About 3,200 Lansing Board of Water and Light customers were among those who remained without power Sunday morning, hours after angry and frustrated residents rallied outside an East Lansing elementary school. Many also appeared at a utility news conference Saturday, shouting questions and demanding to learn how much longer they must live in cold, dark homes, on friends’ couches or in hotels.
“When it first happened, I had all the confidence in the world because they said all hands on deck,” said Matthew Oney, an East Lansing resident who has been living in a hotel this week with his family, including his 2-week-old daughter, Olivia.
He showed up at a rally at Glencairn Elementary holding a sign that read: “Two week old baby. When can she go home?” Oney said the hotel cut him a deal and allowed him to extend his stay at half the rate. But he said money is becoming tight, and his homeowners’ insurance won’t reimburse him.
“It seems they don’t care about us at all,” he said. “‘We hear you loud and clear (they say).’ Then do something about it.”