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
By anon
Mon, 06/10/2013 - 7:16pm
Threw out about $75 worth of groceries... had just stocked up. What a waste.
How did you throw out $75
By anon
Mon, 06/10/2013 - 7:21pm
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
By anon
Mon, 06/10/2013 - 9:18pm
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?
By Boston_res
Mon, 06/10/2013 - 11:36pm
Year round, or just in the warmer months?
Head in the sand much?
By anon
Tue, 06/11/2013 - 9:48am
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
By BlackKat
Mon, 06/10/2013 - 9:44pm
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
By anon
Mon, 06/10/2013 - 10:07pm
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.
By BlackKat
Tue, 06/11/2013 - 9:07am
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
By anon
Tue, 06/11/2013 - 9:38am
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
By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 06/10/2013 - 11:20pm
You obviously aren't someone who does much food shopping.
Out of touch much?
By anon
Tue, 06/11/2013 - 12:42am
$75 is a lot of money and a lot of groceries for many people.
what?
By bosguy22
Tue, 06/11/2013 - 9:25am
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
By SwirlyGrrl
Tue, 06/11/2013 - 10:49am
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
By Nonymouse
Tue, 06/11/2013 - 11:19am
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
By anon
Tue, 06/11/2013 - 11:49am
on Ring Road is the Back Bay's supermarket. There are no Whole Foods in the Back Bay.
I love reading arguments over
By anon
Tue, 06/11/2013 - 1:11pm
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?
By anon
Tue, 06/11/2013 - 6:31am
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
By Judy
Tue, 06/11/2013 - 7:19am
Judgemental troll? On UH?
Lots of feet to fit into that shoe.
I Agree, I don't get the Logic Above
By RhoninFire
Tue, 06/11/2013 - 2:38pm
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?
By theszak
Tue, 06/11/2013 - 5:53am
Where online are there maps of the last outage?
ha
By anon
Tue, 06/11/2013 - 7:34am
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
By Fisher St
Tue, 06/11/2013 - 10:27am
is looking a little older, ah aging.
When all else fails, read the contract.
By anon
Tue, 06/11/2013 - 10:47am
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
By Eddie R.
Tue, 06/11/2013 - 1:19pm
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
By anon
Wed, 06/12/2013 - 11:44pm
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
By anon
Tue, 06/11/2013 - 11:47pm
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!
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