'We need PG&E to do better:' mayor on massive San Francisco power outage

SAN FRANCISCO - A massive power outage overshadowed San Francisco this weekend, with nearly one-third of the city left in the dark. 

Traffic signals went out. Food started to go bad in refrigerators, movie theaters closed, BART service was affected, Waymos stalled, and some small businesses lost customers during the busy Christmas shopping season.

A fire at a PG&E substation at 8th and Mission streets on Saturday afternoon was blamed for some of the blackouts, and the outage is still under investigation. At its peak, 125,000 PG&E customers were without power. 

"We have empathy," PG&E spokeswoman and San Francisco resident Melissa Subottin told KTVU. "We understand how difficult it can be to be without power, especially during this time of year."

Though much of the power was restored on Monday, Mayor Daniel Lurie was visibly frustrated. 

"It's not OK," Lurie said over the weekend. "We need PG&E to do better. We'll be having those discussions with them in the coming days."

Not all the weekend was bad, though.

Dozens of people were seen out at wine bars and other neighborhood establishments that had power, or at least generators, and were making the best of a situation that pulled many in the city together.