A promise I won't make

Running for First Selectman makes me think about some issues a bit differently. Our town has fiscal problems, because we have a very small commercial tax base, and few kids in school which means our per pupil cost is high. (We still need a principal and a custodian and a building, and class sizes are small.) I might be able to do something about that. At least I have ideas and I'll campaign on them.

But one of the biggest complaints people have is that the power goes out very frequently, and it usually takes a long time to get it restored. I finally broke down and got a standby generator, but they're expensive and this is not a wealthy town either -- a lot of people can't afford one, they can barely pay their taxes. 

The reason this happens is because, first of all, we live in a forest, and second, in case you hadn't noticed, storms are getting more frequent and more severe. On Friday, we had a tornado -- one of five tornadoes that touched down in southern New England on that day. It's rare for New England to get that many tornadoes in an entire year. We've had several bouts of severe weather this summer, and in the past few years, tropical cyclones and squall lines have knocked out power here for days or a week at least five times that I can recall offhand. It's only going to get worse.

Fortunately, nobody has been seriously injured in these events and property damage has mostly been minor, with the exception of the power company's property, but obviously our luck might not hold. After a lot of public pressure, the power company has made a more visible effort to trim the trees along the power lines but the result doesn't make much difference. You can't remove more than a small percentage of the dangerous limbs and trees, and I have to say Asplundh makes a pretty unconvincing show of even trying. 

So we're just going to have to adapt. The firehouse has a generator, obviously, and can provide people with showers, water, recharging their devices. We can set up a program to provide meals as well, check on vulnerable people and, in the winter, provide shelter for people who lose heat. But the whole world has to face up to this. It's not the new normal, not at all. It's just going to get worse.