Hurricane Sandy, an enormous disaster from the outset, has
become a much worse one due to the painfully slow restoration of
power and supplies to storm-ravaged New York City, Long Island, New
Jersey, and neighboring areas.
Per CBS,
As the power outages on Long Island drag on, New Yorkers railed
Sunday against the utility that has lagged behind others in
restoring power, criticizing its slow pace as well as a dearth of
information.
That utility is LIPA, the Long
Island Power Authority, and as its name implies LIPA is not a
private company but an agency of New York State with a long history
of being used by New York politicians to pursue their goals. I will
leave to other critics the question of how LIPA’s history as a
public-sector entity has influenced its capabilities for disaster
response but per a New York Post account, local residents
don’t seem impressed with its performance:
