Samantha Solomon was prepared for an overnight power outage on Dec. 1, after receiving a November letter from BGE alerting her of the plan.
But then there was another outage a week later on Dec. 7. This time she had no notice from the utility company, a major inconvenience since she works from home.
A third outage soon followed. BGE contractors worked on a utility pole behind her house on the 400 block of 24th Street. Solomon said she learned about the third outage on a door hanger about a week before the lights went out, but even then, the outage lasted longer than expected.
“Bottom line: it’s lots of different kinds of communication….and it’s not accurate and generally confusing,” she said.
Solomon’s issues with communication from Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., owned by Exelon Corp., is one of many outlined by North Baltimore residents in the last few months.
Councilwoman Odette Ramos, a Democrat representing the 14th District, is calling for utility leadership to appear before the council in February to address the issues. The hearing is set to be announced during a council meeting on Monday, Jan. 10.
Ramos highlighted concerns around BGE communication strategy with residents, businesses and neighborhood associations ahead of work. But she’s also hoping to learn more about permitting and planning processes, specifically with the city’s Department of Transportation.
Constituents have complained about disruptions from traffic and rerouting when utility work affects roadways, and noted issues with pedestrian right-of-way when work affects the city’s sidewalks. She’s calling on Transportation Director Steve Sharkey to appear before the council as well.
“Emergencies you can’t help,” Ramos said. “Powerline goes out because of the storm, you got to do what you got to do. Somebody smells gas, you got to do what you got to do. It’s the planned work that seems to be completely out of line.”
BGE officials respond that they use various communication strategies – from emails and door-hangers to attending community meetings – to keep residents and businesses informed.
Ramos said major issues on Keswick Road and 40th Street in September originally motivated her to call for a hearing.
“BGE needed to go do an upgrade here, and it was underneath the intersection,” said Jack Fletcher, who lives a block away. “It came as a complete surprise, because there was no notice. There was nothing from BGE at all. Just all of a sudden, they showed up and shut down the intersections.”
The intersection, located near where the Roland Park, Wyman Park and Hampden neighborhoods meet, is a block from the Rotunda shopping center. It’s heavily trafficked, according to Fletcher.
“The traffic interruption was immense, just to say the least,” he said. “There were some immediate complaints from residents.”
The 69-year-old volunteers for the Wyman Park Neighborhood Association and worked with the construction crew to develop a different detour pattern that didn’t send cars zipping through nearby residential neighborhood streets or down the shopping centers’ one-way driveway in the wrong direction.
Jackhammers at night
Then there was the jackhammering in the middle of the night. That’s when Ramos’s phone started ringing.
“I got frantic phone calls at 10 o’clock at night,” she said.
Ramos said that BGE did notify her, and she forwarded information to the community association that the utility did intend to do work at that intersection, but it did not alert her office of the hours the crew planned to work through the issue.
BGE spokesperson Richard Yost said when crews must do overnight work “there’s a reason.”
In a follow-up email, Yost added. “We make every effort to clearly communicate the scope of work, estimated project length, work hours, potential traffic impacts, and a direct point of contact.”
Fletcher contends the communication with his group on Keswick Road and 40th St. was minimal.
“I think it’s an area of improvement, that’s for sure,” he said.
Diana Emerson described Waverly Main Street’s “Designed for Distancing” project at the Waverly Commons as a space for patrons visiting nearby businesses amid the pandemic to eat or sit and “still be in the neighborhood.”
The open space is across from the parking lot that houses the popular 32nd Street Farmer’s Market. Between the two locations is Brentwood Avenue, on which Emerson’s group had a mural painted.
“BGE informed us after the fact that they needed to come through and do work,” she said. “That mural has really been ripped up and is in really bad shape. We had furniture pieces that were a part of that “Design for Distancing” installation that have also been destroyed. We’re short benches and tables because they’ve been destroyed, which is a shame because now in a community can’t use those furniture pieces.”
Request: A list of projects for council members
Ramos said she knew about work on Greenmount Avenue, but not the Brentwood work just a block away. She requested information last month for all projects planned in her district in 2022, but has not received a list.
“Every council member should get a list of all the planned work that BGE is planning for every year in January,” she said.
Yost said that BGE “has informed the community that once the work is completed the mural will be replaced.” It’s currently working with the Baltimore Development Corp., which commissioned the mural, for cost and artist information.
In nearby Remington, Phong Le described a number of active utility projects in the neighborhood.
Le and the Greater Remington Improvement Association have been vocal with BGE and the city’s transportation department about utility construction in the neighborhood forcing pedestrians off the sidewalk and into the street, an absence of ADA-compliant pathways when sidewalks are blocked by construction, equipment parked overnight and over the weekend blocking alleyways, and equipment parked on sidewalks.
“These are basic things: Make sure the people have sidewalk access. Make sure if there was an emergency that emergency vehicles could access back alleyways. We should not have to ask for these things,” Le said.
Rerouted cars have also been spotted driving down one-way streets the wrong way.
Permits should be viewable
The utility company is upgrading electric infrastructure in Remington to increase reliability following multiple outages during the summer, according to Yost. He said projects are done in coordination with the appropriate regulatory agencies like the city’s transportation department, and permits are obtained before work starts.
“Projects that include work within the public right of way must have a ‘Temporary Use of Right of Way Permit’ issued through the Department of Transportation’s Permit Division. Applications are entered into a tracking system and circulated for approval by various city agencies,” A spokesperson for the Department of Transportation said in a statement to the Baltimore Fishbowl. “The reviewers provide conditions under which the permit is issued, which typically include city specifications, standards, and traffic control plans during construction that require compliance.”
Still, Ramos says there’s a breakdown of communication between the utility, city and the public.
“If they’re doing construction on a property, I can look it up, and I know what the permit says. I know exactly what they’re supposed to be doing,” she said. “There’s no transparency when it comes to this stuff with BGE. (Permits) should be up.”
The transportation department declined to discuss any ADA issues highlighted by the Remington neighborhood group, citing a class action lawsuit that wheelchair users filed against the city in June, nor any specific projects in Remington or elsewhere.
BGE’s external affairs department is working to directly share project information on the ongoing Remington projects with the Remington neighborhood group and affected residents, but Le said he wasn’t very hopeful its efforts work offer much change.
“This whole façade of community engagement was a sham. I mean that’s what it feels like to me,” he said.
The utility should not be relying on local officials and neighborhood associations to do its outreach work, he contends. BGE should practice better outreach both ahead of planned work and when residents inquire about what is happening in their own community, he said.
Ramos and Emerson agree.
“I sit on the Abell Improvement Association Board, and I absolutely believe it should not be our responsibility to contact BGE, or to be honest any city partner, to find out what’s going on in our own community. Absolutely not. We’re volunteers at the end of the day,” Emerson said. “Quite frankly, there are so much other more important things happening in the city, but this is what we have to take our time out to focus on.”
Abell Improvement Association is spelled with two Ls
Fixed! Sorry for the typo, thanks for catching it.