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Ross: Enough already with NStar's failures in the Back Bay, Fenway
By adamg on Mon, 06/10/2013 - 7:12pm
The City Council on Wednesday considers a request by Councilor and mayoral candidate Mike Ross for a hearing to grill NStar officials about the Sunday blackout, which he said came "despite assurances of safety upgrades and additional installation of materials to prevent future outages" following last year's transformer explosion and outage.
Ross represents the Back Bay and Fenway, which have been particularly hard hit by the blackouts.
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Comments
Threw out about $75 worth of
Threw out about $75 worth of groceries... had just stocked up. What a waste.
How did you throw out $75
How did you throw out $75 worth of groceries after just two days of blackouts? Did you keep your fridge open the whole time?
A) yes, did you leave the
A) yes, did you leave the fridge open all night B) then again, $75 in groceries in the Back Bay is an avacado, 4 greek yogurts, a gallon of milk and a bag of Cape Cod Sea Salt and Vinegar chips.
You put your chips in the fridge?
Year round, or just in the warmer months?
Head in the sand much?
Some of us work for a living, pay our own rent and buy our own food. Get out of Mommy's basement and act like an adult. Grocery shopping aint that scary, I promise ya!
Already On The Verge
Since many, if not most, stores do not sufficiently keep refrigeration at a low enough temperature (particularly bodegas and such rather than grocery stores) it is very common for products (especially dairy) with a stated shelf life of many weeks to be actually on the cusp of being bad at purchase time. Thus it only takes a short window of downtime, a slight increase in the temperature in your fridge, to push them over the edge.
So why doesn't the public
So why doesn't the public health commission/the green energy people require all stores to have closed refrigerated cases instead of open shelves? Seems like selling the public nearly spoiled goods and wasting large amounts of electricity from poor refrigeration isn't in the general public good.
Who's Going to Pay? Mitt Won't.
It's closed refrigerators too, that are just not set to low enough temperatures.
Recall that this state and city's inspection and licensing services are woefully underfunded, understaffed as a consequence, and thus lack the ability to enforce any rules whatsoever.
It doesn't matter if it is dairy licenses, elevator inspections, apartment inspections, or bridge maintenance. In this city and state it is not getting done. But despite this we're better off than most places in the country... which says something sad about the country as a whole.
I dunno like everything else
I dunno like everything else in this state/city hire more inspectors and actually collect fines currently on the books to make the payroll? Nah, can't do that that might hurt campaign contributors and personal friends of politicians.
If you think $75 in groceries is a lot
You obviously aren't someone who does much food shopping.
Out of touch much?
$75 is a lot of money and a lot of groceries for many people.
what?
What exactly does "out of touch much?" mean? Do you mean "you're out of touch." "have you been out of touch much?".
One of the dumbest pop culture phrases I've heard in a long time.
Sound dumb much?
You are out of touch
I frequently spend $250 to $300 a week on groceries for four people. That is what statistically and mathematically literate people call a representative sample, if we are dealing in phenomena best modeled as frequentist.
We shop at Costco and Market Basket and the discount green grocer on Mystic Ave., too - not at Whole Paycheck.
People living in the Back Bay don't have Costco and Market Basket. They have Trader Joe's and Whole Paycheck and a farmer's market or two.
We are also able to buy "family size" or otherwise labeled "discount bulk purchase" sizes, which would reduce the cost for us relative to that for a single person.
While I do have two teenage boys and one might divide that sum by six adults, we don't buy a lot of processed food or the types of prepared food that would push that bill up higher.
You are the one who is out of touch. You must be someone who either eats out every night or has a mommy and daddy do the grocery shopping. Sorry, but five dubious tube things at 7-11 != groceries.
It's relative, though
If you're spending $300/week on 4 people that's about $75/week per person. Figure that maybe half of that is stuff that doesn't need constant refrigeration and it sounds like they lost some stockpiles - frozen meat, dairy, whatever.
Regardless of cost, it's pretty disheartening to throw out a week's worth of food.
Shaws
on Ring Road is the Back Bay's supermarket. There are no Whole Foods in the Back Bay.
I love reading arguments over
I love reading arguments over whether $75 is a lot of money for groceries. Because clearly this is an important question, with an objective clear-cut answer, and arguing about it is a useful pastime.
Are you the food police?
Are you the food police? Damn! So sorry I had too much meat, dairy and eggs for your approval! Do you shop in the city for food? Apparently not. It's freaking expensive. Didn't I say stock up? I'm not shopping for just one person. Is that okay with you? Shall I submit my grocery list to you for your approval? Our power was out for about 8 hours. Never opened the fridge once. When it finally went back on the thermometer in the fridge read 55deg. That is not a safe temp. for many perishables if it's been more than two hours. There's plenty of info online about that, google it you judgemental troll.
Judgemental troll? On
Judgemental troll? On UH?
Lots of feet to fit into that shoe.
I Agree, I don't get the Logic Above
I must agree. Food lost is food lost. Money lost is money lost. $75 is wroth more to some than others, but it is still money. How does "I spend $300 dollars a week on food for 4 people" and "you used the word 'much' to out of touch" equals to go FUUUU to the commentator?
Where online are there maps of the last outage?
Where online are there maps of the last outage?
ha
a city that can barely solve a murder or graduate a kid from high school wants to hold hearing on accountability. go away mike ross.
Mike Ross
is looking a little older, ah aging.
When all else fails, read the contract.
What level of service is Nstar obligated to provide? What recourse is available to the individual customer if Nstar fails to meet its contractual obligation? What recourse is available to the regulatory agencies?
These questions are not mysteries to be uncovered in some grandstanding extravaganza of public hearings, they are black-and-white documented provisions of tariffs. What we need is for the government to do the actual, boring, work of reading the applicable documents and deciding if a violation has occurred and if penalties are in order. And if the existing tariffs etc aren't working, we need the government to do the actual, boring, work of drafting new regulations.
It's not glamorous; it doesn't make for great press coverage in the mayoral election, but it's how the job gets done, Mike.
NSTAR campaign contributions
Does this mean Ross will return and no longer accept campaign contributions from NSTAR? According to OCPF they've been very generous to him.
Contract? When I got my first
Contract?
When I got my first apartment and signed up for electric and gas service, I asked what the rates were. The phone agent was nice and told me, but I got the feeling hardly anyone ever asks how much it will cost, let alone other details of a contract (if one even exists).
THANK GOD! OH WOW! Thanks
THANK GOD! OH WOW! Thanks Mike Ross for saying NSTAR was so bad to us! That really is going to make a fucking difference you asshole!