Four Days Later, He's Living In The Dark

By Phillip Martin

Nov. 2, 2011

BOSTON — Four days after a surprise snowstorm swept across the region, Nelson Butten of Lawrence was still living in the dark. 
 

It started while he was downstairs in the lobby of his apartment building around 9:00 p.m. October 29. “Basically I just heard a big boom,” Butten said, “and next thing I know, the power in the common areas, everywhere, it went off." It came back only in the building's common areas. On the morning of November 2 his own apartment continued to have no electricity.
 
A community organizer, Butten did see an upside to the crisis: It brought people together.
 
“People are hanging around the lobby,” he said. “They’re all talking to each other, they’re eating pizza, sharing stories — but also wondering when the power is going to come back on. We don’t have heat.”
 
To keep himself warm and his provisions cool, Butten went to a friend’s house Sunday, bringing along everything from his fridge.