Shedding Light on the Problem
In the wake of a robbery-murder on a dark Dupont Circle-area street, new attention is being paid to a problem many living in the city have just considered tiny in comparison to the District's greater municipal maladies: broken street lights.
Many in Dupont Circle blame broken street lights on R Street as a major contributor to the Aug. 23 robbery-murder of a popular waiter who was walking home from work. Area residents have said they have complained about broken street lights for months, and say DDOT -- the agency that oversees street light repairs -- has been unresponsive. An advisory neighborhood commissioner, Robert Halligan, told the Post that a street light in front of his Riggs Place residence went unrepaired for six months, despite complaints to DDOT.
Two muggings occurred while the light was out, he said. "I ended up saying, 'Just drop the light bulbs off, I'll climb the pole and do it myself,'" Halligan said. He never had to, though -- he said the light was fixed only after he sent a tersely worded e-mail to top transportation officials.
The Current, which covered this issue last week, quoted Halligan, who said that DDOT is partially to blame for the murder of Adrien Alstad, for providing an environment for criminals to lurk and prey on unsuspecting victims. "They are completely dysfunctional public service-wise." (The Post reports that DDOT says it has 97-98 percent of District street lights operating normally.)
The Current says that DDOT will publish a report early next month looking at its repair guidelines and will accept public comments on its service through Sept. 17. But like any neighborhood issue in the District, you have loud voices on the other side. There are people who want darker streets. In Foggy Bottom, neighbors are complaining that their street lights emit too much light. Others say Eighth Street SE and M Street in Georgetown look like "airport landing strips," the Current reports.
Like many utilities in the District, street light conduits are old and deteriorating.
From the Post:
In addition, some wiring sits in old, rusted pipes used for gas streetlights that date to the late 1800s. The pipes have been known to collapse and have holes that allow water and debris to damage the wiring, officials said. City officials said 1.5 million feet of gas-pipe conduit is still in use.
The District is currently replacing old circuit-series street light conduits in Woodley Park and Mount Pleasant. (When one street light would go out, like a string of Christmas tree lights, all the others down the circuit go out.) DDOT is currently testing a pilot-program on North Capitol Street that would automatically report broken street lights to an Internet database.