‘We do not have to live like this.’ Ann Arborites air frustrations over DTE outages

ANN ARBOR, MI — After enduring another days-long power outage, at least the second of the year for many, Ann Arbor residents aired frustrations at an emergency town hall Sunday.

“One thing I’ve discovered in talking to people here is that people from Ann Arbor don’t realize that how often these outages happen is unusual,” said Ann Arbor resident Kieran Hawthorne, who said she grew up in New England and never experienced outages like this until she came to southeast Michigan.

“This does not happen anywhere else,” she said, adding she can count on one hand the number of outages she experienced in 20 years living in New England and can’t recall a time when the power was out there for more than 24 hours.

“We had a hurricane, the power did not go out,” she said. “I think the first step to making a change is recognizing that what’s happening is not OK and it’s not normal.”