Lights out

[from Joseph Martin]

For anyone interested in urging PEPCO's prompt attention to the (again) darkened Grant Circle lights, please contact:

Ms. Paula Blair
Manager, External Affairs, PEPCO
202-872-3137 voice, 202-872-2032 fax
[email protected]

Pepco
701 Ninth Street NW
Washington, DC 20068

Comments

[Joseph Martin]

Mr. Steve Foster, Building & Utilities Supervisor for
the National Park Service, just checked the electrical
box in Grant Circle and told me his assessment is that
the box and the timer within (which also operates with
a light-sensitive "eye") were thrown out of whack
probably as a result of a power failure.

Mr. Foster re-set the timer, and all should be well this evening.

I will eat a slice of humble pie if I fingered Pepco too much on this, and I'll do it sitting across a table from Pepco's Paula Blair, if she insists.

It did seem clear that Pepco was the issue five months ago. I never heard the explanation about an accident being the cause of the lights being out last winter, fall and summer, an assertion made on some listservs earlier today. Six-to-eight months was much too long for the lights to have been neglected, regardless of responsibility.

My thanks to Ms. Blair and others at Pepco, to Councilmember Fenty and my friends at the National
Park Service especially including Mr. Foster and Donald Kirk.

And thanks to Bill Crandall for posting a prompt notice about this on the Petworth News:
http://www.petworthnews.com

Thanks, too, to the many residents who responded with phone calls and emails.

By the way, there seems to be a wiring problem responsible for keeping the lights ON 24/7 in the playground in the triangular park on the north side of Grant Circle. Mr. Foster told me he'd look into it.

Joseph Martin
ANC 4C09 Commissioner
202-309-1817 cell
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/anc4c09
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/4D-Neighbors

[Joseph Martin]

For background, when Grant Circle was dark before for many months, it was a Pepco problem.

The relevant professionals at the National Park Service have also been pulled into the loop on this. The Park Service has jurisdiction for Grant and Sherman Circle as Petworth News readers may know.

Councilmember Adrian Fenty is helping, and I received an email from Pepco's Paula Blair this morning saying Pepco is working on this. I have also been in touch with the National Park Service by email and phone.

Joe Martin
202-309-1817 cell
ANC 4C09 Commissioner
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/anc4c09