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City council seeks study on unneeded streetlights
YOUNGSTOWN
City council members want a study done to see if there are streetlights in Youngstown that are no longer needed.
There could be largely or completely vacant parts of the city in which there are streetlights, council members said Tuesday at a city council public utilities committee meeting.
The city expects to pay about $1.1 million this year for the electricity used for its streetlights.
Councilman Jamael Tito Brown, D-3rd, asked at Tuesday’s committee meeting if it’s possible for FirstEnergy Corp., the city’s electric supplier, to remove streetlights that city officials say aren’t needed.
In response, David Turner, FirstEnergy Corp.’s external-affairs manager for Mahoning and Columbiana counties, who attended the meeting, said: “Communities can request we shut off lights because of declining population. It’s a city with a system built for 180,000. You probably have huge parts of the city with lights that you don’t need.”
Youngstown’s population in 1950 was 168,330. It is now 66,982.
Brown and Councilman Mike Ray, D-4th, chairman of the public utilities committee, said an inventory of the city’s streetlights is needed.
“If we can reduce them without impacting safety, we should look at it,” Ray said.
Safety is a major concern when it comes to any decision to remove streetlights, council members said.
When a streetlight bulb stops working, people should contact FirstEnergy through its website — firstenergycorp.com — and fill out a report, Turner said. Another option is to call the company’s customer-service phone number, 800-633-4766, he said.
It’s important to be specific about the location of a broken bulb, he said. If there aren’t any nearby landmarks, Turner suggests people tie a ribbon around the pole of a broken streetlight.
The company is obligated under an agreement with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to make simple repairs, such as a broken bulb, within 72 hours of receiving a report of the problem, Turner said.
“There’s a misconception that we know when every light is out,” he said. “We don’t. We rely on people to call us.”
About 30 streetlights on Belmont Avenue between Rayen Avenue and Gypsy Lane were out about a month and a half ago, Brown said. FirstEnergy is working to replace them with most of the work done.