Two years ago, I lived through the nine-day blackout here in western Queens. Little did I know that there was a bill in the City Council, introduced by Gale Brewer, that could have helped us avoid that mess. What's worse, even though the bill is a virtual no-brainer, here we sit two years later, and the bill is still on the ash heap.

Well, I'm taking it off the ash heap.

It is "Intro 264" (you can see the text here, it's very short). Basically, the bill would require businesses to keep their doors and windows shut while the air conditioner is running. That's it!

What would be the effect? The major effect is that demand for electricity, which stresses Con Ed to the limit, would drop -- and would drop the most during times of peak demand, when we most need the help.

Okay, there are some details that need to be worked out so that small businesses don't get hit too hard while large retail stores don't care. But we're fixing that. Meanwhile...

The bill has 15 co-sponsors (not counting Brewer, who wrote the thing). They are: Garodnick, Gioia, Gonzalez, Koppell, Lappin, Liu, Mark-Viverito, Martinez, McMahon, Mendez, Monserrate, Nelson, Recchia, Vallone and Weprin.

If your Council Member is listed above, feel free to call to express your support. If not -- call to say he or she should be on the bill. You can find your Council Member on the City Council website.

Let's get this bill passed before we get hit with another blackout.

UPDATE: There are power outages all around the city due to the heat, according to an NY1 report.