Just heard the Soterios Johnson piece on shortage of licensed electricians for recovery work. As chairman of the Joint Industry Board of the Electrical Industry, a labor-management representing Local Union3, IBEW electrical workers and their affiliated NECA and independent contractors, I'd like to point out an important distinction. There are still as of today unemployed qualified electricians available for employment in the greater metro area. It is the contractor that has to be licensed, not the worker, alhough a union card is an important signal of skills and training. In addition, the union also has the ability to bring in qualified and vetted electrical workers from other areas. Licensed contractors are standing by waiting for decisions from both the city and FEMA which I think is the real bottleneck and worth exploring on your show.

Having long delays in repair and rebuilding will surely discourage people from moving to or staying on Long Island. The narrow land forms of Long Island may be washed away within a few years due to global warming. And no amount of poles or wire will be able to bring it back.

11/9 - Just went on a gas run and it's still just as crazy. The police are not enforcing the rationing, it looked like about a 50/50 mix of odd even plates in the line that I waited in.

Regarding storm recovery: It would be great if you could encourage your listeners to conserve water.

As the linked article states, "Officials want to reduce the stress on the storm-damaged sewage treatment system and help limit partially treated effluent flowing into Newark and New York Harbor."

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/11/48_nj_towns_ask_to_limit_water.html#incart_m-rpt-1

Thanks!

Nora

Reporting from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.

The gas line on my corner has not diminished one bit. It goes on for at least 5 blocks. I can't see the end.

The local bodega is packed, have never seen it this crowded. It is filled with displaced nursing home workers who are complaining that they are not getting paid, and weary gas line people.

People are walking through the streets with red containers, reeking of gasoline. How safe can this be....

New York was too slow to implement gas rationing, and now that they have finally done so, it seems too late to make a difference.

And, can someone tell us, what is the problem with us getting gas? This isn't a case of mass panic over gas. This is a case of 3/4 of the stations not having gas. Why?

Forget Con Ed, LIPA has been a disgrace - they charge the highest rates in the country, yet they simply ignored a study that predicted what can happen if a storm the size of Sandy were to hit.

Police and first responders are working, Fema is working, Sanitation crews are working, and the rest of the government (socialism) appears to be on the job. But... but... these capitalists companys didn't prepare, didn't act on their own emergency plans, and they knew something like this would happen. For the sake of short-term financial gain, and a return to investors, they screwed over their customers. And there is no competition (faux-capitalism), so there is no way to fire them. The capitalists have rigged the system and now the system is in shambles. Clearly, smaller government is NOT the answer.

I purchased gas in Teaneck NJ this morning. There were no lines. I passed several other stations in my town with gas and no wait. So New Yorkers, come to NJ for your gas (especially if you are waiting for 2 hours to fill your tank!)

I'm an evening student at Kingsborough Community College (in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn) and when I went last night, I noticed that many of the apartment buildings on West End Avenue and the private houses on Oriental Boulevard are still dark. Crews were out trying to repair everything, but it's been eleven days. Time to get them up and running.