Zobel said:
When we're talking about these kind of questions it is probably best to be as detached as possible from our emotions. It's very rare that you can feed your emotions and your best interest at the same time. When we're worried about our families and work and neighbors we can't easily figure out what is true or the best course of action. Even worse politicians prey on the public in those times.
In previous storms there was other damage like flooding that we could grab hold of. Houstonians and Texans help each other, even the Cajun Navy came to help. While CP was doing whatever they do, we were mucking out houses and feeding people or volunteering. This time we cleaned up ours and our neighbors yards and then waited, which made it worse and gave us idle time to get mad.
We all sat through the freeze and were mad about ERCOT and the PUCT. We saw the same talking heads and politicians and social media posts... what good did it do us? Does anyone really know if we're better off today than we were then? I've mentioned I work adjacent to power gen, and I don't know that anything changed. I do know there were some proposals floating around that were sure to line the pockets of politicians and their friends. The important thing for us is to learn from that. Red meat and knee-jerk doesn't actually serve our best interests - only the politicians.
A lot of the posts so far have been rightfully upset, talked about how long the power was out, about what might be wrong, who is to blame. But in the end is the purpose of that? Did we need to be told that it was a bad situation and to be upset?
I know a lot of y'all are good people - people on here have shown all kinds of excellence of character in helping each other out, in this storm and past events. I'm not surprised. But the nature of the response to this event seems to me be against our best interests.
The folks on this board are mostly college grads, even more than that Aggies - representative of probably the best and most influential single constituent group in this city. We know things because people here are connected in industry and politically. We more than anyone else need to find a way to lead. Other people can make speeches (God bless Mack) or spray paint overpasses.
Instead of complaining on social media or practicing our meme game we should be organizing somehow to see if we can move this in a productive way. Not a riot. And for sure not a government / county takeover. But a way to get actual facts and some transparency. Surely someone who posts here can help lead that?
So, I tried to do that last fall. After the third power outage in less than two weeks I was so mad/frustrated, I drove to The Woodlands Township office, hair on fire, and unloaded on a poor receptionist. Thankfully, she didn't call the police, and instead directed me to someone who 1) listened and 2) offered suggestions.
I am super fortunate, though, that I have a local government "system" that I can turn to. The vast majority of residents in unincorporated Harris County have nothing more than an HOA (if that).
Trying to make contact with your county judge's office is just as futile an effort. They have too many other crisis situations to deal with.
My suggestion. If you want to take this further, is to find a local elected official who lives near you (and also sweated in this heat) and see if they can get some traction.
I know Valoree Swanson's office was very interested in my situation last fall.
The thing with elected officials though, is there will always be a little bit of a skeeve factor. They all want to look like they care and look like they are effecting real change, but at the end of the day, they might not get anything accomplished, either (for a variety of reasons).
And there is ALWAYS politics at play. People will make this about them, or them vs their opponent any opportunity they get.
I am also skeptical anything will change, however, Mattress Mack and Buzbee are at least calling out the situation. A Lawsuit isn't the answer, but maybe it might bring some change…???
IDK - it's tough because literally the entire CP service area prob needs significant attention. I'm afraid those with the loudest voices will get their areas serviced, but everyone else will still be in the dark when this happens again.
