THE BLACKOUT IN SAN FRANCISCO - APRIL 21, 2017 - ADVERSELY IMPACTED OVER 90,000 CUSTOMERS IN SAN FRANCISCO - A HEARING ON THIS SUBJECT - MUST BE A TOP PRIORITY - MAYOR EDWIN M. LEE -ONLY COMMENT ; " BIG LESSON: BACKUP GENERATORS" HE SAID " IT WORKED" - BUT DID THEY - AND HOW MANY OF THE 90,000 IMPACTED HAD ACCESS TO BACKUP GENERATORS?

The red spots all over the City and County of 

San Francisco - pin point - the Blackout areas.

Some 90, 000 customers were adversely impacted.

Mayor Edwin M. Lee - with all his talk - about our City and County being " resilient " - had no viable and sustainable - concrete " blue print " - in place - linked to the major Blackout -
April 21, 2017. He get a F- for his performance - and less for the statements he made - he is not prepared for the Big One!

A hearing should be in order - not one of SF Board of Supervisors - who spew " hot air " all the time - had anything to say about this major blackout that hit the City and County of San Francisco.

Affecting 90, 000 customers. Around 5:20 pm Pacific Gas and Electric - stated power had been restored. It took them 8 hours and 20 minutes - to attain this major outage - that impacted three quarters of our City - some 49 square miles with a population of about 630, 000.

Customers wait to be served -

the doors closed - power failure.

Thousands of person hours wasted.

It was a slow Friday and most of the supervisors - were somewhere pussyfooting for sure Katy Tang, Malia Cohen, London Breed, and Mark Farrell.

As stupid as Mayor Edwin M. Lee is - his only statement : " Big Lesson: backup generators," - " It worked ". 

The SF City Hall is undergoing some upgrades - and its generator may have kicked in, some - providing some basic electricity. 

However, this was not Citywide. You have to be careful that you do not open your mouth and shove your dirty foot. So check out the few places that I checked in that did not have their " generators " working.

The Traffic Control Officer 

trying his best -  on California Street.

The JW Marriot hotel in Union Square for example had hotel customers stranded -  on the 20th floor - its generator failed.

There were other instances too - too delicate to mention - because of the present state of affairs - linked to our " bad guys " - who are looking for opportunities - and this one incident - showcased our many vulnerabilities - for sure.

The sub-station at Larkin operated by Pacific Gas and Electric - and long been known - to be vulnerable to surges - failed circuit breakers - a couple of major fires at the substation - all these many years. Even impacting the Presidio of San Francisco - a federal enclave - 1480 acres of land - once run by Sixth Army and Presidio of San Francisco - where I worked and know - more.

Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) - still has no precise reason what happened at the Larkin substation. PG&E stated that in this instance - they reached to the point of the incident late. What does that mean?

PG&E also stated they had a $100 million upgrade in the pipeline and that the Larkin substation - was part of that upgrade. Oh yeah!

September 9, 2010 - I was in my office - when the San Bruno incident took place. From my office window at Executive Park - I really thought a plane had crashed. I saw the fumes - and then the black smoke - and this could be seen - from miles away.

The September 9, 2010 incident took years - to be adjudicated. PG&E lying - and doing despicable things - that forced the California Public Utilities Commission - to fine PG&E millions of dollars  - commit themselves to thousands of hours community service - and for the first time -  " apologize ".

Lives were lost - homes burned down - and the trauma of that little town that was adversely impacted - still lingers - I have friends who died and lost homes - and know - better.

San Francisco downtown was a mess - over 100 parking control officers at their wits end - over 300 traffic lights blackout - drivers shouting and honking - pandemonium.

At Montgomery Station - in the center of our Financial Center - for over two hours - thousands were unconvinced - trains running without stopping at the Montgomery Station - it took BART a long time - before its generators - were activated - to activate basic operations - like elevators.

In the interim power to the elevators and escalators still had no power - adversely impacting the physically challenged, seniors, others who are challenged - the blind - no authority in power - worth the salt - to help those that most needed - help.

Cable Cars stuck in the middle of the street -

it took hours before they could move -

this is the first time is a long time - stranded for hours.

The tourists could not ride the Cable Cars - our MUNI buses that are operated and use overhead wires - stalled - the Municipal Transportation Agency took some time - to bus passengers - using shuttles.

The entire operation of MUNI trains running by stations - avoiding Montgomery Station - the confusion caused by these actions - must be reviewed personally by Ed Reiskin the Director of the Municipal Transportation Agency.

 Of course John Haley - can give his two cents - about his ability how to have in place " a Resilience Plan " - that surely failed on April  21, 2017.

Our stupid, dumb Mayor Edwin M. Lee - should b  sitting down and told about the serious repercussion - of such actions - trains running by stations - with all the confusion - going on.

A possibility of a large fire - burning down a huge portion of our City - especially in the Tenderloin area.

Let us not wait for a major tragedy to happen.

One of many streets without power -

traffic lights out - cars not paying attention -

many pedestrians put their lives on the line.

People were stuck on elevators - the SF Fire Department - did its best but there is only so much they could do. 

Nineteen schools were closed - and so were rows and rows of businesses - in China town, the Tenderloin, the Financial District - elsewhere - many workers whiling their time - and after hours of waiting many were sent home.

Millions of dollars were lost - and businesses and other facilities will be tallying their loss - who pays for this loss?

The Mayor at the Operation Center -

with those around him - standing - most 

having no clue - about the situation at hand -
at ground zero.

When we had the Earthquake in 1989 - for three days - I took control of the Tenderloin - and helped those that most needed help.

The Red Cross at that time - arrived after 3 days - and were surprised that measures had been put in place - the Sixth Army and Presidio of San Francisco - General Harrison  honored me with a Medal - for my work -  SF Mayor Art Agnos - pinning the medal - one of many  - which I treasure.

Customer wait and wait - many owners -

chose to close the restaurants of the day -

occurring thousands of dollars in losses.

I took a general tour of the area yesterday - and frankly speaking we have much to put into place.

We talk a lot - but when it comes to action - especially one that cannot be controlled - it defies the - mock situations practice during emergency drills - which simply fall by the wayside.

Yesterday - this City and County of San Francisco failed - make no bones about it.

A general assessment of the situation at hand must be made - and posted by the Mayor Edwin M. Lee - on the SFGOV website - much like he brags about his Press Statements - most of them Bull Shit.

You have him in the photograph - taking to some Emergency Personnel - with a lap top - it the Operation Control Room.

It is such scenes - that reveal to the experts - the sad state of affairs - and for sure how resilient this City and County of San Francisco is NOT.

This catastrophic failure is just one of many eye - openers.

Back to back traffic - pedestrians -

running across - dodging the traffic -

such situations cause incidents -

some leading to loss of life and death.

 So far we have NO " Blue Print ' to address such incidents - as happened on April 21, 2017 - that are viable and more sustainable - that can bring succor to those that most need help.

Wake up - this is a clarion call - and in my assessment - the Mayor Edwin M. Lee get a F - ( minus F ).