State reviews Ganim's use of emergency alert system - CT Insider

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BRIDGEPORT — State public safety officials will consider whether Mayor Joe Ganim crossed a line in using an emergency alert system mainly to lambaste United Illuminating for its response to outages in Connecticut’s largest city.

“We are aware of it and are reviewing it,” Brian Foley, spokesman for the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, said Friday.

Ganim and many other elected officials have in the press and on social media been publicly criticizing the state’s two major utilities — UI and Eversource — for what they claim to be a too-slow response to the hundreds-of-thousands of outages caused Tuesday by Tropical Storm Isaias.

Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim dons a mask during his Thursday briefing on Facebook Live. The city is handing out masks to residents and Ganim is encouraging city residents to wear them.

On Thursday evening just after 7 p.m. Bridgeport’s mayor and his administration took their shaming campaign to the next level, issuing an emergency text and a recorded phone call featuring a frustrated Ganim.

The question is whether Ganim’s messages, carried on the CT ALERT system, were too heavy on the post-Isaias politics and light on the helpful information emergency alerts are intended to convey to residents in a crisis.

According to the CT ALERT website, the service should be used “to notify residents about imminent threats to health and safety” and “life threatening emergencies,” such as severe weather, downed power lines, missing persons, and criminal activity.

Ganim’s text was more like a call to action and read, “Cities like Bridgeport need to take priority in recovery and restoration. We have vulnerable residents trapped in their apartments in need of life assistance. Joint us in urging the UI to turn the power back in in Bridgeport.” It included a contact phone number for the company as well as one for the city to seek assistance on storm damage.

And during his phone call Ganim — speaking with emphasis — spent the bulk of the message complaining and threatening UI.

He was introduced by the standard pre-recording: “Standby for an emergency message from CT ALERT.”

“Hi, this is Mayor Joe Ganim. Like you I’m outraged by the irresponsibility and arrogance of the power companies in this state, and specifically the United Illuminating company here in the city of Bridgeport,” the mayor began.

He reiterated his allegations from earlier in the week that the utility has “ignored us” and was poorly prepared, and that he had instructed the municipal law department to “explore and take legal action if necessary.”

“Please join me in calling the UI company and telling them, ‘Turn the power in Bridgeport on now’,” Ganim concluded. The message then instructed anyone who required municipal assistance to visit the city’s website.

Speaking on behalf of the mayor’s office on Friday, Scott Appleby, who has been Bridgeport’s emergency management chief since 1994, defended Bridgeport’s use of CT ALERT.

“I am more than comfortable in arguing our message was provided to tell residents where to call for assistance,” Appleby wrote in an email after being told of the state’s review of the situation.

UI spokesman Edward Crowder said it was “not really our call” whether Bridgeport appropriately activated the emergency communications system. He added, “We are confident the mayor and residents ... appreciate that our crews and contractors in the field are working hard, day and night, to safely restore service. We ask that people observe work zones, maintain a safe distance and leave them to their work so they can safely get the power restored.”

According to the utility’s online outage map, the number of customers without power has been declining from around 7,552 Wednesday evening to 6,405 Thursday evening to 4,623 Friday evening.

Richard Hanley is an associate professor of journalism at Quinnipiac University with an extensive background in communications. Told of Ganim’s voice recording, Hanley cautioned that CT ALERT should be used for immediate orders/warnings like “evacuate, seek shelter, storm surge” and “not for the erring of grievances, regardless of the validity.”

Otherwise, Hanley said, the audience may start to tune out.