Plastic Covers on Bottom of Metal Light Poles Around Detroit

**carlscomputers** · January-19-10, 09:35 AM

Greetings All!
Does anyone have any info on those gray or green plastic covers on the bottom of lots of metal light poles around town? Seems like they just came out of nowhere? Now, they seem to be disappearing just as mysteriously? Does anyone have any insight on where they came from, or what purpose do they serve?

**ordinary** · January-19-10, 09:41 AM

I know there is at least one thread regarding this. I think that they were supposed to beautify the poles and maybe prevent copper thieves from stealing the wire. The city was ripped off on this deal. Degradation from sunlight and weather probably wrecked most of these.

**jackie5275** · January-19-10, 09:55 AM

As I remember, they were put up before the Super Bowl to beautify the area. IMO, they're a bunch of junk. Too many have been wrecked by cars and snow removal equipment.

**Detroitnerd** · January-19-10, 10:08 AM

http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=7202

This past fall, News Hits took snide note of the cityâ€™s $1.2 million effort to protect streetlights from wire-stealing scrappers [[â€œNot so bright,â€ Metro Times, Oct. 6, 2004). When last we visited the issue, the City of Detroit was placing plastic covers, called shrouds, over the bases of some 21,000 light poles. At that time, Al Fields, the cityâ€™s deputy chief operating officer, told us the shrouds were intended to both improve the look of street lamps [[more on that later) and thwart scrap thieves who crave the copper wiring inside.
Testing the shrouds, News Hits discovered that they posed no deterrence whatsover. It took zero effort to lift the plastic covers. Fields admitted that, yes, determined thieves would find a way to access the streetlightsâ€™ innards.
Last week, an e-mail [[keep those tips coming, kids) alerted us to another shroud shortcoming. The tipster directed us to a stretch of St. Aubin beween Vernor and Lafayette on the cityâ€™s near East Side. What we saw were cracked shrouds, battered shouds, busted shrouds and, in some cases, shrouds ripped entirely from the poles they were supposed to protect. ...

Retroit · January-19-10, 10:32 AM

$1.2 million wasted protecting the peoples' property from the people. This is how Detroiters put themselves at a disadvantage over other cities that do not have such unnecessary expenses.

**Baselinepunk** · January-19-10, 11:31 AM

I've also heard that the plastic becomes brittle in cold temperatures and disintegrate when they encounter subsequent desposition of snow during snow removal.

Some vendor got a sweetheart deal.

**Detroitnerd** · January-19-10, 11:42 AM

How much you want to be the vendor was a Kilpatrick donor?

**kenp** · January-19-10, 12:10 PM

Originally Posted by Detroitnerd

How much you want to be the vendor was a Kilpatrick donor?

ha, my first thought as well

**Baselinepunk** · January-19-10, 12:53 PM

"How much you want to be the vendor was a Kilpatrick donor?

"

Living in this area all of my life, nothing surprises me anymore. lol.

**kraig** · January-19-10, 01:03 PM

Look on the bright side. Bing just hired Al Fields. Now we can look forward to more bright ideas like this.

**Diehard** · January-19-10, 01:07 PM

Originally Posted by Detroitnerd

How much you want to be the vendor was a Kilpatrick donor?

I seem to remember reading somewhere it was a Friend of Kwame who got the contract. Wish I could remember where and find a link.

**Detroitnerd** · January-19-10, 01:09 PM

Originally Posted by kraig

Look on the bright side. Bing just hired Al Fields. Now we can look forward to more bright ideas like this.

Al's not a bad guy, and a pretty good musician too. [[Who knew?) I think he was put in an awkward position by KK to defend the shrouds.

**Jimaz** · January-19-10, 01:33 PM

Al Fields, the cityâ€™s deputy chief operating officer, told us the shrouds were intended to both improve the look of street lamps [[more on that later) and thwart scrap thieves who crave the copper wiring inside.

I haven't seen any discussion about scrappers for quite some time now. Why not? Has the problem diminished? Have people become used to it? Sincerely.

**Detroitnerd** · January-19-10, 01:45 PM

Originally Posted by Jimaz

I haven't seen any discussion about scrappers for quite some time now. Why not? Has the problem diminished? Have people become used to it? Sincerely.

The price of copper has gone down since the crash?

**DetroitPlanner** · January-19-10, 04:01 PM

Originally Posted by Jimaz

I haven't seen any discussion about scrappers for quite some time now. Why not? Has the problem diminished? Have people become used to it? Sincerely.

I am unsure what the price of copper is but gold is still very high at about $1,200 an ounce.

Anything worth scrapping is now gone!

**Russix** · January-19-10, 05:17 PM

In reading the above link I came across this more recent[[and funnier!) story.

...
However, poetic justice may be less forgiving. In the Detroit Inferno, Kandia and all bribe takers shall have to work low level, low pay, thankless civil service jobs in offices with endless baskets of money sitting about. Yet whenever they grab a handful of money it melts away to nothing. Monica Conyers will have the added penalty of being unable to utter a curse word. And, in a special nod to Sam Riddle, who faces similar charges, those who give bribes shall have pockets bulging with money but receive nothing in return when paying for services. And they should also get charged for their bribery.
...

http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=14630

**Diehard** · January-19-10, 05:39 PM

Originally Posted by Detroitnerd

The price of copper has gone down since the crash?

Indeed it has. The crash slowed down China's building boom and the demand for copper fell. It's one sick silver lining to the mess we find ourselves in.

**Jimaz** · January-19-10, 07:39 PM

Originally Posted by Diehard

Indeed it has. The crash slowed down China's building boom and the demand for copper fell. It's one sick silver lining to the mess we find ourselves in.

So conversely it might be argued that China's building boom indirectly contributed to our scrapper problem? How interesting, odd and ... plausible. I guess that answers my question.

It's a small world after all.

MichMatters · January-19-10, 11:51 PM

It amazes me that, at least partly, these were supposed to be to improve the aesthetics of poles. If anything, they do the complete opposite. Instead of keeping a single, sleek line, you put what essentially looks like a big ugg boot around the foot of a slender utility pole. It's not as if the elements fans outward gracefully. It looks like a clunker of an architectural element.

**Detroitnerd** · January-20-10, 08:34 AM

Originally Posted by MichMatters

It amazes me that, at least partly, these were supposed to be to improve the aesthetics of poles. If anything, they do the complete opposite. Instead of keeping a single, sleek line, you put what essentially looks like a big ugg boot around the foot of a slender utility pole. It's not as if the elements fans outward gracefully. It looks like a clunker of an architectural element.

1: Figure out a problem the city has.

2: Instead of thinking of a serious, permanent solution, come up with something that might benefit one of your campaign donors or cronies.

3: Once you've secured financial or other support, spent $1.2 million on a spurious, temporary solution that allows your friends to profit.

4: Sit back and let everything fall apart while you force everybody you can to say that the system worked.

It's what you might call the Kilpatrick method. One hopes Bing won't take the same road.

**East Detroit** · January-20-10, 09:16 AM

Politics as usual. Not just a City of Detroit thing.

For other examples... how about all the new corner street signs in Saint Clair Shores [[now with a nifty new sailboat icon) or in Roseville [[now with a nifty new Rose icon)?

The old street signs were perfectly fine. Why did these two cities feel that they needed to replace every single corner street sign?

**Detroitnerd** · January-20-10, 09:21 AM

Originally Posted by East Detroit

Politics as usual. Not just a City of Detroit thing.

For other examples... how about all the new corner street signs in Saint Clair Shores [[now with a nifty new sailboat icon) or in Roseville [[now with a nifty new Rose icon)?

The old street signs were perfectly fine. Why did these two cities feel that they needed to replace every single corner street sign?

Ha! Well, when those signs are busted and hanging around the bottom of the poles, then we can say it's not just a city of Detroit thing.

**gencinjay** · January-20-10, 10:07 AM

I seem to remember the real issue was most of the light posts were rusting and/or missing caps so wires were exposed. The cover was a "cheap" way of keeping people from touching the exposed wires.

Retroit · January-20-10, 10:50 AM

Originally Posted by East Detroit

Politics as usual. Not just a City of Detroit thing.

For other examples... how about all the new corner street signs in Saint Clair Shores [[now with a nifty new sailboat icon) or in Roseville [[now with a nifty new Rose icon)?

The old street signs were perfectly fine. Why did these two cities feel that they needed to replace every single corner street sign?

To "keep up with the Joneses" in Eastpointe who started putting shamrocks on their street signs.

**kraig** · January-20-10, 11:22 AM

Originally Posted by Detroitnerd

Al's not a bad guy, and a pretty good musician too. [[Who knew?) I think he was put in an awkward position by KK to defend the shrouds.

I can go along with that and give him the benefit of the doubt. I've actually witnessed the guy doing things during the Jazz Fest that he could have easily had one of the employees he supervised doing. I could appreciate the fact that he was rolling up his sleeves and getting the job done because it needed doing.