The Town Hall meeting on the recent prolonged power outages in our area was held at 7 pm Monday March 6, 2023 via Zoom. If you missed it, the recording is available below. The Town Hall participants included the Windsor Square Association and the Hancock Park Homeowners Association, Councilmembers Soto-Martinez and Yaroslavksy and representatives from the LADWP. 

You can also listen to the audio only here:

Below are the 12 questions the HOAs sent to DWP in advance of the meeting.

Question 1 – Hancock Park and Windsor Square Outages 

Why was there a delay of multiple days for LADWP to restore power to homes in Windsor Square and Hancock Park? What caused the delay? Was there insufficient staff available to respond to power outages in multiple areas in the city? Was the cause of the outage in Windsor Square/Hancock Park so severe and technically difficult to fix that it caused the delay? Was there a paucity of hardware/parts that had to be sourced to fix the problem, causing the delay? 

Question 2 – Incorrect Outage Data 

Why are outage maps and messaging to the community re – repair times – incorrect and inconsistent? How can they both be improved to show outages in real-time and send accurate messages to the community? 

Question 3 – Infrastructure Upgrades 

What plans are in place to upgrade critical infrastructure around the city? (Crews tell residents that our infrastructure is old and failing.) 

Question 4 – DWP Coordination of Upgrades 

If/when LADWP upgrades infrastructure — water and power— who would be leading that effort? How is that coordinated? Who at LADWP is responsible? Is DWP working in coordination with the Mayor’s office? 

Question 5 – Availability of Federal Funding 

Feds have put aside millions for upgrading infrastructure. Has LADWP reached out for Federal funding and what is/would that funding support? 

Question 6 – Preparation for Future Events 

If the woeful response DWP had to the current storm is any indication – a storm for which we had ample warning – how will we all be impacted in the event of a major earthquake with no warning? How is LADWP preparing? 

Question 7 – Impact of Housing Plans on Infrastructure 

With more and more housing units being built – ADU’s, TOC projects, LA Housing Element calls for 460K new units – how is infrastructure going to keep up, especially now that the City Via Executive Directive is streamlining / fast tracking permitting? 

Question 8 – DWP Staffing 

What is the staffing situation? Are we down crews— both on the power and water side? Are we at capacity or still trying to recruit? 

Question 9 – SLTRP Impact on Staffing / Solar 

The 2023 SLTRP (STRATEGIC LONG TERM RESOURCE PLAN) includes, “Preliminary budgetary estimates include approximately 2,500 to 3,000 additional positions to address existing system needs and also PSRP (Power System Reliability Program) revamp and load growth. How many of those positions will be for upgrading existing infrastructure problems or are they mostly for LA 100’s solar? 

Question 10 – Reimbursement for Losses 

Is LADWP going to reimburse us for all the food we had to throw away? All perishable and frozen goods were a total loss for us. 

Question 11 – Past Upgrades Insufficient 

Last year in Hancock Park a number of residents withstood multiple electric shut offs when they were upgrading the area. Why did this upgrade, deemed necessary enough to disrupt traffic, light, water and home access for months, not prepare us for or avoid the recent outage ? 

Question 12 – DWP Tree Trimming 

Many residents were told their outage was due to trees hitting/knocking down power lines. LADWP told these residents that residents were responsible for keeping the trees trimmed. However, California regulations require utilities to trim trees or vegetation so they don’t grow into or fall into high-voltage power lines, which could not only cause a power outage but could spark a fire or be a danger to the public. Who is responsible for trimming trees near power lines?