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Bellaire recovery update - Sept. 25
Dear Residents:
I have some updates to relate to you.
Storm Debris Pickup:
The company that the City engaged to pick up our storm debris (through our "piggy-back" agreement with the County), was overly optimistic about when they thought they could have the first round of storm debris picked up. They originally thought it would only take one week to pick up the tree limbs. However, that has now been revised.
The City has charged them with getting the 'first pass" pickup by next Wednesday (October 1st) or we will be seeking another company to do the storm debris pickup. After that, they will make another run to pickup construction material and large storm debris.
Lastly, if needed, a third run will be made to pickup any remaining storm debris. Any storm debris after that will be picked up by our Bellaire garbagemen.
As of today, they are working in all four quadrants of the City. Some quadrants have had 60% of the "first pass" tree debris picked up. However, other quadrants have had less than 5% picked up. This is not acceptable with our City management and they have taken the steps discussed above to correct it. At close of business this evening, we have seen a greater amount being picked up by our contractor.
Mosquito Control:
Due to the large amount of stagnant water (ie, pools with no electricity, etc.), the City resumed our spray schedule for mosquitoes early last week. Our normal spraying schedule is twice a week - once inside the loop and once outside of the loop. We are doubling our spraying schedule because of this problem. However, due to concerns from some residents sleeping with open windows, we are going to try to spray during the day rather than late at night.
Power Restoration:
The City Manager, Assistant City Manager, and I met with representatives from Centerpoint this morning. As I mentioned in an earlier letter, we have had meetings and conference calls with Centerpoint daily trying to get power restored to all of Bellaire.
Specific areas that citizens have brought to our attention that have no power, have been communicated again directly to Centerpoint this morning. The City is maintaining an ongoing list of specific power outage problems to ensure that Centerpoint does not "forget" about, as power is restored in various parts of the City.
It seems that I learn something new (not always what I would like to learn) everytime that we meet with Centerpoint. What was reported to the City this morning is as follows:
1. Centerpoint's priority in the greater Houston area (including Bellaire) continues to be municipalities' and counties" sewer and water plants, hospitals, fire stations/police stations, and nursing homes. These are facilities that are related to health and safety issues. (Therefore, if a sewer plant in one of their substation areas goes down, they will pull Centerpoint crews from local problem areas to get it back up.)
2. Centerpoint is focusing on restoring power to areas that they can get the greatest number of customers up at one time.
3. Per Centerpoint, as part of their process, is sweeping the tree limbs that are preventing service in the three substations' (Bellaire, Braes, and Sharpstown) primary main circuits and the associated lateral lines. Their "armies" of linemen, tree removal companies, and other technicians, although overseen by Centerpoint, are made up of crews from other than Centerpoint. (That is why we have not been seeing big crews of Centerpoint trucks in Bellaire.) As of this morning, their goal is to have finished this "sweeping" of all circuits served by the end of the day this coming Sunday, September 28th.
4. Once a primary main circuit and the associated lateral lines are swept, smaller Centerpoint crews come back to the lateral lines in a particular substation area and resolve the remaining "cleanup" (using Centerpoint's words) and repair transformers, fuses, etc. The greater number of customers that can have power restored, if a transformer or fuse is fixed, is given priority and worked on before problems that relate to a few number of customers. For example, if your power problem, when fixed, gets power restored to 75 customers, your situation will be given priority over a situation that only restores power to 5 customers. So, if your home's problem, when fixed, will only get your house back up, then you will be one of the last to be worked on in your substation area. (It could be a couple more weeks before the "one problem-one customer" fix is done). In conclusion, some of our residents may have power restored by the end of this Sunday. However, the bad news for the "one customer problem/fix (and we weren't told who or where) is that it may take a couple more weeks before Centerpoint restores your power.
Some of our residents took offense from my last update on Monday, September 22nd. They believe that the City is just "echoing" Centerpoint's words and not doing enough to get power back on. However, I have a responsibility to ensure that the City is doing everything that we can to advocate on behalf of our residents with Centerpoint. This includes communicating what the City has been told by Centerpoint, so that our residents have the same information that I have.
We are not happy with Centerpoint's process or how long it is taking to get all of us back up and we continue to tell them that. However, I am not going to make false promises about how I can get your power back up tomorrow. That would be misleading you. I am as upset and frustrated as many of you are that we still have residents without power (including my neighbors and family). (I have joked with some friends that maybe if I got an electrical degree and tool belt, I might fix the problem faster than it is getting done. Sometimes a sense of humor is all that's left when your house is black and your husband and kids keep asking you when we'll get our power back on in our home...)
The City Manager and I will do everything that we can until we have 100% of our residents and businesses fully restored with electricity. We will also, continue to report as we get new or different information as it relates to hurricane recovery.
Check the City webpage at: www.ci.bellaire.tx.us . (You can register online with the City to get updates sent automatically to an email address.) Additionally, updates are posted on all City buildings and the public access channel of Comcast Cable. Lastly, our local newspapers and magazine continue to be a good source of what is happening in the City as it relates to hurricane recovery (as well as other City information) - either hard copy or on their websites.
Thank you for your patience. This is a very trying time for all of us and appears that it will continue to be so for a couple more weeks.
Cindy Siegel
Mayor of the City of Bellaire
I have some updates to relate to you.
Storm Debris Pickup:
The company that the City engaged to pick up our storm debris (through our "piggy-back" agreement with the County), was overly optimistic about when they thought they could have the first round of storm debris picked up. They originally thought it would only take one week to pick up the tree limbs. However, that has now been revised.
The City has charged them with getting the 'first pass" pickup by next Wednesday (October 1st) or we will be seeking another company to do the storm debris pickup. After that, they will make another run to pickup construction material and large storm debris.
Lastly, if needed, a third run will be made to pickup any remaining storm debris. Any storm debris after that will be picked up by our Bellaire garbagemen.
As of today, they are working in all four quadrants of the City. Some quadrants have had 60% of the "first pass" tree debris picked up. However, other quadrants have had less than 5% picked up. This is not acceptable with our City management and they have taken the steps discussed above to correct it. At close of business this evening, we have seen a greater amount being picked up by our contractor.
Mosquito Control:
Due to the large amount of stagnant water (ie, pools with no electricity, etc.), the City resumed our spray schedule for mosquitoes early last week. Our normal spraying schedule is twice a week - once inside the loop and once outside of the loop. We are doubling our spraying schedule because of this problem. However, due to concerns from some residents sleeping with open windows, we are going to try to spray during the day rather than late at night.
Power Restoration:
The City Manager, Assistant City Manager, and I met with representatives from Centerpoint this morning. As I mentioned in an earlier letter, we have had meetings and conference calls with Centerpoint daily trying to get power restored to all of Bellaire.
Specific areas that citizens have brought to our attention that have no power, have been communicated again directly to Centerpoint this morning. The City is maintaining an ongoing list of specific power outage problems to ensure that Centerpoint does not "forget" about, as power is restored in various parts of the City.
It seems that I learn something new (not always what I would like to learn) everytime that we meet with Centerpoint. What was reported to the City this morning is as follows:
1. Centerpoint's priority in the greater Houston area (including Bellaire) continues to be municipalities' and counties" sewer and water plants, hospitals, fire stations/police stations, and nursing homes. These are facilities that are related to health and safety issues. (Therefore, if a sewer plant in one of their substation areas goes down, they will pull Centerpoint crews from local problem areas to get it back up.)
2. Centerpoint is focusing on restoring power to areas that they can get the greatest number of customers up at one time.
3. Per Centerpoint, as part of their process, is sweeping the tree limbs that are preventing service in the three substations' (Bellaire, Braes, and Sharpstown) primary main circuits and the associated lateral lines. Their "armies" of linemen, tree removal companies, and other technicians, although overseen by Centerpoint, are made up of crews from other than Centerpoint. (That is why we have not been seeing big crews of Centerpoint trucks in Bellaire.) As of this morning, their goal is to have finished this "sweeping" of all circuits served by the end of the day this coming Sunday, September 28th.
4. Once a primary main circuit and the associated lateral lines are swept, smaller Centerpoint crews come back to the lateral lines in a particular substation area and resolve the remaining "cleanup" (using Centerpoint's words) and repair transformers, fuses, etc. The greater number of customers that can have power restored, if a transformer or fuse is fixed, is given priority and worked on before problems that relate to a few number of customers. For example, if your power problem, when fixed, gets power restored to 75 customers, your situation will be given priority over a situation that only restores power to 5 customers. So, if your home's problem, when fixed, will only get your house back up, then you will be one of the last to be worked on in your substation area. (It could be a couple more weeks before the "one problem-one customer" fix is done). In conclusion, some of our residents may have power restored by the end of this Sunday. However, the bad news for the "one customer problem/fix (and we weren't told who or where) is that it may take a couple more weeks before Centerpoint restores your power.
Some of our residents took offense from my last update on Monday, September 22nd. They believe that the City is just "echoing" Centerpoint's words and not doing enough to get power back on. However, I have a responsibility to ensure that the City is doing everything that we can to advocate on behalf of our residents with Centerpoint. This includes communicating what the City has been told by Centerpoint, so that our residents have the same information that I have.
We are not happy with Centerpoint's process or how long it is taking to get all of us back up and we continue to tell them that. However, I am not going to make false promises about how I can get your power back up tomorrow. That would be misleading you. I am as upset and frustrated as many of you are that we still have residents without power (including my neighbors and family). (I have joked with some friends that maybe if I got an electrical degree and tool belt, I might fix the problem faster than it is getting done. Sometimes a sense of humor is all that's left when your house is black and your husband and kids keep asking you when we'll get our power back on in our home...)
The City Manager and I will do everything that we can until we have 100% of our residents and businesses fully restored with electricity. We will also, continue to report as we get new or different information as it relates to hurricane recovery.
Check the City webpage at: www.ci.bellaire.tx.us . (You can register online with the City to get updates sent automatically to an email address.) Additionally, updates are posted on all City buildings and the public access channel of Comcast Cable. Lastly, our local newspapers and magazine continue to be a good source of what is happening in the City as it relates to hurricane recovery (as well as other City information) - either hard copy or on their websites.
Thank you for your patience. This is a very trying time for all of us and appears that it will continue to be so for a couple more weeks.
Cindy Siegel
Mayor of the City of Bellaire
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