Tuesday, August 28, 2012
A year after the storm hit, what lessons did New England learn from Tropical Storm Irene passing through?
It has been almost a year after Tropical Storm Irene hit New England, leaving trees and power lines down, and many without power. Earlier this month, Attorney General Martha Coakley announced that she is seeking to fine NStar $9.7 million for "failed responses" in both Irene and "Snowtober." Nstar has challenged the fine, and Nstar released a statement the same day disagreeing with Coakley's assessment. "Nstar Electric customers fared better than others in Massachusetts and throughout New England," the statement said. In the statement, Werner Schweiger, President of NSTAR Electric said that all storms are opportunities to "identify areas of improvement," but that "we have not reached a stage where technology is resistant to storm damage…
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Keep us apprised, whether he's here or not.
The Board of Selectmen didn’t meet last night and Town Manager Carl Valente is at a working conference until Wednesday. One would assume we wouldn’t have a Town Manager Tuesday. Carl thought ahead and sent me information for Tuesday. Educating Citizens … The Citizens’ Academy started last Thursday with Carl and Selectman Norm Cohen talking each talking about their position and how it fits within the community. Twenty-two people signed up for the course and they had “lots of good questions,” Carl wrote. Carl explained that the Citizens’ Academy was a 2020 Vision Committee’s initiative and a “way of increasing/encouraging citizen engagement” in the community. “Michelle Stevens has done a great job organizing it this year," he said. This …
42.446369
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Cary Memorial Building
1605 Massachusetts Ave, Lexington, MA
/articles/about-town-town-manager-tuesdays
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42.446449
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Town Office Building
1625 Massachusetts Ave, Lexington, MA
/articles/about-town-town-manager-tuesdays
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Monday, September 19, 2011
The Cary Memorial Library's Worthen Collection photos show what the town looks like after Lexington's most common natural disaster.
In eastern Massachusetts, we don't expect drastic changes to the landscape. Long before any of us were born, our Puritan forbears chopped down the oak-hickory-chestnut forest that greeted them in West Cambridge, radically transforming the land—but in the past century, we've paved away most traces of their farms piece by piece. No one in particular has attacked Lexington since 1790, so for the past two centuries we haven't had the town burned by vengeful armies, and we haven't had any bloody miner's strikes, either, partly because we don't have any mines (Paint Mine excluded). It's been pretty quiet around here. Apart from human calamities, Lexington also has been spared most of the more dramatic natural disasters. There are no steaming …
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Town Office Building
1625 Massachusetts Ave, Lexington, MA
/articles/lexington-landscapes-how-hurricanes-change-lexingtons-look
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Battle Green
Massachusetts Ave & Bedford St, Lexington, MA
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/locations/5389510
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Buckman Tavern
1 Bedford St, Lexington, MA
/articles/lexington-landscapes-how-hurricanes-change-lexingtons-look
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/locations/5389511
Saturday, September 10, 2011
RCN storm savings, a new start-up's CEO and SHAC's member-seeking memo were among the items that recently found their way to Patch's inbox.
- THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES
- Patrick Ball
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Saturday, September 10, 2011
RCN to Give Customers a “Storm” Break on Bills RCN announced Thursday that it is giving an automatic credit to customers who live in areas that experienced severe and widespread damage, including power outages, as a result of Hurricane Irene, according to a company press release. An estimated 4,500 customers will receive the automatic credit and they’ll see the deduction in their next bill. The credit will reflect the number of days that the customer experienced disruption in service due to power outages. “As members of the community also affected by Hurricane Irene, we know how challenging this event has been. At RCN we take reliability of our services very seriously and we regret any disruption our customers may have experienced,” …
Friday, September 9, 2011
Carl Valente gets a vacation -- sort of.
Town Manager Carl Valente spent the week before Hurricane Irene working with Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency and local officials. From Wednesday to Sunday – the day it hit – they held four conference calls. Carl and a dozen of our department heads and elected leaders chatted with the state looking for ways to help the town. Unfortunately, Carl should have been packing for his vacation, which was supposed to start a few days before Irene. No such luck. He finally left on Wednesday and said what little he had was enjoyable. Unfortunately, when he came home Sunday, after that final conference call, his wife (a lovely woman who runs another town and shall remain nameless) told Carl he should probably check their basement. “We had …
42.446449
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Town Office Building
1625 Massachusetts Ave, Lexington, MA
/articles/about-town-town-manager-friday
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/locations/5313287
Sunday, September 4, 2011
A tropical storm, the start of school, an SUV swallowed and more last week in Lexington.
This week got off to a roaring start as Tropical Storm Irene’s winds and rain wreaked havoc across Lexington, prompting 188 emergency calls and leaving many without power well into the week. So, that was Sunday. Monday was a chance for many folks to regroup after the storm, figure out what to do with storm debris and prepare for the start of school on Tuesday for the most students in the Lexington Public Schools and Minuteman Career and Technical High School. If the start of the 2011-2012 school year wasn’t enough, Tuesday morning saw quite a scene play out on Lowell Street, where an SUV was swallowed by a sink hole after its driver cracked a telephone pole, bounced back into a hydrant, causing flooding and compromising the ground. The …
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Linda Vine and NSTAR offer the latest information.
People are cyber talking about the remaining electrical outages in Lexington. Deputy Town Manager Linda Vine, in constant contact with NSTAR, has been sending updated press releases for the last few days. Yesterday’s release stated 500 were without power. Today it’s a few hundred less and the restoration date was moved a few hours earlier. One person suggested there were 13,108 customers without power. Nope. Here’s updated information from NSTAR and Linda Vine. (I urge you to bookmark this page and go back for updated information.) As of 8 a.m. Wednesday NSTAR reported: The total number of customers served in Lexington: 13,108 Total number of customers without power in Lexington: 289 Percent of customers without power: 2.2 percent …
An extra curbside collection of yard waste will be held next week.
The following is a press release from Lexington's Public Works Department. The Town of Lexington will hold an extra curbside collection of yard waste because of the recent Hurricane Irene. The collection will be held starting Tuesday, Sept. 6 (one day delay due Labor Day holiday) through Saturday, Sept. 10, on the same day as your regular trash pick up is. Place yard waste in open top barrels without lids or biodegradable paper bags at least eight feet away from regular trash containers and recycling bins on your regular trash collection day. Approved yard waste is defined as leaves, grass clippings, dead vegetable and flower plants, weeds, pine needles and cones, wood chips, hedge clippings and small cut or broken branches up to 1 inch in…
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Wire, and tree limbs and power, oh my ...
According to information released at 2:30 p.m. from Deputy Town Manager Linda Crew Vine and NSTAR, approximately 500 local customers are still without power. Yes, that’s the bad news. Town and NSTAR officials predict restoration by Friday evening, Sept. 2. Those who want to report power outages to NSTAR (and I’m sure they’ll be thrilled I gave you this number...) should call 1-800-592-2000. A press release notes that NSTAR responds to life-threatening emergencies first, large scale outages take second place and singular problems fall into an unfortunate third place. Makes sense, although foregoing a hot shower for more than a few days can make anyone a little testy. Linda’s missive said: “We appreciate the frustration of being without …
Sometimes Mother Nature provides an excellent opportunity to talk to your kids about natural disasters.
My children experienced two natural disasters here in New England in the past week and, although they were minor in our area, they certainly raised many questions. Even though we didn’t feel the Virginia earthquake on Aug. 23 and Hurricane Irene on Aug. 28 only caused a short power outage, it was on everyone’s minds -- especially my young children’s. So, how do you handle all of these questions? Sitting them down in front of the local news is not high on my list, but talking to them is. I wasn’t able to see the Virginia earthquake coming like Hurricane Irene, so I had to be on the ball as the questions started flying at me when my brother called from the Washington, D.C. area with the news. What’s an earthquake? Is it coming here? What …
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Maria Hastings School
7 Crosby Rd, Lexington, MA
/articles/raising-lexington-talking-to-kids-about-natural-disasters
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Patrick Ball
10:44 am on Tuesday, September 6, 2011
How very mean and green of you, Derek. more ›