Lafayette Park power outage

**marshamusic** · July-10-13, 09:22 PM

This afternoon, the power went out in a large swath of Lafayette Park. It is dark at Lafayette Towers, 1300, Jean Rivard, and probably the other two-story development on the corner of Orleans, south of Lafayette.

The shopping plaza on Lafayette is in the dark as well, including Lafayette Foods. I'm sure that it can be catastrophic for a store to loose power, what with potential loss of meats, etc.

Many seniors are either stuck on the upper floors of the high-rises - in stifling heat, or hunkered down on the first floors, unable to get upstairs.

Also, Harbortown, the nearby CVS, and traffic lights lost power as well, on Jefferson.

**Huggybear** · July-10-13, 10:08 PM

Originally Posted by marshamusic

Many seniors are either stuck on the upper floors of the high-rises - in stifling heat, or hunkered down on the first floors, unable to get upstairs.

Also, Harbortown, the nearby CVS, and traffic lights lost power as well, on Jefferson.

Burned out transformer took down power south of Lafayette all the way from the BCBS billboard near I-375 to a block short of East Grand Boulevard.

You missed the most dramatic part, which was that people were stuck in elevators for three hours - did you see all the fire trucks and ambulances?

HB

**wolverine** · July-11-13, 12:19 AM

^ It blows my mind that in modern day America there are so many elevators without emergency power backup, despite that power required to operate one is incredibly low. They need just enough to bring the lifts down to the lobby and hold braking mechanisms open. Any old elevator...even if it's a century old can be modernized to do this at a very low cost. Elevators are like the easiest and cheapest thing to upgrade in a high-rise building. Yet you never see EPR functionality in most unless it's a newer building.

**Chicago48** · July-11-13, 07:22 AM

Originally Posted by wolverine

^ It blows my mind that in modern day America there are so many elevators without emergency power backup, despite that power required to operate one is incredibly low. They need just enough to bring the lifts down to the lobby and hold braking mechanisms open. Any old elevator...even if it's a century old can be modernized to do this at a very low cost. Elevators are like the easiest and cheapest thing to upgrade in a high-rise building. Yet you never see EPR functionality in most unless it's a newer building.

In its heyday it was THE condo to live in. Not anymore. Needs a lot of repairs.

**Honky Tonk** · July-11-13, 07:33 AM

Originally Posted by Huggybear

Burned out transformer took down power south of Lafayette all the way from the BCBS billboard near I-375 to a block short of East Grand Boulevard.

You missed the most dramatic part, which was that people were stuck in elevators for three hours - did you see all the fire trucks and ambulances?

HB

It went all the way to "The Gold Coast". Must have been one massive transformer.

**GPCharles** · July-11-13, 07:50 AM

Stroh River Place was out of power. We had to evacuate the office building #300.

**marshamusic** · July-11-13, 08:03 AM

Originally Posted by Huggybear

Burned out transformer took down power south of Lafayette all the way from the BCBS billboard near I-375 to a block short of East Grand Boulevard.

You missed the most dramatic part, which was that people were stuck in elevators for three hours - did you see all the fire trucks and ambulances?

HB

Wow, I sure did miss this- I hadn't heard that and didn't think about it, either, too scary!

I see my report left out a lot; I had no idea the power was out for so far. Actually, I got my info from passersby walking from the Towers, probably they didn't know either.

In the Mies townhouses we didn't loose power, thank goodness.

**Honky Tonk** · July-11-13, 08:11 AM

Originally Posted by marshamusic

Wow, I sure did miss this- I hadn't heard that and didn't think about it, either, too scary!

I see my report left out a lot; I had no idea the power was out for so far. Actually, I got my info from passersby walking from the Towers, probably they didn't know either.

In the Mies townhouses we didn't loose power, thank goodness.

I had a pick up @ Staples on Jefferson yesterday, that's when I first found out about it. The staff told me the power went out 10 minutes ago when I got there. Going East on Jefferson, you could see buildings without power that happened to be on that grid. You could hear generators running @ buildings in the Gold Coast. I too had no idea how extensive it was until the DY reports started rolling in.

**Eber Brock Ward** · July-11-13, 08:17 AM

Power was out on all of the lights on Warren from Grand River to the Ford this morning, too.

**stasu1213** · July-11-13, 09:17 PM

Originally Posted by Eber Brock Ward

Power was out on all of the lights on Warren from Grand River to the Ford this morning, too.

The streetlights or all or the lights whether inside or outside the buildings and homes in the area

**stasu1213** · July-13-13, 07:26 AM

My friend who lives in Lafayette Towers had said that the hallways emergency lights were not working in the hallways and stairwells saving the lights on the 9th floor. No renovations had been done there. People there are saying that they don't think that anything major will be done. The emergency lights should had been the first thing on the new owners list to replace or repair. The apartments and stores in Lafayette Park should had invested in generators after the 2003 blackout.