DTE Official Meets with Grosse Pointe Woods City Manager

A DTE representative met with city manager Al Fincham this week regarding . The outage caused some businesses along Mack Avenue to close for the day. 

Complaints were verbalized on many social media sites, among neighbors and by business owners during the outage, during which the buzz of generators could be heard before dawn and well after sunset. The neighborhood has been plagued by lengthy power outages for years and even when other areas lose power, it's the last to be restored.

This week's meeting, as , allowed Joseph Cazeno, a regional manager for DTE, to gather information about the area that is of concern, Woods City Manager Al Fincham said. 

Fincham provided Cazeno's addresses in and around the area, he said. The plan is for Cazeno to review the most recent outages, investigate the cause and the repeated nature of the problem, including the power source, and then report back to the city in the form of a letter, Fincham said. 

Depending on the results of his findings, the city council may request that Cazeno make an appearance before them, Fincham said. 

The area is northeast of Mack Avenue and Vernier Road, including businesses such as Big Boy, Josef's Bakery and Practice Yoga. The neighborhood from Mack Avenue to Marter Road and in some cases, just beyond Marter, is the hardest hit of all the Pointes with power outages--a problem city officials acknowledge and have worked to fix for years. 

Councilwoman Vicki Granger and councilman Art Bryant, who lives in the affected neighborhood, recently described their frustration about trying to find out the cause of the repeated outages over the years with with the outages and his consideration to buy a natural-gas-fueled generator with a price tag in the thousands. 

DTE had upgraded the power grid that serves the neighborhood a few years ago but residents question it, especially after the most recent outage that forced . The following day, public safety officers turned the intersection of because of another outage to the area. 

For now, Fincham said, the city will await the results of Cazeno's investigation.