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Latimer and Buchwald, D-White Plains. hosted a meeting at the County Center on Friday that attracted about 70 leaders to forge a unified response to the extended power outages the county experienced after four major winter storms in March.
The meeting culminated with a plan to collect and compile feedback from the municipalities and government offices to evaluate specific steps for utility companies take to prevent further issues related to power outages. .
Elected officials at the meeting included mayors and supervisors from across Westchester, along with county representatives, state legislators, representatives from congressional offices, and delegates from state offices.
The storm response efforts of Con Edison and New York State Electric & Gas were roundly criticized for placing a burden on the health, safety and livelihoods of area residents. In the wake of the initial Nor’easter storms of March 2 and 7.
Thousands of residents experienced flawed communications from the utility companies – which led to confusion as how to respond to individual power outages.
On Monday, Latimer said: “This meeting was a productive first step in turning our collective anger into collective action. I thank Assemblyman Buchwald for his efforts to convene this meeting aimed at providing results for the people of Westchester."
Buchwald said: “I am greatly encouraged to see elected officials at all levels roll up their sleeves and get to work on changing the unacceptable utility companies’ response to these storms."
"Westchester residents are fed up with the status quo. We, as the public’s representatives, will endeavor tirelessly to address the repeated extended power outages that have plagued our region," Buchwald said.
The full press conference can be seen by clicking here. .
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