“We did fail,” admitted Southern California Edison in a rather startling apology for poor communication since last week’s unprecedented wind storm that turned into a mea culpa in front of the Arcadia City Council and about 25 residents Tuesday night (Dec. 6). The company later issued a bulletin showing that Arcadia suffered by far the biggest impact with 35,844 SCE customers affected since last Wednesday/Thursday, 1,389 of which remained without power at 5 p.m. Tuesday. That’s nearly three times the 13,000-plus affected in Sierra Madre and Altadena. Other cities such as Temple City, South Pasadena, and Monrovia each had 10,000 – 12,000 customers affected (Pasadena does not use SCE service.)
<Story continues following 55-second video drive-by of Arcadia Park the morning after last week’s wind storm below.>
Get the Flash Player to see this content.The Arcadia Cty Council had convened a special study session to take steps that will allow Arcadia to receive state funding if Governor Brown declares a state of emergency (which doesn’t appear likely unless the area is considered a “catastrophe”) to recoup damage and recovery costs to the city estimated at well in excess of $2 million.
After listening to a few complaints from a handful of customers still without power six days after last week’s unprecedented wind storm, SCE local public affairs director Jo Ellen Chatham began by saying, “I’d like to apologize.” Addressing frustration by City officials about a lack of communication from SCE for many days about specific status reports and updates on service outages, Chatham said, “We’re very unproud<sic> of our lack of communication.” She noted that the company also fell short in providing timely updates on the SCE web site, let alone offering many other customer outreach efforts, including phone blasts to residents used effectively by the Arcadia School District and Waste Management. Responding to SCE’s grossly-missed public projection last week that 99.9% of customers would have power restored by Sunday night, she volunteered the further apology, “We made promises we couldn’t keep; it was a mistake on our part. We created a false expectation,” she confessed, suggesting that SCE did not realize the severity of the damage to Arcadia and Temple City, the two cities she said were hit hardest by severe winds that she equated to Category 4 hurricane force.
After several angry residents complained about SCE claiming to be unaware that their neighborhoods were without power until Tuesday, despite multiple calls to SCE each day and having to start from scratch logging their information each and every time, Chatham said SCE “didn’t have the right system in place.” One engineer resident said SCE workers tried to leave his neighborhood without confirming the power was restored after doing work that he incorrectly assumed fixed the problem. It turned out the worker had simply not flipped a switch. Many attendees, including City Councilmen, complained of not seeing any SCE trucks in their neighborhood for many days after the storm. But most noted that SCE workers were polite and patient, if uninformed and misinformed.
Finally, Chatham also apologized for an “erroneous rumor” advanced by at least one SCE employee that SCE workers had to wait before repairing some lines and transformers until Arcadia City workers cleared fallen trees. That was never the case, she said, praising the cooperation and efficiency of city workers and management.
After pledging to do better in the future, Chatham stressed that SCE’s response to the most important work of repairing downed lines and restoring power has been solid, reducing the number of impacted SCE customers from 430,000 to about 5,000 in six days. About 237 crews, including 10 line crews, have been working 24/7 (24-hour shifts followed by 10-hour breaks) to repair 152 downed poles and 70 destroyed transformers. SCE customers who continue to have problems should call SCE at 1-800-611-1911 or 1-800-655-4455.
Waste Management will conduct its normal weekly automated trash collection today (Wednesday, Dec. 7). Residents who need to get rid of additional refuse need to call Waste Management at 1-800 266-7551 so they can send an additional truck to collect up to 10 “bulky” bags of debris, a service Waste Management provides up to four times a year per customer. The company also offers bigger containers for a rental fee, and collection at a price of $130 per container.
Department heads offered status reports at the Tuesday evening meeting, noting that there have been no injuries, deaths or storm-related crimes or vehicle accidents, although police have received 1,250 calls (300 calls to 9-1-1 on Day One), the Public Works department has received 785 calls, and the Arcadia Fire Department has received 400.
Seven buildings of the original 13 remain red-tagged as too unsafe to be occupied, awaiting work by SCE. Forty-four occupants of those buildings had to be evacuated.
The Council plans to meet again next week to determine how to deal with the clean-up of debris that is the responsibility of property owners.
— By Scott Hettrick