‘Power for the people!’

The Power for the People campaign launched a petitioning drive on July 26 during the afternoon rush hour in the predominantly working class, immigrant community of Sunnyside in Queens, New York. The campaign is in response to the power outage that impacted many neighborhoods in Queens beginning on July 17 during a heat wave followed by a major thunderstorm.

At least 100,000 residents had little to no power for more than a week, causing many hardships including the loss of perishable foods and the lack of air conditioning or fans in the midst of a terrible heat wave. Con Edison, the main energy provider in New York City, is attempting to downplay its role in this catastrophe. (Go to www.workers.org to read the article, “First outage, then outrage in Queens, NY” in the Aug. 3 issue.)

An organizer of the Power for the People campaign told WW, “The response on the first day of petitioning was tremendous. We gathered 200 signatures in just two hours and many volunteered to help with the campaign, including South Asians, Latin@s, Eastern Europeans and other working class people who live in the neighborhood. We expect to have more volunteers as the word of the campaign spreads.

“Petitions are being distributed door to door in large building complexes. We will be petitioning again on July 31. Con Ed wants to give the impression that full power has been restored to our neighborhoods and that everything is back to normal. Nothing could be further from the truth. Several large building complexes are operating on generators provided by Con Ed, and not on the main power grid. People on Staten Island were also without power for a while last week.”

The infrastructure in New York City is deteriorating day by day while tax dollars are being spent on wars of aggression in Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon to make the rich richer while the people here are also suffering. This campaign in Queens shows the type of grassroots movement that is needed here and around the country to fund human needs, not wars for Big Oil profits.

The campaign will be bringing the community’s concerns and demands to a Public Service Commission hearing in Queens in early August. For petitions, more information and to volunteer, go to www.powerforthepeople.info, email [email protected] or call
718-512-5442.

—Story and photo by Mary Owen