Not so fast -- parts of Teaneck are back up and running as of 20 minutes ago. Drove to Oradell and back earlier today, other towns are also having severe problems, Kinderkamack is very difficult to navigate in Oradell, etc. I'm sure they are doing the best they can...

yes but I believe the Mayor is saying he doesnt like the bad communications from PSEG to the township. I too think PSEG is working hard to repair lines but the customer service is terrible. There are many comments on the article abut people complaing with lack of information. Working hard to repair and keeping the town (and bill payers) informed are different problems to me.

the lack of communication on pseg's end has been nothing but shameful. it comes down to dollars ans cents. pseg probably does not want to pay the crews overtime so they are waiting until monday suring regular work hours to do anything. i can understand the mayor's and all the township members fruatration. i have been calling pseg since the power went out and eaxh time they atate there is no outage in my area. folks we need to come down hard on pseg and not let up on them. but we need to do it as a large group. we need to rip into tjem and keep.ripping into them until these sort of issuse gwt resolved. i think the township needa to drag the ceo of pseg to a town meeting and let him face the residents. of course the ceo of pswg doesn't have the guts to face the people.

sorry for the typo's typing on my phone stinks.

First, where's the Manager or the designated emergency response manager? Our Town Council is the policy making body of the township. Executive control resides with the Manager.
Second, what can Teaneck do to prepare for storms? Recent budgets have flatlined at $75,000 a year for municipal tree maintenance. That seems inadequate. Our township trees are the respected "senior citizens" of Teaneck. They add much beauty but they need extra care as they approach the end of their lives. There are thousands of them and maintaining them better - identifying them, trimming overhanging branches, removing diseased trees - would be a good first step to minimizing the damage they have caused in the past 24 hours. This is a policy change that the Council was asked to consider last March.
Thirdly, many homes have been damaged by these trees, many families inconvenienced. Homeowner Insurance companies will rightfully come after Teaneck to make their clients - Teaneck residents - whole. It is an unexpected budget expense. Better tree care in Teaneck would not have prevented all the damage that has taken place but it would have reduced it.

Hurricane? over-communication - Blizzard in October? under-communication. Surely, we can find a happy solution. Haven't seen a single PSEG truck around folks. Thank goodness for outstanding private contractors and wonderful neighbors!

If PSEG trimmed the trees that enwrap the wires during the non-storm periods we would not be in this mess.

I had in the past spoken to a PSE&G crew about trimming back a tree that had caused 3 outages in year to our block. The crew man said that they wanted to trim the trees back more, but it was the township that directed them to trim specific trees and how much to trim. I got most of the residents on my block to sign a letter to the township manager, and within 2 weeks the tree was trimmed. So I think you have to ask here - how much does the responsibility belong to PSE&G and how much belongs to the township itself?

Lost power Sat 1pm. Left to stay warm with friend in Brooklyn, Would love to know how things are on Genesee Ave and Teaneck Road. If you know please respond.
thanks,
jannas

Lost power Sat 1pm. Left to stay warm with friend in Brooklyn, Would love to know how things are on Genesee Ave and Teaneck Road. If you know please respond.
thanks,
jannas

It would be useful if refugees had a source of information as to whether power has been restored on particular blocks.

This is insane, no warning no proper communication before or during the storm, everyone literally in the dark with PSE&G

Two quotes I recently read said it best, "Drive around town people. PSE&G doesn't just go to your house attach a wire and your good to go. You're not the only one. Half the shit they can't even get to right now cause trees are down. They don't just put a plug in an outlet to restore power. Thanks."
And...
"Self absorbed, entitled people suck. Not like there's some "middle class" guy with 3 kids and a struggling marriage working every hour since the storm started to put everyones power back on."

Haven't seen s single PSEG truck since power went out at 1pm Saturday. There are still downed wires hanging everywhere. I know they are stretched thin, but show me some sign of progress.

i've seen our dpw working like mad to clear trees and tree limbs. however i have yet to see a pseg truck roll past teaneck. i can't blame the mayor as pseg has given everyone canned answers. however, where the heck are our elected senators and why are they not putting pressure on pseg? it's time for the residents of teaneck to take this into thier own hands.

Yes, let's start putting pressure on Loretta Weinberg and the mayor to investigate this outage. I saw a PSEG truck come to my block when I had full electricity. When they left I had none and have not seen a truck since they left. It's obvious they are turing off selective grids which is a big problem. You shoul not pick winners and losers in these matters. I drove down Ridgefield Park and they have trees down everywhere but they have almost full power. I hope someone considers a class action suit to get to the bottom of this too. 2 major storms and major outages for days with no improvements.

i hate to say this but do pseg's actions seem almost political? it almost seems like they want someone out of the township and this is the way to do it. maybe it's just me but the slow response and almost no power to teaneck twice in a row seems fishy to me.

the problem is that too often pseg is pulled into meetings, people yell at them and that's it. then folks let it go. we can't let this go, we have to beat pseg down. as for Lorretta Weinberg, I'll be calling her office in the morning. i called today but why would they be actually trying to help anyone.

What are some of you talking about? Have you lost your minds? There was a really bad storm and hundreds of trees, limbs, and power lines came down. Of course power is going to be lost and of course it's going to take time to be restored. I've been without power since Saturday at 1:00 and my house was damaged from a tree. This kind of thing happens. What is the freakin' problem!? There's no giant conspiracy nor hidden agenda. Good lord...

hey John galt wake up, there is more to this than meets the eye. what's the freaki g problem, how about you start helping people drain thier sumps so they don't get water in thier basements. it's all politi s and this storm was not the worse we have ever seen. it' s called bad township managment for not forcing the trimming of all these over grown trees and it's also lots of politics involved.

i do not blame the PSEG linemen or crews out in the bad weather, i'm sure they are working hard. My problem is with the executives who oversee customers service. I bet they aren't out in the weather fixing things!! the communication was bad but lets be honest people: Teaneck needs to get a handle on this tree issue. Too many dead trees and its causing very dangerous conditions and causing these outages!! on a side note: thank you to all teaneck police, dpw and fire department members. I have seen them literally everywhere around the clock.. those people deserve real praise in all of this mess.

JamesTS i agree with you on both subjects. the township needs to force peole to trim good trees and cutdown olddead ones. i've been saying this for years but all my neighbors do is say it's too expensive. given the impact all these fallen trees had on Teaneck, it's time the township took the issue on and either trims the trees or cuts them down. heck three years ago cut a tree on my property that i knew was too big out of concern that it may fall. people are either ignorant or just plain cheap. i say force people to cut down dangerous trees and plant a new one. that's what i did, it's called common sense.

Looks like we are generally agreed that a) the township has to have a much more active tree maintenance program and b) privately owned trees need a maintenance program too and c)PSEG should coordinate its repair sequence with the township. For instance, fixing the outages impacting the most homes first. That may mean bypassing smaller outages for bigger ones. Many of our current trees were planted about 1930 when the George Washington Bridge opened. Hence many are over 80 years old. They have been choked by our sidewalks, had their nutrients shut off by our paving, yet they have made our streets beautiful so that we might call ourselves "Treeneck".

The tree in front of my house that has long been entangled with the wires is a healthy tree. It was simply too dense with branches. Frankly, I have paid to remove just about all the trees on my property. This one is the town's and I would gladly see it gone completely also. "Treeneck" sounds like a nice concept but the truth is we have way too many trees that turn into frightening killers several times a year. I would rather live with few trees and reduced fear.

i'm on board with the tree removal. perhaps the township can take action before the next storm. dpw can finish the cleanup and private contract tree removal companies can take down the trees. i say we plant new ones but the old ones have to go.

7:55 am no power, the house is freezing. put my faucets on a drip so pipes don't freeze, my firewood is finished. guess i'll be hunting down a squirrel for breakfast.

Bergen county residents pay so much in taxes and really get only being close to mangattan as the only benefit... our taxes are too high and in Teaneck we don't get much for it. I'm happy with the Mayor's response and think the lack of communication is horrible and unnecessary.

The problem is PSEG should be completely transparent. They should tell the public where they have crews and how many people are in each township working to fix these issues. PSEG needs to provide hourly DETAILED updates on the status for each affected township. Being an engineer and looking at the certain sections in Teaneck that had power I'm believe the grids in many areas of Teaneck were shut off. I'm not sure if PSEG was worried that kids in Teaneck would play with electric wires that were down so they shut off power in as many residential areas as possible. Or PSEG needed to turn off other grids to fix issues within the township. Whatever the cause there needs to be a full investigation with State brought in to investigate.

What some writers are talking about here is "Tree Management" vs. "Tree Maintenance". It is true that trees, in their urge to live, do push sidewalk out of line and the Township then forces homeowners to replace the sidewalk, sometimes repeatedly. But, healthy trees that have not outgrown their sometimes too narrow locations should be preserved if at all possible. They should be trimmed just as PSEG trimmed the trees near power lines on Garrision Ave. about 5 years ago. As noted in today's NYTimes, in Central Park in NYC, it was said that tree trimming and removal improved areas of the park, allowing more light and better circulation. I believe the word for that is "culling". Teaneck seems to have a "lassiaz(?) faire" approach. The trees near power lines need more attention.

I live on George Street and power went out like everyone else and then the trees started coming down all around us. There is a tree on a neighbor's house that no one has even come to look at. There are downed lines that I myself moved. There is a tree hanging on lines blocking the road. Not once in the almost 48 hours since it began have I seen a patrol car, a public works car or anything for that matter. No one has checked us out. They (PSEG) are telling me December 2nd we should be restored. I am thinking that is a glitch in their system. The disaster is a combination of several issues that have been poorly handled. The first is the inability of the town to maintain its trees, they are old and need more care than previous. If they won't let me cut it down because of fear of it falling on my house then in my opinion it is their responsibility to ensure it doesn't or face the aftermath. Secondly is the lack of communication from PSE&G which others have stated previously. The third is the lack of visible presence in our area if law enforcement or public works. At least put up a barricade to the street. Let us know that at least you are aware of the problems. Overall very disappointed in the town and service. This is the third major outage in the area in two years. Each time it has been tree related, at least for us over in this area of town. What is also sad is that at least a block away there are lights because of being on a different grid and they never go out.

To add to my rant above I would like to add that I would like to give a lot of credit and thanks to the fire department, police and emergency services for all their hard work and dedication over the last 48 hours. I know I complained I didn't see them but from the continuous sirens heard around the clock and for the house fire early this morning they have had their hands full. Again thank you.

I just called PSE&G as my power has been out since 2 pm Saturday afternoon. You know what they told me???? My power will be restored by 11:59 pm Friday, DECEMBER 2nd!!!! Wow, really????? They have got to do better than this.

Until we want our taxes raised or PSE&G bills to skyrocket to pay for putting wires underground, I am afraid this is something we will have to deal with. WE have a battered array of trees in town from previous storms. Perhaps town emphasis on cutting trees back around wires would be a good use of available funds. The "Tree City" though will have change the name with many more of these storms. As for PSE&G it is interesting that they immediately had a robo answering system giving datea out many days before restoration should occur. I got my power back (Cumberland Ave) a day and a half earlier than the utility's answer. More coordination and better communication is always good. Focusing on solutions even better. Allowing our frustrations to make judgements about who is wrong without solutions is a waste of time.

the problem is that moat "investigations" with PSEG go nowhere, it's all a dog and pony show. The only way to force change is to not accept the dog and pony show as a solution. we need to make pseg responsible for thier lack of responsibility.

Actually a class action suit was succesful against Con Ed a few years back. They proved Con Ed was negligent in a outage back in 2006. So if PSEG turned off grids where there should be power or if they ignored Teaneck with over 10k outages to help more affluent towns first even though they have much less the an investigation will uncover it.

Almost 72 hours now and still nothing on the 700 block of George Street. Had half hoped there would be utility trucks on the street to start clearing the trees and hanging branches this morning. Yet still nothing. Walked the entire area and not a single truck, not a town vehicle or a PSE&G vehicle. The south end of George and John Streets had power returned yesterday so there must have been workers down there. I guess they just left. Why is it that this small section is always the last to be worked on. Third time now we are left until the last minute.

We got our power back yesterday, but it went out again overnight. I did see a DPW crew clearing trees, and the TPD and TFD are doing great work. But I haven't seen any PSE&G vehicles. Still lots of downed wires in my neighborhood.

Driving around town is akin to skiing the slalom.

Just got home to clean up the mess. Who at PSEG arranges to reimburse us for all the food we have to discard?

Still no clean up on George Street. Someone put yellow tape across the road that's about it. PSE&G says tonight but highly doubtful considering the damage. Wonder who is going to reimburse me for the food, the hotel we will need to get if this continues and the inconvenience. Funny thing is I got a call this morning from PSE&G telling me they need to have an accurate meter reading and would like to schedule an appointment. People without power and they want to get paid.

JUSTTTTT GOT POWER ON NORTHUMBERLAND ROAD !! A crew was driving by and decided to fix the down wire that has been there since Saturday !! We are so lucky. If they hadn't driven by we would still have no power !!

Still waiting for power on Wyndham rd.

So, could someone explain why, after we did NOT lose power over the weekend and on Monday, our power suddenly went out without warning at 1 PM on Tuesday, November 1, three days after the storm? This happened to a number of streets east of Teaneck Rd between East Cedar Lane and Route 4. (I don't want to steal attention from the folks who've been without power for four or five days now -- obviously they're in far worse shape than we are, but it is frustrating not to have any understanding of why this would happen so long after the storm.)

For those who said they want to call Sen. Loretta Weinberg & couldn't get thru here's her email addy: SenWeinberg@njleg.org I signed a petition awhile back & she sent me an email. Now she sends an email to me almost monthly so I know up until the power outage this was her email addy. Good luck & yes I will be one of them to send an email to her because this is a disgrace. I can handle the cold & such but I have a 75 year old Dad living with me with Dementia & very bad arthritis. I have senior citizens as neighbors. I find this a disgrace that they call PSE&G to be told they are crazy they have power. I also find it a disgrace that these politicians that are supposed to be here for us & that a majority of senior citizens vote them into office are also pushed to side. I think it's time since election day is only days away remember this when we go & vote. No matter what the election is for. Let them know that you are not happy. Again here's Lorretta Weinberg's email addy: SenWeinberg@njleg.org I urger you to email her & tell her we will no longer put up with this.

Can anyone share with me what they specifically want Senator Weinberg to do?

I think Senator Weinberg should do what she should do.... legislate the crap out of PSE&G....... Tell them.... fix the things that are wrong or face the legislative power...... Public utilities have to live by legislation......

The place to send e-mails is the NJ Public Service Commission (it may have a slightly different name like "Public Utilities Commission"), rather than Sen. Weinberg. It is the Commission that regulates - not legislates - the utilities in NJ. I don't know how well PSEG will rate compared to prior storms or other utiiities involved in emergency repair. If you see a lineman working, give him/her a wave and a thanks. (You can't offer them a warm cup of coffee as you have no power.) They go where they are sent. They may be working overtime. Their own homes/families may be without power. Emergency electric repair is neither easy or safe. If they take shortcuts, they put their lives at risk.
Likewise, send an email to the Township Council. I feel the township and PSEG need to form a "tree care partnership". The town will care for the trees on a regular basis, culling the sick, damaged, dying trees on a regular basis. That should reduce the number of outages that occur when a storm hits. I checked Teaneck budgets going back to about 2005. We budget $75,000 a year to maintain all the township trees. That seems a grossly inadequate sum. It's possible the number budget be ten times higher. That is still less than we spend on legal fees.
The Council may have its own agenda. The Mayor's rant against PSEG may just be a tactic to shift responsibility from the township to PSEG. The truth is our trees have not been well maintained. Shame on us.

How about an ordinance permitting home owners to remove trees on the township portion of their properties at their own expense if they wish?

Also, much damage is done by seemingly healthy trees. That has been the case in this storm to a great degree.

Now THERE'S an idea. Unfortunately, the tree huggers would never allow it.

How about if for every tree cut a new smaller tree is planted to replace it? Big trees are great in a forest but not a township.