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JUST SOME THOUGHTS...

Today is weird anniversary for me. Exactly one year ago, I wound up walking home from lower Manhattan. I was joined by millions of New Yorkers trying to make their way home. When we finally got power back, I wrote:

Saturday, August 16, 2003

JUST SOME THOUGHTS...

Spent four hours Thursday night walking from the Battery in Manhattan to my home in Jackson Heights. As I plodded along with millions of other New Yorkers, my thoughts were on many things:

First, this was avoidable. This is the third major blackout in my lifetime. I've survived the ones in 1965 and 1977 prior to this. After both of those, it was found that the electric grid was overloaded and that only luck had kept this from being regular event.

Second, this will probably happen with more frequency. Vice President Dick Cheney's task force on energy predicted that energy needs would grow 25% in the next ten years, but generating capacity would grow only 4%. Real big disconnect someplace.

Third, Thank God for Rudy Giuliani. Rudy struck many as a paranoiac nut case prior to 9/11 with his constant rehearsals for major disasters. After 9/11 he looked prescient. After this little fandango, he looked prophetic. The reason there was no looting or rioting is that the plans Rudy laid down years ago were put into action.

Fourth, I'm being repetitive here. This will happen again, and it won't be 26 years down the road. Unless we start building generating and transmission capabilities right now, we'll all be walking many more miles in the years to come.
posted by Patrick at Saturday, August 16, 2003

Update: Nothing has changed. NYC and the country are no better prepared now than a year ago. No new power plants have been built nor or any on the drawing board. I guess I should look forward to more power failures in the years to come. Alternatively, I just may leave NYC.



posted by Patrick at Saturday, August 14, 2004