I'll preface this question by admitting that the storm of 8/23 had little affect on my life other than a few leaf bunches falling on my yard. They would have fallen there anyway as the cicadas weakened them...the winds just hastened their fall. I'll also state that I am not, nor have I ever been, an apologist for our present village government. We are fortunate to live about two blocks south of the hard hit area.

As I drove around this morning at about 8 AM I was taken aback by the absolute lack of activity north of Hawthorne and east of Kenilworth. We were out in West Chicago yesterday at the high school watching my nephew's football game. He goes to Evanston and they relocated the game to WCHS. I was astounded by the damage that town suffered...yet I was very impressed at the amout of activity that was going on. Going on on every block. Most of the trucks I saw were city trucks. There they were....working their asses off. But I cannot recall seeing anything going on yesterday in Glen Ellyn. Nor have I seen anything going on today. And Western Ave. is still closed between Elm and Maple. Am I wrong in wondering what is going on...nearly 72 hours after the storm?

A friend stopped by this morning...and this very well could be considered hearsay...but could it really be posibble that the village gave workers the weekend off? And is the village in the middle of a pissing match with ComEd over who is responsible for removing this tree, or that tree?

I am hopeful that someone will tell me that these observations and accusations are incorrect and that there are crews out there trying to get roads open, trees removed, and power back on (although I understand that the village can not do the latter).

I live on Western and just literally received power. The village dropped the ball, yet again. No detour signs were posted on Western, the cops were useless and I heard the same regarding whose responsibility it was for the tree.

Residents were the ones who took the tree off the lines and sawed it up, enabling Com Ed to fix the line, on Sunday. All trees in the parkway are village property, therefore it is the village's duty to take care of trees that would inhibit ComEd. Its pretty basic.

4 days with no power should never happen. I don't live in some 3rd world hellhole and my property taxes certainly don't reflect it.

Even though it's only coming from one person, that's kind of the response that I was thinking I'd get. Perhaps there will be others that say differently. But as I drove around again about an hour ago, it didn't seem like anything had changed from 7 hours ago. How could that be?

I understand that the office of village president is essentially a volunteer position, and obviously can be held by just about anyone with a pulse regardless of civic or business background...but if I were village president (not to worry those of you with your eye on the '09 village election...I will not be your competition...but if I were...I bet I'd kick your butts...regardless of who you are ) and this kind of event happened under my watch, you can bet that I'd be pressing 24/7 for problems to get resolved. I'd also like to know what, if anything, out interim village manager was up to this weekend. Don't get me wrong, he could very well have been working his *** off since 3:15 Thursday...but it doesn't appear that a lot of the village's financial resource have been put to good use. I really hope that the niblet tossed my way that the village employees were given the weekend off was just so much BS being thrown from one uniformed person to another.

It would be most unfortunate if those with the power to get things fixed in this town were off enjoying themselves at the Festival of Arts...or any other social event...while others suffer through their 4th day of no power. That would be unforgivable.

I too have heard many rumours. Such as, there was a "pissing" match, as Clamato stated, between the village and Com Ed in regards to tree removal. A GE Policeman supposedly told a GE resident that this was a fact in additon to GE public sector employees given the weekend off, though I do not know if this was a fact. All I know I didn't see anyone manning the fire hoses. I also heard that a GE resident calle GE Pres Haas-been regarding the situation here and the comment back was, "Elmhurst and Villa Park" were in worse shape so "relax. If true, I find this incredulous. All I know, starting at 7:00 am, I was calling Com Ed to find out the reason why there were no crews/trucks rectifying the situation!!!!! Com Ed supervisors were supposed to call me back but NEVER DID. I found out a neighbor was calling Com Ed relentlessly as well. Well, something finally did happen. The crews started showing up today by around 8:30 AM. The squeaky wheel gets the grease! An accomplice of mine works or worked for Com Ed and I have a call into him to find out what really happened here. I am sure the consumers of GE are good bill payers and deserve better attention than this BS.

Mr. Ayers, former GE resident and pres of Com Ed, I am sure, would not be happy with this situation.

Suggest you look at the following websites:

www. generac.com

www.kohler.com

Dear David: the events that transpired near you seem to confirm what I am saying. Needless to say, your posse to chop up the tree anywhere near a power line is either an act desperation or,,,,,,, desperation!

I'm going to calm down before I post my thoughts about the diaster of a response. I will however post this exchange between a Western Ave. resident and ComEd/the Village and offer one question and a couple of sidenotes.

WesternAveRes.: "ComEd, there is a big tree across our street and I can't get in and out of my driveway. Further, do you know when we'll get power?"

ComEd: "You are going to have to call the Village as we can't do anything until the tree is removed."

WesternAveRes.: "Village, I talked to ComEd and they said that we cannot get power until this huge tree on Western is moved. When can you move the tree?"

Village: "We can't move that tree....there are live power wires around that tree! I don't know what to tell you."

QUESTION: WHAT KIND OF SERVICE CAN WE EXPECT IF THERE IS EVER A LARGER DISASTER?

THE VILLAGE BETTER BE ASSESSING THEIR DISASTER PREPAREDNESS AND BE MAKING SOME VERY NECESSARY CHANGES!!!

Sidenote: I saw my first ComEd truck today on Western. One hour later, we had power. Someone has some explaining to do.

Sidenote1: It was actually really nice during the day and early evenings not having power. I had a great time with my kids, the neighbors I knew and the neighbors I didn't know. It really sucked sleeping, trying to get kids asleep and throwing away about a thousand dollars of food.

I am hoping this isn't too negative.

I talked to a GE Employee that was working non stop since the storm happened. He said he worked 30 hours in a row.

I talked to a ComEd employee that just was finishing up a 20 hour shift, his partner the same. He said they have the trucks, but didn't have the man power. Toledo Edison and Kansas Edison drove non stop to lend a hand.

Wheaton behind the Jewel looks like a war zone. There are 8 foot piles of trees on both sides of the road the few blocks just behind the Jewel.

West Chicago supposedly got hit the hardest. The north side was also hit very hard.

This was a large, spread out disaster. Many counties have been classified disaster areas by the governor. This is bigger than most people think.

ComEd said this was the worst storm in a very long time.

I know everyone is pissed of on the response time, but think about it, were they just sitting at a Starbucks reading a paper? No, they are all averaging 16 hour shifts, the GE employees are also working longer shifts.

It is not the workers fault, it was the storm that caused the situation, and the planning was flawed if that.

I talked to a ton of residents while taking over 1000 photos of the storm. Most were in control, very friendly, and it was a pleasure meeting them all. Some were very inacurate with their information. Some were dead on. Some were pissed, some were "all about themselves" and should open their eyes. Some bitched that their wine was going to go bad while their neighbors roof was torn apart and were thankful that they were still alive. All I know is, non of this could have been controled, so you do the best you can and deal with it in the best way possible. Pop the Margaritaville Frozen drink blender on the generator, invite the neighbors over and have a good time.

NBC 5 reported a ComEd employee was attacked in GE this morning. Wallet and other things stolen. He is fine. GE made the news finally about the storm, in a very bad way.

now that we all have power (most of us) and internet, search the news sites for pictures of this storm. You will be amazed. Are little area of GE got hit pretty hard, but we were not the only ones and most certainly not the worst. There are going to be areas that will not have power for a long time. We all need to get a little perspective on what just happened.

People lost their lives or loved ones. People lost their livelihoods, properties, and their life's work. A few in the area lost a lot in trees, houses and other material issues. But most of us lost 4 days of power, a bunch of food, and other easily replaced items.

I look at it like this. My TV was off for 4 days which if it was like that the other 361 days a year, I would be cool with that. I met a ton of great neighbors that I would have probably not have met if I wasn't forced away from the creature comforts of home, and I had a nice pleasant weekend with the love of my life. All the while knowing that none of our friends and family were harmed. The storm brought many bad things to many people, but I will look at it that it brought some very good things as well.

And Margaritas and Pina Colada's taste great in the pitch dark when you have good friends around enjoying themselves.

quote:

Originally posted by SoxFanInGE:
now that we all have power (most of us) and internet, search the news sites for pictures of this storm. You will be amazed. Are little area of GE got hit pretty hard, but we were not the only ones and most certainly not the worst. There are going to be areas that will not have power for a long time. We all need to get a little perspective on what just happened.

People lost their lives or loved ones. People lost their livelihoods, properties, and their life's work. A few in the area lost a lot in trees, houses and other material issues. But most of us lost 4 days of power, a bunch of food, and other easily replaced items.

I look at it like this. My TV was off for 4 days which if it was like that the other 361 days a year, I would be cool with that. I met a ton of great neighbors that I would have probably not have met if I wasn't forced away from the creature comforts of home, and I had a nice pleasant weekend with the love of my life. All the while knowing that none of our friends and family were harmed. The storm brought many bad things to many people, but I will look at it that it brought some very good things as well.

And Margaritas and Pina Colada's taste great in the pitch dark when you have good friends around enjoying themselves.

I must say Brian, very un-soxfanlike of you. I'd love to piss and moan (and I did) but we must also keep it in perspective. It's just that we've come to expect so little from our Village and they never seem to disappoint.

Ok, we live one block east of Western Ave and heard the exact same "pissing match" story from a ComEd employee that my husband spoke to this morning.

Complicating our situation is the fact that our entire basement is flooded, and we couldn't do a thing about it because of the power outage. (We had a company lined up to help us yesterday, but had to cancel because the power was still out.) Everything in our basement is literally rotting and molding over, and the stench is horrible. Since we didn't want to expose our infant to that, we are now living in a hotel in Bloomingdale. Since our power came back late this afternoon, we've been scrambling to find a restoration company who can help us, but nobody has any openings. So we STILL can't move home. If anyone has any connections to someone who could help us remove the water, please post here!!

Incidentally: before the power came back on this afternoon, we called the village to request help with our situation. There was NO ONE WORKING. I'm sorry, but I'm a consultant, and you'd better believe my employer would have me working on Sunday if there were a last-minute crisis. And believe me, my job is not nearly that important! The village has residents who have been driven from their own homes, and their employees (or should I say OUR employees) are enjoying a nice weekend off? This is inexcusable.

quote:

Originally posted by ernie_v:
Incidentally: before the power came back on this afternoon, we called the village to request help with our situation. There was NO ONE WORKING. I'm sorry, but I'm a consultant, and you'd better believe my employer would have me working on Sunday if there were a last-minute crisis. And believe me, my job is not nearly that important! The village has residents who have been driven from their own homes, and their employees (or should I say OUR employees) are enjoying a nice weekend off? This is inexcusable.

Ernie V and 4MP....you guys hit the nail right on the head. SoxFan, we talked about it last night, the issue that is maddening to people isn't the response of on-the-ground workers of ComEd or the Village. We understand that this was a large scale issue that doesn't necessarily replicate itself very often. We understand that those on the ground were doing everything they could to assist. We further understand that resources were probably stretched to their limits.

However, what I (am I am sure others) can't comprehend is the total lack of consistent (or any) communication. We all saw Katrina unfold before our eyes. It was probably the most visable natural disaster ever filmed. And what did everyone continually complain about? COMMUNICATION!!!!

Those victims were not told anything by anyone. Now I would never attempt to compare this to a Katrina like storm but for many people (See Ernie_V), the impact to their homes and lives is not too far away from those in that disaster. For others like me, who were merely inconvenienced by the lack of power for 4 days (mind you, with infants/toddlers), we weren't expecting to be saved or have our power miracuously turned on, we were just looking for some communication....any communication. WE GOT NOTHING!

You would think after September 11, 2001, our Village would have some type of contingency plan in place or some type of communication medium in place in the event of a disaster of any magnitude. I GUESS NOT!

The disappointing thing is, everytime something like this happens (anywhere in the United States [I exclude Euorpe as they seem to have their stuff in order]), our local, state and federal goverments are woefully inept in their response. The on the ground workers/volunteers work their asses off...while those elected to be in power above them fail the people due to their poor planning.

My fifth-grade teacher once wrote on our chalkboard: Prior Preparation Prevents Poor Performance.

Spoke to my buddy at Com Ed. In Hanover Park, they were throwing stones and bottles at the Com Ed guys, according to him. Don't believe GE was too out of line.

I hope you all keep this in mind when you are called upon to elect a village government that is responsive. We in my neighborhood near Roosevelt Road have dealt with backflows of street drains, bad streets, downed trees, and feelings of irrelevance for years. Now, you on the north side have a taste of the village management sense of responsibility. "Things are worse in other towns" is a common response. For the first time in years, we did not have a flooded basement or power outage. Of course, the roof sprung a leak, so I can't feel unscathed.

Don't forget this event when you have your caucus session to elect a government prior to election day. It's not just about economic development. As a great political philosopher said "the fish stinks from the head". If your leaders joined together and walked door to door to find out what was needed, would you not feel they were responding? That would take guts to feel the constituents' pain.

This is a stretch to link to the topic but anyway...

Looks like Bende's and the bicycle shop near sunset and roosevelt have been without power since thursday. I don't know how Bende's stays in business normally, since I hardly ever see any customers in the parking lot, but I'm betting this lack of power and business being closed will be the nail in the coffin...

Village! Your businesses are closed and not generating tax revenue! How about lending a hand!

I remained fairly non-dramatic during this whole ordeal - including when I wondered if my son had been dismissed from Hadley in the storm (I assumed they took care of things appropriately and they did) and wondered if my daughter, who was at West for sports practice, was in a safe place (which she was). But there have been a few times when I edged close to snapping on someone.

1. Tried to call the Village Friday regarding who to contact about various "tree situations". No one answered the phone all three times during the day that I called even though I let the phone ring and ring....hmmm. Surely the secretary was working.

2. ComEd crews were nowhere to be seen Saturday and I was starting to grow weary of the complexity that comes from this mess (keeping in mind we were really pretty lucky and certainly luckier than many). I called again (third or fourth call) and spoke with a very polite and calm customer service rep who was very good at empathizing...I explained that it would be really nice to see even ONE ComEd truck trying to work on something in town...even if it took days it would lift my spirits to see that we really were on their radar. She told me that her notes indicated that we were expected to be back up within 48 hours (which would mean Monday morning). I felt better knowing that they gave us a timeframe - even if it ended up being a bunch of smoke and mirrors. But it wasn't! Kudos to ComEd for having a very good group of customer service folks and hard working linemen.

3. Saw two Village employees in village truck go past our home this AM, apparently not noticing the dangling limb on our parkway tree. They stopped up the street to clear some branches from the sidewalk of a demolished home so I walked over to talk with them. The worker I spoke with said he would come down and take a look. When noting that it "TOUCHED" the cable line going to our home (mind you not resting on it, just touching it), he told me that they were instructed not to touch any limbs that were making contact with any kind of wire. This seems to go hand in hand with the pissing match comments.

What is really sad is that on Friday our block of neighbors banned together, including my husband who had been awake since 9am Thursday and after working an all night ER shift, to clear trees that apparently no one else seemed interested in. The good news is we all worked together and accomplished a lot. We removed a large silver maple branch from our roof, cut up a massive silver maple that snapped in front of a neighbors house, cleaned up the Magnolia's many broken limbs (in our yard), carried many, many branches from all of our trees that were damaged, cleaned our yard (six barrels of leaf "tufts"), moved some branches from our pregnant neighbor's yard, and cut up half of a Maple that had split in half in another neighbor's yard.

The large tree uprooted and resting on my back door neighbor's garage still lays there - just waiting to crush the garage...and what is keeping that from happening? A phone line - telephone poles snapped and bent but the line stayed intact and is supporting this massive tree. Likewise, at the entrance to our alley, more tree branches rest on phone lines. Has the village come to do anything in our alley (the tree is rooted in the alley)? NOPE. I'd bet they are waiting for the phone company to do it. Meanwhile, one neighbor lost all phone service and the rest of us are wondering how much longer that phone line will hold out before we all lose phone service. Really stupid. The village should take care of it - there are little children in that home and the phone line and garage could give way leading to an even larger mess. (I do realize our alley is not a major thoroughfare but the tree is crushing the neighbors garage!)

Anyway, it is nice to have real light to read and TV noise -not generators- in the background. Plus it's nice to be online again!

Complicating our situation is the fact that our entire basement is flooded, and we couldn't do a thing about it because of the power outage. (We had a company lined up to help us yesterday, but had to cancel because the power was still out.) Everything in our basement is literally rotting and molding over, and the stench is horrible. Since we didn't want to expose our infant to that, we are now living in a hotel in Bloomingdale. Since our power came back late this afternoon, we've been scrambling to find a restoration company who can help us, but nobody has any openings. So we STILL can't move home. If anyone has any connections to someone who could help us remove the water, please post here!!

Ernie,
Please let me know if you still need help dewatering your basement. I have equipment you can borrow and would be happy to help.
On the message board home page Click on GO then PERSONAL ZONE then PROFILE for CANDIDATE and you can e-mail me.
My numbers are listed feel free to call me as well.
Pete

You are a good man Candidate!

How did you fair?

Communication.

ComEd had a hotline. They updated often. 660,000 people were out of power originally. 19,000 are still out of power. ComEd did the best they could with communication. I called 3 times. First time, 2-3 days. I talked to someone that we work with, 5 days total. I called again, they said that an update would be available by 8 on Sunday. We saw a ComEd employee and they said today, that was around 2. Power was back about 2 hours later. That was pretty good communication I think.

How do you communicate with people without power, phone, cable and internet? Pretty hard to communicate with someone you can't get a hold of. Give some ideas on how the city should have contacted us?

Recorded messages updated at the city giving outage updates? sure. SMS text messages set up by the town to automatically go out to residents? Absolutely, give them the money to bring that in. Give police patroling the area, right on, they pretty much did that. Drop flyers from planes? Um, no, overkill. How many employees does the city have? Can they bring on 10-20 to work during a disaster? I don't know, don't know the city budget. How many storms have hit GE like this since GE was born? Can we keep 10-20 on staff to man a disaster when they only happen 4 times in 100 years? Give the fire dept. more responsibility? No, they are volunteer and have their own homes to deal with in town. Door to door messages, sure, we can take the guys cutting up the trees and have them walk around telling everyone updates. Could the city done better at communicating with all of us? Sure, but if you would like to talk to other towns, they were all in the same position.

If you had serious problems with yourhouse, injuries and the likes, yes, communication should have been better. I feel sorry for all the people that had damage. I met a ton of people while out photographing this. I hope they are all okay. If you had nothing wrong with your house, had no family or friends injured, and lost pretty much nothing, than just sit back and ride it out I say.

Sox Fan I couldn't agree with your more. The magnitude of this event has overwhelmed the resources of ComEd, some I'm cutting them some slack.

As for the village, I honestly don't know where government responsibility ends and personal responsibility begins. I've got 9 mature trees on my property and at least a couple of times a year, a large branch or two will fall. I don't call Milton Township or DuPage County; I break out my chainsaw and get to work. My neighbors and I were cutting up fallen trees Thursday night untill the second wave of storms came. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a GE administration apologist, but I really struggling to understand why people think the GE government has a book full of contingency plans for every occasion? What about GE government has lead you to believe they could be prepared for an event like this? Did you really think that an administration, who is just now hiring a specialist to figure out how to fix the GE business district, would rise to the occasion for a storm that maybe happens very 10-20 years? My point is this-if your waiting for government to come fix your problem, any problem, you are setting your self up for frustration and angst.

My advice-Take matters into your own hands. First-Don't go and handle live power lines, unless of course your rehearsing for the lead in "Frankenstein-The Musical". Some things are better left to the experts. Develop your own contingency plans for your family. Buy a generator, get a chain saw, practice disaster drills stock -up on non-perishable rations. Those of you who read the paper or watch the news probably already know that Osama and his jihadist could be close to staging another attack on U.S. soil. Are you ready for any disruption? Do you children know what to do?

Do you really want your life left in the hands of government bureaucrats?