Dayton bizarre/weird/messed up/&@?! news thread (Springfield, Riverside: utilities, train)

[CarpathianPeasant]

Originally Posted by hensleya1

This picture correctly encapsulates why Dayton wasted no time in using a Lucas County judge's opinion to leave the cameras on:

If you absolutely must carry on about something, at least do it about something substantial, like the electric company. Even after it was sold off it still did public dis-service as of a year or two ago, probably still had some of the same employees.

Although the mayor of Dayton can do some things the mayor of Dayton is fairly incidental. If it was a spot of major importance, there would be a lot more fighting over it.

[weatherphotographer]

Nan will be a one term mayor over this.

Get ready.....

[hensleya1]

Originally Posted by weatherphotographer

Nan will be a one term mayor over this.

Get ready.....

She won't.

She enjoys the backing of the Montgomery County Democratic Party... as well as the IUE-CWA, AFSCME, AFL-CIO, SEIU, and the rest of the alphabet soup organizations. Combine that, a bunch of money, and the crowd of low-information voters that live in Dayton... she can stay here as long as she likes.

The only viable option, really, if you want to get much done, is to leave the city.

[IDtheftV]

Originally Posted by CarpathianPeasant

If you absolutely must carry on about something, at least do it about something substantial, like the electric company. Even after it was sold off it still did public dis-service ...

What do you feel is worth carrying on about? What was the disservice?

I'm just curious. If something has happened to cause the rates to go up, that's a problem, but from what I see, the power producers are just mopping up after the demise of coal power generating.

It should be invisible to the consumer. Of course, "should be" and "is" are frequently two different things.

[SWOH]

^Yeah that is interesting. CP, I dont know much about DPL or power companies in general (I am forced to use Duke) but if you could let us know I'm all ears. Especially about third party providers. That really confuses me.

Anyways, she is most certainly right about Nan's position. The mayor of Dayton is not much more than a figurehead. All of city council together is what really runs the city, with the weak mayor system in place.

[CarpathianPeasant]

Originally Posted by IDtheftV

What do you feel is worth carrying on about? What was the disservice?

I'm just curious. If something has happened to cause the rates to go up, that's a problem, but from what I see, the power producers are just mopping up after the demise of coal power generating.

It should be invisible to the consumer. Of course, "should be" and "is" are frequently two different things.

It's been a little while, but it was in the newspaper.

A couple of young women decided to rent a place together and started moving in. As I recall the place was in North Dayton. While they were gone -- the electricity had not been connected yet -- DP&L arrived and turned on the power. The girls had apparently simply loaded stuff in, including on the stove which happened to have a burner set on "on." The place caught fire.

When contacted, DP&L claimed "accident," saying stuff like "They loaded stuff on stove -- you do it, I do it, we all do it." Firstly, everybody doesn't do it. Secondly they are supposed to make the residents aware when they are doing something.

In the 1980's I did telephone soliciting for donations for the veterans. Called all over Montgomery county for a couple of years. Sometimes people talked a little. i will never forget the lady on Riverside drive. She had kids and a downed wire in her back yard. The kids were cooped up. She couldn't send the children out to play in front because Riverside drive had too much traffic on it, and she couldn't let them out in the back yard because of the wire. She said that when she called DP&L about the wire, they asked her if it was a live wire. She said she asked them if they wanted her to go out and test it.

That's hearsay, but I believe it. I kept my dog (shepherd mutt) caged when the meter reader was due. The dog carried on so much that one time around noon I called them up for an idea of when the man might be coming, if at all, since they often didn't send anyone and just estimated the bills. If possible I wanted to let the dog out in my _well-fenced_ back yard to run off the agitation. I was told not to worry as the meter reader carried mace for dogs running loose. How nice -- go ahead and let your dog out in "his" back yard, we'll mace him.

I'm not suggesting other power companies are great. There are many cases where they are not, but DP&L has a small enough territory that they could provide decent customer service.

[IDtheftV]

Originally Posted by CarpathianPeasant

It's been a little while, but it was in the newspaper. .... they could provide decent customer service.

OK, I see. Yours, is just a general rant about the service. It's all justifiable, but I was wondering if all the financial shenanigans affected people in Dayton.

What you are describing is just a decline in customer service in everything in general.

It reminds me of when an electronics chain ( was it Best Buy? ) decided to mass fire almost 100% of their store clerks who were making an average of $13 or so per hour and replace them with NEW store clerks who were only going to make about the minimum wage. The decision was made that the OLD employees had too much experience and were offering a higher level of customer service than management was willing to provide.

I can remember when I could call DP&L on the phone and get stuff done. Now, I would imagine, that you get the computer-voice-guy/gal who keeps giving you menu options that you don't want and whenever you ask for the "operator" the computer is programmed to say "sorry, I didn't get that" and the menu repeats ... finally, the computer will say "sorry, you are having problems, goodbye" and hangs up on you.

That's why no one is "carrying on" about that. It's a waaaaay bigger problem than can be solved by normal people.

[hensleya1]

If it helps, I've learned to always just say "representative" when I'm confronted with a computer, regardless of whether the computer can solve my problem or not (it usually can't).

It usually works.

[SWOH]

Originally Posted by CarpathianPeasant

It's been a little while, but it was in the newspaper.

A couple of young women decided to rent a place together and started moving in. As I recall the place was in North Dayton. While they were gone -- the electricity had not been connected yet -- DP&L arrived and turned on the power. The girls had apparently simply loaded stuff in, including on the stove which happened to have a burner set on "on." The place caught fire.

When contacted, DP&L claimed "accident," saying stuff like "They loaded stuff on stove -- you do it, I do it, we all do it." Firstly, everybody doesn't do it. Secondly they are supposed to make the residents aware when they are doing something.

In the 1980's I did telephone soliciting for donations for the veterans. Called all over Montgomery county for a couple of years. Sometimes people talked a little. i will never forget the lady on Riverside drive. She had kids and a downed wire in her back yard. The kids were cooped up. She couldn't send the children out to play in front because Riverside drive had too much traffic on it, and she couldn't let them out in the back yard because of the wire. She said that when she called DP&L about the wire, they asked her if it was a live wire. She said she asked them if they wanted her to go out and test it.

That's hearsay, but I believe it. I kept my dog (shepherd mutt) caged when the meter reader was due. The dog carried on so much that one time around noon I called them up for an idea of when the man might be coming, if at all, since they often didn't send anyone and just estimated the bills. If possible I wanted to let the dog out in my _well-fenced_ back yard to run off the agitation. I was told not to worry as the meter reader carried mace for dogs running loose. How nice -- go ahead and let your dog out in "his" back yard, we'll mace him.

I'm not suggesting other power companies are great. There are many cases where they are not, but DP&L has a small enough territory that they could provide decent customer service.

Thanks!

I don't think we are all grappling with the seriousness of a down live wire in a yard. When it rains, that wire can easily electrify the groundwater and kill pets, people, anything really that touches it. If it happened to spark the resultant fire could burn down a whole neighborhood. Down wires are serious business. I'm really surprised DPL didn't come out immediately. If they didn't, that really is reprehensible.

[SWOH]

Have to put these up every once in a while:

Police: Drunk woman tries to wear trash bag full of garbage | www.daytondailynews.com


And bootleg Liquor! Seems like these people should just get a license and open a distillery instead of being outlaws and having a police standoff right now:
Shooting reported at Salem and Siebenthaler Ave. | Dayton,OH News | www.daytondailynews.com