The Los Angeles City Council recognized the 100th anniversary of the Bureau of Street Lighting at a meeting in August 2025, with council members and bureau leaders highlighting the department’s long history, recent technology upgrades and challenges such as copper wire theft and limited resources.

Council member Tim McCosker (chairing the celebration) noted the centennial as a milestone for a department that "has illuminated our neighborhoods, our streets, our businesses, our city" since its founding in 1925. Council member Eunice Hernandez, chair of the Public Works Committee, said the bureau does "more with less," receiving under half a percent of unrestricted general-fund revenues while maintaining a large, citywide network.

Miguel Sangalang, general manager of the Bureau of Street Lighting, outlined the bureau’s current portfolio and recent innovations. He said the bureau maintains "over 223,000" street lights across the city, operates a network of conduit and wiring, and has introduced LED conversions, EV charging installations at poles, solar-plus-storage pilots and fiber co-location that support broadband and 5G initiatives. He described internal shop capabilities that now include plasma cutters and 3-D printers used to fabricate replacement parts in-house.

Sangalang also introduced bureau staff and credited field crews, engineers and in-house weld and fabrication teams for both heritage work and new approaches that reduce costs and speed repairs. He pointed to an on-site art installation that collects historical streetlight designs, and he said the bureau is posting historical records and photos online for public access.

Council members thanked bureau staff for their service and called attention to three operational priorities raised during remarks: hardening infrastructure against copper wire theft, investing to support co-location and new technologies, and ensuring maintenance capacity to keep the network operational. Council member Paul Blumenfield warned that citywide lighting and related services are changing rapidly and that the city has not raised related rates since 1996, signaling a potential need for new funding approaches.

Why this matters: presenters emphasized that streetlights are no longer only illumination devices but platforms for civic infrastructure — supporting traffic safety, public safety, broadband and electric-vehicle charging — and that investment and protection of assets are required to realize those functions.

Council action and next steps: the presentation was ceremonial; no ordinance or budget appropriation was adopted during the session. Council members pledged continued oversight and support and encouraged public outreach to explain the bureau’s evolving role. The bureau said it will continue posting historical and technical resources online and pursue operational measures to reduce theft and improve responsiveness.

Notable numbers and details cited in the presentation: the bureau reported maintaining over 223,000 street lights; the city’s network includes roughly 9,000 miles of conduit and about 27,000 miles of copper wire; the bureau said it has roughly 400 different pole designs across neighborhoods. The bureau also highlighted firsts including its first female superintendent in the field office and recent in-house fabrication capacity.