Wheeling residents rally neighbors for ComEd meeting
Wheeling residents frustrated by frequent power outages this summer will be able to talk directly to ComEd representatives at a special session of the village board on Monday night, Sept. 12.
Representatives from the power company have been appearing at other local meetings, some, including Buffalo Grove, where the residents haven't been shy about airing their complaints.
Village trustees predicted that the 6:30 p.m. meeting Monday will be full of residents who have suffered power outages throughout the summer, not just when the biggest storms hit.
Alice Poulsen and her husband, who live on the north side of Valley Stream, have been distributing fliers to neighbors encouraging them to attend the meeting. Poulsen said she has lost power five times since the end of June, including several outages that affect only her side of the street.
“It's not a matter of weather; weather hits both sides of the street,” she said. “It's something with the infrastructure or the will to fix the problem.”
While organizing neighbors, Poulsen has received emails from many other concerned residents. One neighbor has been keeping track of outages and tracked nearly 85 hours without power over the past year. Others mentioned the cost of generators, replacing spoiled food, and the inconvenience going without power can cause.
“We didn't realize how bad it was and we just got used to it,” she said.
Members of the village board agreed and encouraged residents to come and speak up.
“The quality of life has gone to hell because of ComEd, and we've got to take action. People are going to want answers,” said Trustee Dean Argiris. “There's a problem here, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that.”
Poulsen, however, said she won't support a rate increase to fix the problem.
“We probably more than paid for what their expense to fix the problem would be,” she said. “We've already paid for it; every time we pay our bill we're paying for it.”
Trustee Ken Brady said he has had several power outages at his house, mostly due to downed trees rather than massive storms, and that he would be interested in looking burying power lines to avoid such problems.
“We aren't going to cut down all of our trees so we won't have any more problems,” he said. “Maybe it's time to just change the whole system and go underground.”
Poulsen said she is still skeptical of the motives behind the meeting and hopes it doesn't turn into a public relations move by ComEd, or a screaming match from neighbors.
“We need to sit down with them and have a serious discussion and figure out how to fix this,” she said.
The workshop meeting will be held at the village hall, 2 Community Blvd.