Follow-up re Concerns about Peoples Gas Line work in HP
Hi, folks, On New Year’s Day, I sent the e-mail below with my concerns about Peoples doing gas pipe replacements in HP in the middle of winter. I know a lot of you were away or busy because of the holiday and may have missed it. This extensive gas pipe work is going to be done throughout HP. I am really worried that if there are any problems in the work, some people might be left without heat when temperatures dip to single digits. Does anybody share my concern? Details below. Thanks. janet jai, MLA vision-and-values.com Dear HP Neighbors, Peoples Gas has informed us that they will be starting gas line upgrade work on Jackson and Euclid (where we live) this week. While I am glad they are doing this work, I am deeply concerned that they are doing it in the middle of winter. It is mild now, but when we received their first letter (dated Dec. 16) it was cold and snowy. This is winter so it is likely to be cold and snowy again without much warning. Before Christmas, I called both Peoples and the Mayor’s office (311) because it seems to me potentially life-threatening to replace gas lines in winter. If there is a problem in any of the work (and there are often problems and delays in work in these pandemic times), I am concerned that some of us in HP might be without heat when temperatures drop to single digits. I have tried to reach the Public Utilities Commission but haven’t been able to because of the holidays. I will try again on Tuesday. Gas will have to be turned off at least briefly (they told us 10-15 minutes) when the new pipelines are in place so they can pressure test them. Afterwards Peoples will have to enter homes and relight gas appliances. If they decide that an appliance is unsafe, they will not relight the appliance (this makes good sense, but what do you do if this is your furnace and it is the middle of winter and temperatures are in the single digits and you can’t get a certified plumber to come out and fix your furnace immediately). Also, according to the painted lines Peoples has put down on our blocks, it looks like they will be digging up a lot of sidewalk, which means that people will have to walk out in the street. Again this is more dangerous in winter, and one of our neighbors is blind. Peoples has also posted No Parking signs on Euclid and Jackson prohibiting parking from Jan. 3 until April 30, which seems an excessive amount of time for work that is supposed to not take much time according to what they said when we called. We have a parking pad, but it will be harder for neighbors to park in other areas in the winter when there is snow and ice. I sincerely hope our City Council person Deb Gross, and the HPCC will look into this quickly. Others of you in HP may also want to contact Peoples and the Mayor’s Office to find out if you too will be dealing with gas line replacement in the middle of winter. Yours for health and safety, janet jai, MLA vision-and-values.com <http://vision-and-values.com/>
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Assuming that there are people concerned about gas outages, could the Highland Park Community Club speak to Peoples Gas on behalf of the neighborhood? The possibility of winter temps and no gas is frightening and too much of a possibility as we are currently experiencing the loss of water for over 24 hours so far. Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone On Thursday, January 5, 2023, 9:00 AM, janet jai <jai@vision-and-values.com> wrote: Hi, folks,On New Year’s Day, I sent the e-mail below with my concerns about Peoples doing gas pipe replacements in HP in the middle of winter. I know a lot of you were away or busy because of the holiday and may have missed it. This extensive gas pipe work is going to be done throughout HP. I am really worried that if there are any problems in the work, some people might be left without heat when temperatures dip to single digits. Does anybody share my concern? Details below. Thanks.janet jai, MLAvision-and-values.com Dear HP Neighbors, Peoples Gas has informed us that they will be starting gas line upgrade work on Jackson and Euclid (where we live) this week. While I am glad they are doing this work, I am deeply concerned that they are doing it in the middle of winter. It is mild now, but when we received their first letter (dated Dec. 16) it was cold and snowy. This is winter so it is likely to be cold and snowy again without much warning. Before Christmas, I called both Peoples and the Mayor’s office (311) because it seems to me potentially life-threatening to replace gas lines in winter. If there is a problem in any of the work (and there are often problems and delays in work in these pandemic times), I am concerned that some of us in HP might be without heat when temperatures drop to single digits. I have tried to reach the Public Utilities Commission but haven’t been able to because of the holidays. I will try again on Tuesday. Gas will have to be turned off at least briefly (they told us 10-15 minutes) when the new pipelines are in place so they can pressure test them. Afterwards Peoples will have to enter homes and relight gas appliances. If they decide that an appliance is unsafe, they will not relight the appliance (this makes good sense, but what do you do if this is your furnace and it is the middle of winter and temperatures are in the single digits and you can’t get a certified plumber to come out and fix your furnace immediately). Also, according to the painted lines Peoples has put down on our blocks, it looks like they will be digging up a lot of sidewalk, which means that people will have to walk out in the street. Again this is more dangerous in winter, and one of our neighbors is blind. Peoples has also posted No Parking signs on Euclid and Jackson prohibiting parking from Jan. 3 until April 30, which seems an excessive amount of time for work that is supposed to not take much time according to what they said when we called. We have a parking pad, but it will be harder for neighbors to park in other areas in the winter when there is snow and ice. I sincerely hope our City Council person Deb Gross, and the HPCC will look into this quickly. Others of you in HP may also want to contact Peoples and the Mayor’s Office to find out if you too will be dealing with gas line replacement in the middle of winter. Yours for health and safety, janet jai, MLA vision-and-values.com
participants (2)
-
janet jai
-
Lynne Porterfield