Electricity Infrastructure in Detroit “Beyond Salvage”
December 2nd, 2014Via: Mlive:
When a major U.S. city’s government loses power to its schools, fire stations, government buildings and sporting arenas because it’s operating on an antiquated power grid that it can’t afford to update, it’s national news, Detroit proved Tuesday.
Media across the nation covered the power outage that selectively impacted municipal buildings in Detroit, the criminal courthouse, schools, sporting arenas, a hospital and City Hall. The buildings receive their electricity from the Detroit Public Lighting Department on an internal energy grid, rather than from area utility DTE Energy.
Lights stayed on for residents, while courtrooms and classrooms dimmed and elevators slowed to a halt.
Mayor Mike Duggan announced at an early-afternoon conference that a cable “failed,” The nature of the failure was not revealed.
Electricity had been restored by about 5 p.m., but the national ribbing may have just begun.
Pundits, late night comedians and perhaps a sprinkling of conspiracy theorists are likely to jump on Detroit’s brief return to the dark ages for material in coming days.
“Poor Infrastructure is completely at fault for this,” Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon, adding that Detroit’s self-contained power grid hasn’t “been modernized in decades” and is beyond salvage.
