday afternoon... not so sinky looking any longer... ConEd has been working on it the last few days...

Photo by Bobby Williams.

ConEd fixing Avenue C sinkhole

Dave on 7th passes along these photos showing ConEd workers repairing/filling in/whatever the sinkhole that has been growing on Avenue C at 13th Street...

ConEd back in transformer action on Avenue A today

They ConEddies are back in action today on Avenue A. Yesterday, workers gingerly removed a (100 ton?) transformer from the substation on Avenue A between Sixth Street and Fifth Street ... today, the workers will be putting the new transformer(s) in place.

And all together now...

Something evil's watching over you
Comin' from the sky above
there's nothing you can do

Prepare to strike
There'll be no place to run
When your caught within the grip
Of the evil Megatron

Transformers
More than meets the eye
Transformers
Robots in Disguise

Today in photos of ConEd putting in a new transformer on Avenue A

If you walked along Avenue A today, then you likely noticed the cranes, flatbeds, ConEd workers, etc., hanging around... the crew was on the scene to put in a new transformer in the ConEd substation between Fifth Street and Sixth Street... today, ConEd removed the old transformer; tomorrow, they'll put in the new replacement (which will actually be four smaller transformers, according to one of the 300 workers on the scene...) Photos here by Bobby Williams...

Transformers in the night...

Invasion of the Transformer People!

This is the old transformer (100 tons!) that ConEd removed this afternoon from its substation on Avenue A between Fifth Street and Sixth Street... it was quite the Social Event...

Previously.

Transformers: Dark of the Avenue A

ConEd is futzing around with their substation on Avenue A between Fifth Street and Sixth Street...And we can never resist a photo of a ConEd flatbed with two large transformers... which Bobby Williams is well aware!

[Updated] Breaking: Explosion reported at the ConEd substation on East 14th Street

Around 7:45 tonight, residents near the ConEd substation on East 14th Street and Avenue C reported hearing an explosion. However, many people thought it was thunder... until the FDNY responded... Breaking

According to EV Griever reader Robert Galinsky: "Big explosion, giant black plume of smoke, no flames." A witness at the scene said that it was a gas leak.

More emergency crews are responding to the scene...

In any event, 14th Street at Avenue C is cordoned off... the M9 and 14D buses were being rerouted... Avenue C is blocked off at 12th Street.

Updated:

Just after 9, @aimeeweiss noted that most of the emergency crews packed up and left the scene...