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Have some pity for the people in the Town of Hempstead, who are the hardest hit. We are one of the last bastions of Republicans on Long Island. You would almost think it was a conspiracy.

Give me a break! Hempstead is north of the Southern State, not anywhere near the hardest-hit coastal communities, nor did it have entire neighborhoods burn to the ground.

According to LIPA, 1,087 customers are still without power in Hempstead.

In the Rockaways it's over 31,000 households and customers in these areas have been completely taken off the outage map because they are unable to receive power safely.

There are a myriad of reasons why the utility companies are so slow in recovery after storms.

1- They are regulated by government authority
2- They have very tight inventories of poles, transformers, etc. (all across the country)
3- Most are top heavy management and bottom light workers
4- All companies rely on workers from other areas of the country (and from other countries)
5- Back to regulation...their profits are regulated by government
6- Back to regulation.....because of that they shed many of their workers (retired aren’t replaced)
7- Would you hold inventory in “Inventory Tax” states?

These companies are very top heavy, rely on a network of a limited amount of actual hands-on workers around the country and with sparse ‘just in time’ inventory of equipment. (just like grocery stores have very limited on-hand food - same goes for utility companies)

At this stage in the game - the workers are there but most likely don’t have anything to put up - they are most likely waiting for inventory and are driving around looking busy.

Buy a Generator (no matter where you live)

(DH is a recently retired lead lineman for a large utility in New England who’s worked in Canada, Puerto Rico, Texas, NY, Ohio, Arkansas, Mississippi - all within the past 15 years (before that it was helping other utilities just within New England) - and yup, no one replaced him)

Have some pity for the people in the Town of Hempstead, who are the hardest hit. We are one of the last bastions of Republicans on Long Island. You would almost think it was a conspiracy.

I do feel sympathy for you and others who do not deserve the sort of comments that are being spewed here and elsewhere. I have friends in NJ and NY who have lost everything or who have been going through very trying times dealing with the storm damage. They're not liberals either.