
One-third of Puerto Rico still doesn't have power - rbanffy
https://www.axios.com/one-third-of-puerto-rico-still-doesnt-have-power-2517387003.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=organic&utm_content=1100&utm_term=politics
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THE_PUN_STOPS
I am in Massachusetts and recently needed to purchase a generator for a DIY
project. It was amazing how difficult it was to get one from any store—it took
two weeks of restock tracking. According to the retail employees they’re still
being bought (in Massachusetts!) and shipped to Puerto Rico ASAP after they’re
stocked.

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baursak
There seems to be quite a contrast between how Cuba and Puerto Rico recovered
from hurricanes this season.

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graeme
Cuba is lousy at a bunch of things, but it does quite well at disaster
preparedness, diaster response, public health - generally anything where the
main criterion is organizing people to do things.

Source: I worked with an NGO there for most of a year

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pathseeker
Why did they fire that consulting company that was doing work? Was it purely
for political reasons?

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sp332
I'm not even sure why they were given the contract in the first place. But it
might have been "political".
[https://www.cnn.com/2017/10/30/politics/whitefish-energy-
hol...](https://www.cnn.com/2017/10/30/politics/whitefish-energy-holdings-
contract-fbi/index.html) FEMA says they wouldn't support it. The FBI launched
an investigation, and the PR governor wanted the contract to be cancelled
because the investigation was a distraction.
[http://money.cnn.com/2017/11/14/news/economy/prepa-
whitefish...](http://money.cnn.com/2017/11/14/news/economy/prepa-whitefish-
congress-hearings/index.html) Whitefish claims they quit because PR was $86
million behind in payments. [https://www.cnn.com/2017/11/20/us/puerto-rico-
power-whitefis...](https://www.cnn.com/2017/11/20/us/puerto-rico-power-
whitefish-halts-work/index.html)

Edit: They're not a consulting company, they were supposed to be (hiring
subcontractors to) get actual work done.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitefish_Energy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitefish_Energy)

~~~
knob
As a full-life Puerto Rican, living here and having been here for Maria and
Whitefish...

Whitefish was doing its job. There were lots of trucks, lots of crew, going
around actually repairing the grid.

Was it a contract vs no-contract? Was Whitefish overcharging? Is Whitefish a
consultancy versus contractors? Was it too much money?

IDGAF!! They were doing it. Actually fixing the system. Yet for whatever set
of reasons, they no longer are.

We are super thankful to the New York Power Authority, thankful for ConEd,
thankful for the Georgia people, the Florida people, the crews from other
beautiful States of the Union. Super thankful.

Yet Whitefish was _actually_ working.

I don't know if it's all ex-colonies in Latin America, yet it's always the
same thing. Lets destroy what those guys are doing because they're not us.

And I had generators all the time and grid-power has been restored to my
house! Imagine if I didn't have power yet! How would this post go about?

~~~
chillwaves
> Was it a contract vs no-contract? Was Whitefish overcharging? Is Whitefish a
> consultancy versus contractors? Was it too much money? IDGAF!!

Not very productive for your long term self interest. Something is better than
nothing, but that's a truly low bar.

> Yet for whatever set of reasons, they no longer are.

This information is widely available on the internet and even within the
comments of this post.

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jbob2000
A two line article with one picture? Wow, talk about low effort.

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sp332
Yes, the real article is at
[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-12-14/how-to-
re...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-12-14/how-to-rebuild-
puerto-rico)

~~~
jbob2000
So make that the link, why the blogspam?

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StevePerkins
The Flint, Michigan water crisis has been ongoing since April 2014...

~~~
pc86
I don't mean to downplay that issue but what does that have to do with Puerto
Rico? It seems like any article we have about Important Issue A there's always
at least one (usually several) comments that are something along the lines of
"yeah well Important Issue B is also important/worse/better/something!"

~~~
Jill_the_Pill
It's relevant because it (further) demonstrates our remarkable collective
ability to ignore really big and dangerous problems.

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gadders
In other news:

Puerto Rico gives out $100 million in bonuses after pleading for $94 billion
in hurricane relief

[https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/dec/3/puerto-
rico-...](https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/dec/3/puerto-rico-gives-
christmas-bonuses-after-asking-h/)

~~~
chrisbennet
Or to paraphrase, "Puerto Rico pays average of $600 bonus to government
workers (who make $20-40K) as required by law."

 _" This year the payments will total $113 million, the government told
Bloomberg News. Some 250,000 people get bonuses, with current workers
averaging $600 bonus and retirees getting about $200, Bloomberg reported.

For the majority of government employees who make between $20,000 and $40,000
it’s an important boost, said Carlos Mercader, who leads Puerto Rico’s office
in Washington, D.C. He said the governor, in making the payments, is following
the law.

And he said members of Congress who are pondering the territory’s massive
relief request should be aware of how much the governor has already done to
control the budget, such as a 20 percent reduction in political appointees in
the government and a 15 percent cut in the operating budget.

“I would challenge whoever argues that the government hasn’t been austere in
this whole process. The government has been saving money from the get-go,” Mr.
Mercader said."_

