Are You Still Without Power? Tell Delegate Vitale
Delegate Cathy Vitale (R-District 33A) is personally informing BGE of any outages among her constituents.
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Delegate Cathy Vitale (R-District 33A) is urging anyone who is still without power to contact her to ensure that Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. is aware of the outage.
Vitale said she plans to personally hand BGE officials a list of homes where electricity service has yet to be restored.
Residents can contact Vitale at Cathy.Vitale@house.state.md.us or 410-841-3510.
As of 2:15 p.m. Thursday, there were 5,512 BGE customers in Anne Arundel County without power.
BGE crews have been assigned to work Thursday to restore service in Odenton and west Crofton, according to a list on the company's website.
To report a power outage directly to BGE, call 1-800-778-2222.
My Opinion
8:28 am on Friday, July 6, 2012
So does Ms Vitale think she has more influence with BGE then us lowly consumers? A pathetic effort to look good....call her and she will call them, lol After 6 days of NO power we get a phone message from the under indictment County Executive, John Leopold, telling us to "be careful it's hot out"....ha! This County has gone to hell in a handbasket...if they had put in a tenth of the effort they put into opening that Maryland Live Casino it might be resolved by not....and so it goes.......and hopefully so do they!
Carol B
11:02 am on Friday, July 6, 2012
I got the same stupid robocall from Leopold, Rose--guess that was all he had the energy for, once he'd napped for a few days in the A/C, after his parking-lot trysts. I sent this to Ms. Vitale--but I also sent it to the head of the PSC. (It will take two entries on Patch). Meanwhile, his contact information is:
David Collins, Executive Secretary
Public Service Commission
William Donald Schaefer Tower
6 St. Paul St., 16th Floor
Baltimore, MD 21202
(410) 767-8000
1-800-492-0474
Mr. Collins, despite some grousing from their indignant spouses, I don't think ***anyone*** blames the individual workers, who have been out there sweltering in this unbearable heat and humidity, slogging through double shifts, and enduring impossible working conditions to try to bring the rest of us a little relief. But the executives who run PEPCO deserve every BTU of "heat" they're getting from DC's Mayor Gray and their disgusted customers, who have endured situations like this over and over again because PEPCO chooses to operate on the principle that a pound of cure is worth an ounce of prevention. Every time there's a storm of any kind, their customers lose power for a week or more. I think all power companies who fail to plan for predictable disasters like hurricanes & derechos & thunderstorms & snowstorms by reinforcing their infrastructure so that after any recurring (and therefore predictable) event the power can be back on within 36 hours should be forced to build and maintain . . .
Cathy Vitale, Maryland House of Delegates, District 33
5:20 pm on Friday, July 6, 2012
Of course not. I would never, never assume I had any influence over a citizen. I would hope that the power company woudl be responsive to all of us. What I have been trying to do is to advocate for us and put information in front of them, and take information back to homeowners as quick as we can. -- Cathy Vitale
Carol B
11:04 am on Friday, July 6, 2012
shelters for each sector of the power grids they support--equipped with permanent generators large enough to allow for heating/cooling, cooking, and full capacity for hot showers and air mattresses to accommodate all of the people who live on that grid. For outages longer than 36 hours, they should also be required to forfeit all profits above 5% for that fiscal year to an escrow account held for the sole purpose of maintaining those centers and reimbursing the customers who can't be sheltered there for their meal and lodging expenses, as well as spoilage losses and consequential damages (such as gasoline to run stand-alone generators). And they should NOT be allowed to raise their rates to compensate for the resulting financial losses at any time during the subsequent five years. That would teach them to "pay now" for the infrastructure upgrades they so obviously need to make, or "pay later" for being penny wise, pound foolish.
----------------
(You're welcome to use my words if you want to send this, too. You can do an online message at http://webapp.psc.state.md.us/intranet/psc/contactus_new.cfm) . Tim--maybe a poll asking those affected by this horror for any other recommendations they may have would be helpful, at this point.
My Opinion
7:37 am on Sunday, July 8, 2012
Nice response Carol B! FYI: the "cooling station" at the Crofton Library was closed for the 4th with a note on the door of where to go to the ones that were open.....the mall was closer, lol PS totally agree that the workers on the lines were doing a fantastic job and Ms. Vitale was the only elected official to even care so thanks for that effort. I wonder though if anyone will care once this "event" is concluded? Seems to me that the conversation should continue especially since there appears to be many, many trees perched over power lines and just waiting for the next event to happen!
Phoebe
4:49 pm on Friday, July 6, 2012
Rose, I believe that if she hadn't tried to help her constituents you'd complain about that too. That is her JOB is to advocate for her constituents. I think it's just ashame that one would be so quick to complain when an elected person is trying to help. (As for Leopold, I got nothin', lol--didn't get the robocall so I am perplexed why he would call just to say "Be carefull, its hot out there")
Cathy Vitale, Maryland House of Delegates, District 33
5:23 pm on Friday, July 6, 2012
Phoebe, let me have an address for you. I have just looked at the list of names I received from my staff. Did you leave a message or an email? So far, the office has been able to assist in clearing and getting BGE to pay attention to several areas (I have a great staff), and we are continuing to send information throughout the weekend. Some we can help, some we cannot, but we continue to try. - Cathy Vitale
My Opinion
8:43 am on Sunday, July 8, 2012
So you choose to make a personal attack on my comments....sad.....
Patrick Mondor
10:38 am on Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Rose,
You are too thin skinned. Where did she personally attack you? Sheesh...please step away from the keyboard...
Carol B
4:59 pm on Friday, July 6, 2012
Well, Phoebe . . . I know that she received my message, but I didn't receive a reply, so maybe Rose is not so far off the mark? The Leopold call was ludicrous. He didn't even say where the "cooling off" centers were--nor (more importantly for me) where one could take pets who were suffering right along with their families? The message was a weak and stupid attempt to ingratiate himself with a public tired of his nonsense. You're a citizen of this county, and should have gotten the call, too. (Wish I hadn't deleted it--I could transcribe it for you.) Maybe only the people who have criticized him in the past got his message?
My Opinion
8:50 am on Sunday, July 8, 2012
Good point about the pets, Carol B! I personally saw two in cars at the mall where, apparently, some thought it was ok to leave them while they "shopped" or "cooled off"...call 911 if that happens I did and will do again....and yes Phoebe the under indictment County Executive made robo calls, I got one and I guess you weren't on his "list"...ps: fyi BGE has called 3 times to make certain we had power and were doing ok.....guess you didn't get those either.....
Carol B
10:51 am on Sunday, July 8, 2012
Ms. Vitale, do you think you might be able to convince Public Works--or Safety-- or whoever it is that is responsible for establishing "cooling off" centers to make some provision for pets? They can become physically distressed in this kind of weather even more quickly than we can (because they don't sweat--panting is their only means of countering the increase in body heat). I felt bad even leaving mine in the house with the screens open and a full bowl of cold water long enough to get into my air-conditioned car and go to the air-conditioned supermarket in search of ice and something unspoiled to eat. I would never have abandoned them to go to a cooling center myself, even if I'd known where one was! (I didn't find out until after the power came back on, because I had no Internet access).
Cathy Vitale, Maryland House of Delegates, District 33
5:26 pm on Friday, July 6, 2012
Carol, I would respond to you as I did Phoebe above. Since this forum does not afford me address or contact information, I will continue to encourage you to communicate with me. I have been regularly checking email, voice mail and the home voice mail. Our office forwards names, addresses, and issues to BGE and they in turn have been providing us informaiton when they have it. For example, I am aware that a community will (or should) be back on line in the next two hours which has about 82 homes currenlty out of power. Since I can't climb the poles, I can at least continue to provide the locations. I am sorry if you feel this is insufficient and I will continue to strive to do better. -- Cathy Vitale
Carol B
5:32 pm on Friday, July 6, 2012
Ms. Vitale, please see above. I didn't ask for help (for me)--I asked for help for all of us. I know that you and your staff must be swamped with mail; if you can't find mine, please let me know, and I will re-send it. (I didn't expect an immediate response, but an acknowledgment would have been encouraging.)
Cathy Vitale, Maryland House of Delegates, District 33
5:35 pm on Friday, July 6, 2012
Not a problem. it's funny, but when we send acknowledgments without answers, people indicate that they don't like robo responses (neither do I, so I don't use them). I will look for the email. Can I assume that the from will identify it as from Carol B? Perhaps if you tell me when it was sent, I can find it a bit quicker. Again, thanks for your input. It really does help me to be a better representative.
Cathy
My Opinion
8:54 am on Sunday, July 8, 2012
Robo calls are annoying but, in some cases, necessary...having said that my concern/complaint was regarding the timing (after the fact) and the content which the under indictment County Executive simply said it was hot out and be careful....seemed a bit trite for a county executive who put so much effort into "other" things ....jmho
Carol B
5:42 pm on Friday, July 6, 2012
Again, please see the Patch message at 11:02 AM today, now seven messages above. I will re-send the message, which is from my actual e-mail address--and yes, it does include "Carol B."
Phoebe
6:52 pm on Friday, July 6, 2012
Thanks Cathy. I honestly didn't know you were on here when I posted. I spoke to a lovely woman in your office. We are in good shape now. I appreciate that you are willing to do whatever you can to help.
Carol B
6:57 pm on Friday, July 6, 2012
I've also received a response from Ms. Vitale--for which thank you, too. People are suffering, and the utility companies (especially PEPCO) seem to have no compassion whatsoever. I hope what I've proposed as a "fix" to you and the PSC will provide a real solution.Like the rest of us, utility companies must be held accountable for their business decisions!
Leslie Hunt
9:20 pm on Friday, July 6, 2012
Cathy V.- Thank you for interacting with Patch readers on this topic. My mother finally got power back yesterday afternoon, if not, I was going to take you up on the offer of help and email you.