No street lights

[Melody]

I was just wondering/worrying about this. I noticed there were no lights on outside my office [[downtown Detroit) on Monday night. It was really dark! I ended up taking Mount Elliott into Hamtramck and I noticed no lights on most of that street, either. I was hoping the were just timed incorrectly.

[j to the jeremy]

I know Ann Arbor has started putting solar LED lights downtown, I agree that solar is a good idea. Many lights are out in Detroit because scrappers steal the wires. No wires running to the ground = nothing to steal, and lower energy costs.

[Brock7]

So now let's discuss the second question: Do solar panels have scrap value?

And are they bullet-proof?

[old guy]

And are they bullet-proof?

So now let's discuss the second question: Do solar panels have scrap value?

Hey, come on now, they're streetlights, not magic lanterns.
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[kahnman]

Heh, heh... wait until the scrappers realize that PV panels have copper indium selenide in them.

[BrushStart]

I think it's more a perception issue. A dark street feels less safe, nevermind the actual crime statistics.

It's a little thing that makes me crazy--reforming the police department and going after all the myriad root causes of crime and whatnot it expensive and takes a lot of time. Fixing the streetlights is faster and costs less. It almost certainly won't reduce actual crime dramatically, but if more people come to Detroit, for entertainment or to actually move in, because they feel safe being here, there could be an expanded tax base and increased political will to tackle the harder stuff.

Credited. This line of thinking was in Bing's notes from Turin, where he acknowledged that foot traffic and people sitting outside storefronts deters crime and provides the feeling of safety. Having no lights on is certainly the worst thing you could do as far as making people feel comfortable, unless their idea of comfort is Chernobyl.

[Rocko]

Junction has been completely out from Michigan down to Fort for at least 2 weeks now. Absolutely no reason to have the lights on during some of the longest days of the year, especially in front of Holy Redeemer, home to two schools [[for children ages 4-18), a very busy and active parish, not to mention the busy corner of Vernor and Junction, pedestrians, bus transfers, etc. I really hope they get these blocks turned back on soon.

They've been taking the old fixtures off of the lights on Fort from Waterman south and replacing them with cobraheads, in some places mounted on the old steel lamp poles, in some places new and moved poles have been installed, and in others, the cobraheads are mounted on brackets bolted to telephone poles. This whole stretch had been cobbled together, and while it certainly represented a long period of history in street lighting, it hardly functioned. Hopefully, with new wiring strung between the poles [[cheap and easy, unlike the original underground wiring), and new lamps and replaced poles to fill in where old one were or had been missing, the street will actually be lit up correctly for once.

Side note: in Detroit, most of the main thoroughfares are lit by Public Lighting Commission. Most of these are steel stand-alone poles. Most side streets are lit by Edison, and the lights are mounted to telephone poles.

I want to believe that the Lighting Dept will get better, but it's hard. Why is it every time I see a lighting dept truck there's always 4 guys in it and they're always just tooling around town? I rarely see a lighting truck doing anything...and why are taxpayers paying so many people to do work that one or two guys [[or gals), properly trained and motivated, to do?

[Swimmaven]

Next time get the license # and truck #. Send it to Anderson Cooper. He's always so concerned about everything. I doubt it will get the lights back on. Nor will it embaress anybody in Detroit's government, but ya never know . . .

[Captain Hindsight]

If everyone would get a job and pay their taxes this wouldn't be a problem and we wouldn't have run down a homeless person taking a nap in the gutter.

[Planner3357]

I mentioned in another thread that Highland Park is going to be the first city along Woodward to install LED lights. It would be nice if Detroit could follow.

[Melocoton]

Grand Blvd. near the Ambassador Bridge up to at least Michigan has been out off and on for years, and off permanently for the last few weeks. Neighbors complaining to the PLC were told that those lights are a chronic problem and will not be fixed until they are replaced...in several months, if ever.

So why are the lights such a huge problem here? Maybe I'm wrong, but other poor cities with declining populations don't seem to have such a big crisis with lights. The fact that the side streets are lit by a different authority is interesting, since side streets seem to do better than big thoroughfares. But is it harder to scrap the lights on phone poles? Does the problem lie in individual lights being scrapped, or is it the system in general?