By J. K. Schmid
Special to AFRO

The city’s Housing and Urban Affairs Committee held an informational hearing between Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE), the city’s own public safety, emergency and services heads, and members of the Baltimore community on Feb. 25.

The topic of the discussion is how the utility company plans to improve communications with city residents, property owners and business owners when planning power outages.

Ammanuel Moore, Manager, External Affairs, BGE testifying before Baltimore’s Housing & Urban Affairs Committee. (Photo Credit: J.K. Schmid
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Always an inconvenience, these planned power outages come with very real risks. Heat in the winter, and air conditioning in the summer are near necessities, and many Baltimore residents depend on powered medical equipment with which they cannot live without. Further, planned outages can also knock out traffic and street lights, and lane closures can take revenue from small businesses that are already eking out a profit in the margins.

Kristerfer Burnett (District 8) was also in attendance.

BGE’s standard practice is to provide 10 days notice of planned outages. Notifications are sent by mail, supported by text messaging and automatic dialer, Moore said. The timeliness of the notice is dependent on the ability to plan based on weather forecasts, according to Moore.

John T. Bullock and Bill Henry hear Ammanuel Moore, BGE. (Photo Credit: J.K. Schmid
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Councilman Cohen sought more proactive engagement from BGE, citing how shutting down blocks of restaurants and other business districts on a Friday night was “not a good look.”

Councilman Dorsey spoke on behalf of numerous businesses and their complaints of parking spaces being cordoned off-perhaps with adequate warning -at storefronts for weeks at a time, but with no actual electrical work being evident in the duration.

Also at issue is where these notifications are heading. Many Baltimoreans rent. Mailed notices are going to where the bill goes, the landlord, and not necessarily to the resident. Similarly, text and phone messages may be going out and even being received by property owners, but not residents.

“There’s this communication gap between residents who are on medical devices , Residents who have been living in the neighborhood 20 years or more,” a community representative from Remington said. “Often, these are renters; who have breathing apparatus, and other devices. And they don’t get the notifications. That is something I think about all the time, in the midst of all this.”

The hearings, labeled in the City Hall record 19-0179R, will continue, Henry said. But a future hearing has not yet been scheduled.