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...