Darkness
I first noted how so few street lights existed along Hudson Avenue in MidTown, and how most of them were dark during the big H&8th outdoor food market last year. I even contacted the Action Center about the lack of lighting – yet I’ve noticed on each successive visit to Hudson Avenue it remained a dark street.
Tonight I drove along Hudson Avenue about 7:30 p.m. and noted all but one light was working. Then, an hour later on Twitter, I learned that Ryan Gikas had reported his car was broken into while he was dining at Ludevine – a restaurant that is acting as a seed of hope for redevelopment of what has been a pretty desolate yet key connection between MidTown and the Central Business District.
At a time when Oklahoma City is spending millions of dollars to revive its urban core, what’s so difficult in adding a few more street lights and keeping them lit?
We see this darkness in other key areas. The streets surrounding Farmers Market have virtually no lighting along surrounding streets (on a recent visit I saw no lights at all). Likewise, it’s surprising to see key streets in Deep Deuce, notably Walnut Avenue and NE 4, with just the most minimal lighting and very dark passageways for pedestrians.
The city, one might think, has ample surplus vintage-style lighting (and not too old either) thanks to the streetscapes done as part of Project 180.
It’s your city folks.
Those representing downtown are Meg Salyer, who can be reached at ward6@okc.gov and Skip Kelley, who can be reached at ward7@okc.gov.
UPDATE: I’m hearing via Twitter from some readers that they’ve seen some streetlights remain dark over the past couple of years (one on Broadway between NW 20 and NW 21). So let’s provide some help to the city and OG&E. If you post locations of darkened downtown street lights in comments on this post, I’ll compile it into one big report to the city and maybe we can see some progress on this issue!
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Comments
At last other people are noticing this! On one trip from our far northwest neighborhood to downtown I started counting burned out street lights and finally gave up when it was over 60. Some major intersections have no working lights which I think would be the cause of more accidents. Not only is this a dangerous situation it is also unattractive and does not represent the forward thinking city we are trying to become. I will be happy to keep you posted on burned out lights. Thank you for taking this on!!!!
In Dallas, people have access to an online reporting form that goes directly to the electricity transmitting utility.
https://www.oncorstreetlight.com/
Each streetlight is marked on Google Maps, and one simply has to click on the non-functioning fixture, check the box providing additional information on the problem type, then hit send. The utility is required to repair the fixture within 5 days, and a confirming e-mail is sent to the reporting party.
The system works very well; I have received e-mails confirming repairs as the truck is literally pulling away from the curb after finishing a job.
No reason why OG&E couldn’t implement an identical system.
As an aside, every time I visit Oklahoma City, I am struck by the number of broken street lights. In Dallas, the utility is required as a condition of their franchise agreement with the City of Dallas to keep the street lights in good repair.
How do things work in Oklahoma City?
I counted 21 burned out lights along Hefner Parkway from NW 23rd to NW 63rd Saturday night. As you can see it isn’t only a problem downtown. Hope this issue can be addressed and corrected.
Several lights out on Automobile alley and have been for MONTHS.
Several lights out in the Deep Deuce/Maywood Park area – I will get exact locations.
You should really point people to the following website.
http://seeclickfix.com/oklahoma-city
I used it to report a that the only streetlight on my 2 block long street near NW 22nd and Penn was out. It was promptly fixed within a week.
This is a great tool that can be used to help the city find burned out streetlights.