The Cost Of Delay

These days in Waterbury it seems all the rage to talk about getting tough on a variety of issues. Ranging from the test scores of our students on the CMT and CAPT, to concerns of nepotism, from blight, to tax collection. Waterbury is always trying to ensure that it presents a wonderful image to the surrounding towns, an image of a city working hard to regain its prestige and respect in the region. Almost, always you will find that I am in support of these efforts when they are implemented properly. I would love to see our students listed as the top students in the state, hear that so many new businesses want to open in our downtown area that they have to be turned away for lack of space, or read about how the Brass City’s reputation shines throughout New England. You may say I’m guilty of a bit of hyperbole, but as a life long resident, one has to keep hold of their dreams.

Despite all of these dreams I still find cause for concern when I feel that the city is not being tough enough on a particular issue. In this particular post I am addressing the deafening silence from CL&P regarding the incidents that have occurred in the downtown area. The underground explosion back on the 6 of October could be considered an unfortunate accident, a disaster, or a miracle, depending on whom you ask. Either way it needs to serve as a two-ton wake up call to the city of Waterbury and the state.

The events of Friday night are being officially considered an unfortunate, isolated, incident by the folks at CL&P who are presenting, in the news paper at least, the image that these events are the result of a few, minor defects in the system, and are really nothing to worry about. While I appreciate the company’s optimism, I find it hare to swallow when you consider that there have been ten of these minor incidents in the past five years, and 3 since the rains of this June 2. These hardly sound like isolated incidents. Furthermore we cannot forget that after an incident in late August, CL&P commented that it would take “millions and millions” to fully restore the city’s power grid.

To the people who live, work, and want to be able to play in the downtown area, the events of October 6 rank somewhere between completely and totally unacceptable. The images of a packed Palace Theatre being evacuated and almost 3,000 visitors being sent on their way only tarnishes the reputation of the downtown area. Furthermore, when establishments such as the John Bale Book Store are holding evening events for a younger crowd, such as the Nintendo night they were running on the 6, the owners must be concerned about what is going to happen next time. The merchants of the downtown area and the volunteers of Main Street Waterbury are working too hard to bring people downtown to have them be scared away by a problem that is nothing new to the power company.

Personally, I consider the events of that fateful night a miracle in Waterbury’s history. Leavenworth Street is not a crowded section of the downtown area usually, but when the Palace has a show, you can usually count on it to be busy. Add in the fact that it was a Friday night, and I’m sure the crowd was even larger, though I wasn’t there myself. When I think of the people that were, and could have been, in the area when that manhole cover went airborne, I find myself pleasantly amazed that no one was injured. If that cover had landed on anyone, they would have been killed on the spot, and if the fire had spread to the buildings, the damage could have been extensive.

I think that the last point I make on this topic is the most important one. So far the city has been lucky, if not flat out blessed in these incidents. No one has been killed, no buildings have been destroyed, and there has only been the loss of one motor vehicle. So far. Now that the downtown area is returning we have to be much more concerned about the risks posed by these defective spots in the power grid. If there was to be an incident on East Main Street at the wrong time, the effects could be disastrous. Not only is there the concern that the Palace theatre could be damaged, after all of the time and money spent on its restoration, but there is also concern raised by the proximity of both UCONN and the Waterbury Arts Magnet School If the grid was to suffer another such incident at 3 PM, when you have students as young as 12 heading for home, and in harms way, the possibilities are too frightening to consider.

This is why the city needs to get tough with CL&P about this problem and soon. The silence from the power company since Thursday’s article does not comfort this writer. We as citizens need to make sure that this problem is being addressed properly and quickly. For if the unthinkable does happen, then we will find that the cost of delay will not fit into the phrase “millions and millions”.