Kia Franklin

Family of Pipe Blast Victim Considers Lawsuit

The family of the young man who was severely burned during New York City’s pipe explosion two weeks ago is praying for his recovery and considering suing those who might have contributed to the blast that burned 80% of his body and forced doctors to induce him into a coma to avoid all the pain. The full article on this is in Newsday today.

Of all those affected by the blast who are considering a lawsuit, Gregory McCullogh and his family should be at the top of the list of those able to do so, if they choose. Attorneys for the family say Con Ed knew the pipe was a problem because several repairs were made earlier this year, and crews inspected the pipe hours before the explosion. The company has certainly been the focus of crticism since the explosion and since the blackouts from earlier this summer. State Assemblymember Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) sponsored a measure calling for a review of Con Ed’s license to provide electricity to the city. He said in a previous Newsday article: “I don’t know how many of these incidents that we need to go through before we realize that Con Edison as a company is in need of dramatic reform.”

Elana Levin’s reflections (cross-posted from DMIBlog) on the government’s failure to attend to our cities’ infrastructural needs is also very important here as we consider who is responsible for what happened in Midtown. Here’s an excerpt from her blog:

When chasms in the earth open up near Grand Central the media tends to report it. Even Fox. But what you won’t see in the media by and large is a discussion of why it is that these accidents take place. Sure they’ll explain how the explosion was caused by water hitting an antediluvian steam pipe but they just won’t make the connection between the lack of investment in our country’s infrastructure and things going kablooie. You see it takes money to keep any locality running. And localities get that money through our taxes.

Infrastructure is quite literally crumbling beneath our feet and to paraphrase Rick Perlstein “it’s not the terrorists, it’s the tax cuts”. You see you can’t have modern society without infrastructure, like emergency services, a working sewage system and a power grid. And if your only goal as a society is to cut taxes eventually you are left with asbestos covered steam pipes from 1924 that explode and kill people - and yes, damage business interests. (Read Full Article)

More to come on this soon…

Posted at 11:47 AM, Jul 31, 2007 in Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)