In the News

Highland Park citizens will have an opportunity to question officials of Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) at 7:30 p.m. Monday during the regularly scheduled City Council meeting.

Thunderstorms packing high winds June 21 and July 11, leaving more than half of Highland Park without electric power for days, prompted the second municipal gathering in a month.

Public anger at a lack of response and perceived caring on the part of ComEd caused Mayor Nancy Rotering to summon executives from the power company to the City Council chambers once again tonight.

On July 27, Commonwealth Edison Vice President for External Affairs Michael Guerra and External Affairs Manager Eric Duray explained the company’s priorities restoring power when massive outages strike. After hospitals, public safety like police and fire come next.

Then, the July 11 storms hit the city both the main police and fire stations in the dark for two days. Though generators assured citizens of basic safety needs, Rotering is questioning the public utility’s commitment to its own policies.

“This highlights the extent of the outage and the limitations [ComEd] face,” Rotering said. “We need new infrastructure. ComEd's current procedures create undue financial, public safety and public health burdens.”

Citizens like Jane Mordini felt the double sting of the storms as well. For Mordini, it is not just the storms. She has lost power 17 times since the first of the year. She blames, among other things, the failure of someone to trim the branches in her neighborhood away from wires.

Mordini attended a Town Hall meeting July 8 hosted by state Rep. Karen May (D-Highland Park) where she talked publically about here continual problems with power outages. Guerra personally gave her his phone number.

They came to her home after the meeting, but when the July 11 storms hit, she was again out of power, this time for three days.

“I gave ComEd 24 hours and then started making calls,” Mordini said. “I feel we did get better service this time. There were 10 trucks on our street. They put up two new poles. I can thank Michael for that.”

Though Mordini had improved service with the help of May, her basic problem still exists. Tree branches surrounding the wires going into her home and those of her neighbors are so close a gentle breeze or squirrels can cause an outage.

“We live on a planet with wind and rain and squirrels. This is not an act of God,” Mordini said, referring to the forces of nature that have left her without electricity 17 times since Jan. 1. “They (ComEd) tell us it’s the city’s job to trim the wires.”

May confirmed ComEd must trim branches around its wires.

May and state Sen. Susan Garrett (D-Lake Forest) have been spending most of their time dealing with issues surrounding ComEd for more than a month. Garrett will host mayors from her district for a meeting Thursday to discuss ways to meld resources and come together during severe weather.

“Are there ways to rethink the law to require the burying of power lines over a five year period?” Garrett asked. “Something has to be done to bury the power lines. I can’t believe how antiquated some of these systems are.”

May is meeting with people and looking for legislative solutions as well. On August 1 she will host a round table discussion with municipal leaders. As a member of the General Assembly’s public utility committee, she has scheduled a public hearing at 10 a.m. August 16 at the Highland Park Country Club.

May also met with members of the Illinois Commerce Commission—the agency that regulates ComEd—to help her determine remedies the legislature can enact.

"[ComEd] must maintain a system that will withstand a realistic amount of wind and ice,” May said. “We have to determine what legislative issues we can enact into law.”