In a front-page team report, the Free Press dives into the roots and planned remedies for one of the most pressing challenges faced by Detroit's emergency manager and incoming administration:
The thousands of inoperable streetlights in the city and miles of darkened neighborhoods and thoroughfares are some of the most visible emblems of Detroit’s mismanagement and decades-long decline. As many as 40% of the city’s 88,000 street and alley lights are estimated to be out. That astounding figure, adopted by Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr and routinely cited by national and international news media, has led to some comparisons of city services to that of a Third World country. . . .
Across the city’s 139 square miles, tens of thousands . . . are still living in the dark and with all the problems that brings — more crime and traffic accidents and a heightened sense of vulnerability that forces many to plan their lives around the setting sun for fear of getting mugged on their own streets.
Up to 40 percent of the 88,000 street and alley lights are estimated to be out. (Flickr photo by Thomas Shafran)
"A Free Press analysis of Detroit’s street and alley lighting shows that the city’s slide into darkness could have been prevented and that city leaders over the years made poor financial decisions that left the system hopelessly outdated," JC Reindl writes in the main article of a multi-page package that has two sidebars, a column by Stephen Henderson, two graphics by Moses Harris, a video by Andre J. Jackson and a gallery of 21 photos.
Because of the vastness of the problems, the 120-year-old lighting department is in constant triage mode attempting to fix lights one day that, due to the system’s age and scrap metal thieves, could be out again the next day, week or month.
Right now, the department is facing 2,400 work orders and follows a sobering pecking order that begins with trying to protect children — fixing streetlights near schools, recreation centers, high-population areas and thoroughfares.
In his commentary, editorial page editor Henderson -- who lives along the east riverfront -- writes:
The danger is palpable every night, as my family walks from the garage to our building down a street where ambient light is the only crime deterrent. . . .
I’m embarrassed when I explain to people from other places about how my kids walk around in the dark in my hometown.
Brighter days should be ahead, the paper anticipates:
Detroit soon could undergo the full overhaul it needs under the newly created Public Lighting Authority. . . . The authority wants to borrow at least $150 million and upgrade the system, . . . relamping and rewiring neighborhoods as it prunes the number of streetlights to a more manageable 46,000.
