CAST AWAY BY XCEL ... in Boulder.

I run a photography studio from my home in Newlands. I lost my clients for this period and was plunged into a very primitive survival mode. I've been a professional adventure filmmaker for the majority of my career, and I've done a lot of bivouacking in my day. But to be discarded by Xcel was highly frustrating and scary. I wondered how the less prepared citizens in the sea of darkness were faring. Because this was hard on me. I'm in my late 70s, and this was stressful for everyone around me and for me. I got the Xcel update website and registered, and then the delays kept coming. I have a cell phone and hearing aids that demanded to be charged. Fortunately, I had friends outside the power-outage areas. I know Xcel is a private company, and profiteering is its business model. But the sheer disregard by this company regarding our isolation and welfare was staggering to me. The company's utter disregard for its clients was apparent during this blackout. We were ON OUR OWN. What if it had been below freezing? The question is, WHY has Xcel avoided under-grounding Boulder's Grid? The answer is clear. They DO NOT want to invest in the community! Xcel must GO! They are NOT the solution; they are a profit-first, out-of-state company that knows its time is limited here. And they run the state's largest coal-fired plant. They are MAJOR polluters! AND they have reaped Billions in profits from our community, and this blackout is what we get? I call for a city-owned and run municipal energy company in Boulder, CO, just like Fort Collins has, with all its lines underground. Bob Carmichael -