Floral Park slams Con Ed over blast
By Howard Koplowitz
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| Representatives from Con Edison, the Fire Department and city agencies speak to Floral Park residents at a Town Hall meeting following the 260th Street home explosion. Photo by Howard Koplowitz |
The anger of residents who live on the block where a gas explosion killed 40−year−old Ghanwatti Boodram in her home could be quickly summed up by the exchange between one of the neighbors and a representative from Con Edison during a Town Hall meeting last week.
“Nothing was done,” the resident said of efforts to evacuate the block following the explosion. Boodram “could’ve been living. What are we going to do?”
“I’m sorry,” said Nancy Yieh, vice president of gas operations for the utility. “What was the question?”
At that point, Boodram’s husband, Dindial Boodram, walked up to his neighbor, took the microphone from her and spoke in a calm voice tinged with a hint of frustration as he addressed Yieh.
“I think the real question was: ‘How many more must die for us to get changes?’” he said, drawing applause from the packed audience at PS 115 in Floral Park. “Please, in my wife’s name, Ghanwatti, I would like to see changes, please. If there was some sort of changes, my wife might have been alive today.”
David Davidowitz, also a vice president of gas operations at Con Ed, conceded that the utility’s policies need to be scrutinized.
“Obviously, our procedures have to be reviewed because of this fatality,” he said.
The Town Hall, organized by City Councilman David Weprin (D−Hollis), was an attempt for the community to get answers from Con Ed.
While the investigation into the April 24 explosion on 260th Street is ongoing and expected to take a few more weeks to complete, Con Ed said it found a dime−sized hole in a two−inch gas section of the gas main under the street.
Davidowitz told the residents at the town hall there was “no cause for concern” after the explosion, but Con Ed “took the extra step” of taking another survey of the area with its leak mobile, which detects gas leaks, and found no problems.
As for why homes were not evacuated, Davidowitz said Con Ed workers first have to determine where the leak is occurring.
He noted that the gas was not inside Boodram’s home, but there were readings in the outside air.
“If [a worker] starts to evacuate before he knows, he could be evacuating the wrong houses,” Davidowitz said. “He was doing what he was trained to do.”
Jacob Itty, a 260th Street resident, was frustrated after he told Con Ed representatives he had called in complaints of gas odors within the past two years, but the utility said the last complaint they have on file was from 2007.
“Somebody else should be looking at your books besides the agency itself,” a neighbor said.
Con Ed said the state Public Service Commission, which oversees the utility, looks at its complaints.
Itty also complained that the PSC has not interviewed the block’s residents for its own investigation into the explosion.
“My kids are paranoid when they’re outside,” Itty said, noting that after the explosion they have been telling him they smell gas when he does not.
Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e−mail at hkoplowitz@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718−229−0300, Ext. 173.
“Nothing was done,” the resident said of efforts to evacuate the block following the explosion. Boodram “could’ve been living. What are we going to do?”
“I’m sorry,” said Nancy Yieh, vice president of gas operations for the utility. “What was the question?”
At that point, Boodram’s husband, Dindial Boodram, walked up to his neighbor, took the microphone from her and spoke in a calm voice tinged with a hint of frustration as he addressed Yieh.
“I think the real question was: ‘How many more must die for us to get changes?’” he said, drawing applause from the packed audience at PS 115 in Floral Park. “Please, in my wife’s name, Ghanwatti, I would like to see changes, please. If there was some sort of changes, my wife might have been alive today.”
David Davidowitz, also a vice president of gas operations at Con Ed, conceded that the utility’s policies need to be scrutinized.
“Obviously, our procedures have to be reviewed because of this fatality,” he said.
The Town Hall, organized by City Councilman David Weprin (D−Hollis), was an attempt for the community to get answers from Con Ed.
While the investigation into the April 24 explosion on 260th Street is ongoing and expected to take a few more weeks to complete, Con Ed said it found a dime−sized hole in a two−inch gas section of the gas main under the street.
Davidowitz told the residents at the town hall there was “no cause for concern” after the explosion, but Con Ed “took the extra step” of taking another survey of the area with its leak mobile, which detects gas leaks, and found no problems.
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He noted that the gas was not inside Boodram’s home, but there were readings in the outside air.
“If [a worker] starts to evacuate before he knows, he could be evacuating the wrong houses,” Davidowitz said. “He was doing what he was trained to do.”
Jacob Itty, a 260th Street resident, was frustrated after he told Con Ed representatives he had called in complaints of gas odors within the past two years, but the utility said the last complaint they have on file was from 2007.
“Somebody else should be looking at your books besides the agency itself,” a neighbor said.
Con Ed said the state Public Service Commission, which oversees the utility, looks at its complaints.
Itty also complained that the PSC has not interviewed the block’s residents for its own investigation into the explosion.
“My kids are paranoid when they’re outside,” Itty said, noting that after the explosion they have been telling him they smell gas when he does not.
Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e−mail at hkoplowitz@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718−229−0300, Ext. 173.
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