Last year, after 5 or 6 different transformer fires exploded among the 3 that have the duty to step down power from the transmission lines in my Valley neighborhood, my little yellow DWP friend made his first visit.
Before my friend's extended visit, while transformers blew and blew and blew and the DWP replaced them over and over and over with the same size transformer, there were stretches of time in my neighborhood without any power that went on for nearly a week in temperatures approaching 100 degrees.
The DWP Fun Time went on for two years.Then, finally, my little yellow DWP friend arrived last summer and took over stepping down voltage and current for our neighborhood. And life was better. My little yellow friend did his job like a champ, and was much admired by everyone in my neighborhood, including the kids at the Rec Center where my yellow friend was stationed, separated from them by simple cones and tape. He might have made funny noises and smelled real stinky, but we all loved him anyway as we ran our lifesaving AC with his cheerful assistance and paid our exponentially growing DWP bills.
Over this winter, the DWP took my yellow friend away one day, replacing him with what they promised was the right transformer set for my neighborhood. I was sad to see my friend go, but I had no choice but to believe the DWP because there is no way to actually question them.
Yesterday at 5pm -- not a terribly hot day in the Valley as Valley summers go -- one of the new transformers went kaboom! and a friendly LA Co Fire truck who was just passing by put out the blaze for us. No power again for my Valley neighborhood.
This morning, my little yellow DWP friend is back! Hurray!I had missed him, my little yellow friend who is far more trustworthy than the overpaid engineers who design stepdown transformer arrays at the DWP.
I'm sure the kids at the Rec Center missed the tantalizing opportunity to play with him, too. Now they can play with my friend during the whole Summer of 2010.
Thank you to Councilmember Krekorian's office for making sure my little yellow DWP friend returned, rather than just another quality repair job by the mightly DWP.
