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# Hundreds of residents to spend Sunday powerless
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/hundreds-of-residents-to-spend-sunday-powerless/
- Published: 2002-07-13T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T00:30:20.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Community, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Power near hospital to be cut off for 11 hours POWER OUTAGE, from page 1*

*By JASON AUSLANDER Daily Press Staff Writer*

Hundreds of residents who live near the Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center will be spending Sunday without electrical power for at least 11 hours.

Southern California Edison plans to turn off the power to every home and business located between 12th Street and 16th Street and Broadway and California Avenue starting at 9 a.m. to “approximately 8 p.m.,” according to John Abbott, construction coordinator for the power company. “...We must replace a piece of underground equipment that serves your area,” Abbott wrote in a notice dated July 9.

Marjorie Sutherland, who lives in an apartment building located at the corner of Euclid and Wilshire Boulevard, found the notice posted at the entrance to her building Wednesday.

She immediately called Abbott, who informed her of the boundaries of the outage. Sutherland then told Abbott that Sunday seemed to be a bad choice for an all-day power outage because most residents are home at that time.

Abbott told her they had to do it Sunday so the outage would not interfere with the medical center’s dialysis program, located at 1260 15th St., which doesn’t operate on Sundays, Sutherland said.

Sutherland then called the hospital, where a spokeswoman checked with a person involved with coordinating the center’s construction projects.

“This work is performed by SCE at their own convenience,” wrote Ara Aroyan in an e-mail to the spokeswoman. “They did not schedule it through us. If they have any information about the dialysis program, that did not come from the project team.”

Messages left Friday for Abbott, the hospital spokeswoman and other Edison officials were not returned.

“People are just gonna hit the roof” when they wake up Sunday morning, Sutherland said. “I think they’re being very inconsiderate to the residents of Santa Monica who will be affected.”

In addition, it appears that though the residents of Sutherland’s building were notified of the outage, others in the affected area were not.

Seth Kotok, who lives near 14th Street and Arizona Avenue, said no notices from Edison were posted at his building and he knew nothing of the outage plans.

John Love, manager of the NuWilshire movie theater, 1314 Wilshire Blvd., also said he hadn’t heard anything about the outage.

“Thanks for letting me know,” he said. However, Mike Nyman, a manager of the Blockbuster Video at 1402 Wilshire Blvd., said he heard about the outage Tuesday and was ready with a generator.

“They didn’t give very much notice,” Nyman said of Edison, adding that his bosses initially wanted he and his employees to record all transactions by hand.

“I said, ‘Be prepared for me not be here,’” Nyman said.

A manager at Izzy’s Deli, 1433 Wilshire Blvd., also was aware of the outage. The popular restaurant will be open thanks to a rented generator, said manager Jimmy Stats.

“It cost and arm and a leg,” he said. The notice from Edison that was posted in Sutherland’s building offers a list of things residents can do to prepare for the outage.

First, it says that Edison “does not provide electrical generators to customers. Our corporate policy and code of ethics does not allow us to recommend an outside supplier of generators.”

Customers who use generators are asked to call Edison and let them know “to protect our employees against electrical back-feed.”

Also, Edison advises residents to alert alarm companies to the outage, switch off computer equipment to avoid loss of data, operate automatic garage doors and electric gates manually and not open their refrigerator doors “any more than necessary.”

“An outage of this duration will not cause refrigerated food to spoil,” it states.

Those who need more information can call 310-315-3216.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 13, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/071302.pdf?ref=smdp.com)