San Francisco mayor promises thorough investigation following power outage
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Star Convenience relies on BART passengers for many of its lottery ticket sales. So when the Montgomery Station was shut down due to Friday's power outage, the owner lost thousands of dollars.
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"It's a big revenue generator and a big traffic generator, too, because when people come in they buy lottery as well as other things too," explained Karma Ngodup.
"We're looking at $2,000," said Sunita Giri,a co-owner of Bini's Kitchen on Market Street. Without power, their lucrative lunch business was gone.
On Monday, Mayor Ed Lee assured PG&E customer the utility will be ready to receive claims from local businesses.
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Nearly 90,000 customers were affected by this outage. Mayor Lee is now asking PG&E to inspect every substation in the city.
"See what's old material there, and we need that kind of action from them, and I got the assurance from the new CEO that she will do her best to do it," said Mayor Lee.
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An initial investigation suggests a circuit breaker failed, which then caused a fire at the substation on Larkin and Eddy streets. It was in the process of undergoing extensive upgrades. But because water could not be used, it took a long time to reduce the temperature inside the substation. That's why it took so long to restore power.
The mayor believes Friday's event showed how people are likely to react following a significant earthquake.
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"I'm always getting ready for the big one and I ask everyone to go to SF72.org to make sure you're prepared, as well," said Lee.
"This is a lesson for us to learn, what can we do better next time and not create a chaos, right?" said Giri.
