Generating new ideas to cope with outage
By MICHAEL J. TITTINGER Daily Press Staff Writer
DOWNTOWN — As a widespread power outage extended into its fifth day here, with no long-term guarantees being offered by the local energy provider, some merchants have taken matters into their own hands this week in order to take care of business.
As Southern California Edison workers continue to repair and replace fried equipment, which failed on Saturday afternoon and led to a temporary blackout throughout much of the downtown district, company officials continue to extend target dates to have the entire city back up and running.
On Wednesday, an Edison spokesman said that things should be back to normal by Sunday... “if all goes well.”
The extended timelines and inaccurate estimates have proven too much for some businesses to take.
“We’re not supposed to be up until the weekend, but the companies that have money aren’t going to wait,” said Aaron Dedicke, sales manager for 24 Hour Fitness on the 1400 block of Second Street.“Around here, there’s too much money to lose.”
According to Dedicke, corporate companies like his and the adjacent Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf have turned to securing their own generators in efforts to remain open for customers, and not rely on promises made by City Hall or Edison.
“It’s a huge loss on my part, every hour counts,” said Dedicke, who joked that he considered moving his desk to the Second Street pavement in order to meet with potential members. The sales manager estimates that his gym lost anywhere between $3,000 and $15,000 each of the three days it was forced to turn customers away this week as a result of the power failure. He also took a personal hit worth “thousands.”
“I don’t know where to project my anger,” he shrugged.
WHAT LIES BENEATH On Saturday, the failure of an underground power vault consisting of a transformer and multiple circuits — located in the alley north of Santa Monica Boulevard, between Second and Third streets — rendered much of the downtown district powerless for roughly two hours. Since that time, intermittent repairs have left a couple of blocks near the site of Saturday’s explosion a confusing maze for shoppers and drivers trying to maneuver around the city.
Mark Olson, a spokesman for Southern California Edison, reported Wednesday that only between five and 10 customers were still without power, an estimate that seemed to contrast with the array of businesses on the west side of the Promenade still dark, brandishing signs that indicated their indefinite closure due to a lack of power, as well as businesses on Second Street making do with their own backup generators.
However, Olson said some of the stores simply hadn’t had representatives on site to allow Edison workers access needed to make necessary repairs.
On Wednesday, Broadway remained closed to traffic between Second Street and Fourth Street, while one northbound lane and one southbound lane were re-opened along Santa Monica Boulevard. The street closures are necessary, said Olson, as Edison has laid above-ground cable to get customers back on line, but that protections are needed for the temporary equipment before traffic can be permitted to cross them.
THE SHOW MUST GO ON When the lights went out on Saturday night, Laemmle’s Monica Fourplex had a couple theaters full of anxious movie-goers suddenly cast into the darkness, most of whom wanted to wait out the blackout in the interests of having a Saturday night out.
“A few wanted to sit it out... until we told them there was a subterranean fire up the block,” laughed Brian Roddy, the theater’s general manager. “We lost about four shows and gave customers their money back. We also lost stock like popcorn, ice cream that melted... but hopefully we didn’t lost the faith of too many of our customers.
“I guess, as it turns out, we’re one of the lucky ones.”
Across the street at Keller Realty, 1333 Second St., workers were out of power until Tuesday morning. Charlie Rogers, a consultant with Keller, was charged with heading into the office each day and reporting back to the realtors whether or not they needed to come in to the office.
On Tuesday, the juice was back, but Keller didn’t take much of a hit, according to Rogers, as most of the realtors could work from home or laptops.
“The whole thing probably saved us money,” he joked on Wednesday. “We don’t have to pay our electric bills.”
Sidsie Davis, who along with her father, operates Historia, a Spanish colonial art distributor at 1322 Second St., was working in her store’s darkened space on Wednesday, only the lights were dimmed to combat the oppressing heat rather than the result of a power failure.
Davis said most of her company’s business is done online and the effects of the blackout were minimal to her operation. Still, she could sympathize with neighboring businesses still fighting to turn on the lights.
“I would definitely be upset with the city. This affects so many things,” she said on Wednesday. “It’s a mess down here.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 27, 2006. Read the original PDF.