Imagine this was your home town, because sooner or later, events like these are likely in your neighborhood too:
Demand for electricity skyrocketed as air-conditioners worked overtime during a heat wave Tuesday and Wednesday.
At 8 p.m. Wednesday, the surge knocked out one of the five transmission lines at the Public Lighting Department.
With more pressure on the remaining lines, a second line went out at 1:40 p.m. Thursday. A third line died at 1:50 p.m. Thursday, knocking out power to public buildings and traffic lights.
Minutes later, city workers scrambled to drop the demand by requiring power to be shut off at most of the 225 buildings on the city's system.
Power restored in Detroit, but real fix will cost millions
by Steve Neavling, Detroit Free Press Writer -- Jun 10, 2011
Shhh ... try not to Breathe ...
What options do the cash-strapped City Officials have to deal with Public Utility Infrastructure problems like these? (Maybe Sheriff Rick will ride in and save the day ...)
Where is the help from Washington? Where is the help from the Tax Base?
[continuing ...] As crews restored power Friday to schools, courthouses, municipal buildings and dozens of traffic lights following a 24-hour blackout in parts of Detroit, frustrated city officials said troubles at the beleaguered lighting department won't improve without a buyer or tens of millions of dollars in improvements.
[...]
Selling the utility, city officials acknowledge, would be difficult.
Hoping to rid the city of an outdated and strained system that costs taxpayers more than $15 million a year, Mayor Dave Bing's office is in the early stages of a deal that would give control of the system to DTE Energy, which is the major power provider in southeast Michigan.
How's that Libertarian Free-Market Blackout working out for you Detroit? The Market will cure all ills. The Market will lift all boats -- right after you swelter in your Heat Island homes, for a summer or three.
How can Infrastructure Investments (like those in the 'Stimulus' Recovery Act) be looked at with such disdain by Free-Market boosters?
We wouldn't treat our cars that way -- drive them into the ground, ignoring the funny noises, never changing the oil -- How can we treat our Modern Life support-systems that way?
All Mechanical Systems will break down some day. Without Routine Maintenance, and regularly scheduled upgrades, that day will arrive sooner than we think.
Yet Routine Maintenance costs money. And "Spending money on Public Projects is bad" according to the GOP-Libertarian-ConservaDem world view.
Bad Home-townies! Expecting the Govt to hold your hand and bail you out, every time you need something! Do you think they are running a Charity or something? That's why we have "Good Will Store" don't ya know?
The signs of a crumbling infrastructure are all around us. Bridges that fall under their own weight. Bursting Water Mains that turn city blocks into water-parks. Rolling brown-out that turn California neighborhoods, into their own "Space Mountain" amusement rides. Unending Heat Waves, that turn inner city apartments into slow-roaster chambers, that no number of fans can cool off.
Oh wait, it takes "power" to run those fans -- never mind apartment dwellers. Better get used to visiting the local A/C Library -- assuming Republicans let those remain, an inspirational relic to another golden age, when Living in America was more of a first-rate experience. Something to be aspired to.
Where investing in our Common Good, where Providing for the Common Welfare, where investing in the betterment of Society was a Team sport -- NOT an individual, Me-only race, that it has been turned into today.
Good Luck future Home-town residents, if today's Austerity 'Warning Shots' are any guide, very soon you may find you are on you own, too -- for reals. When you dial 911, and No one responses with help -- then what will you do? Where will you turn for relief?
Welcome to the 3rd-rate world of Austerity, America. Courtesy of Supply-side Marketeers. Keep paddling folks, some day your Tide is gonna come in ... Reagan promised it.
Maybe, someday, we'll wake up from their Free-ride, Free-market fairy tales ...
Then again, maybe we won't ... if history is any guide.