Bureau of Street Lighting urges property-owner vote to raise assessment after years of theft, aging infrastructure

Miguel Sanglalang, director for the Bureau of Street Lighting, told a special meeting of the Los Angeles City Council that the bureau plans to seek a property‑owner vote under Proposition 218 to raise its assessment rates in order to pay for repairs, fortification and expanded maintenance.

The bureau said most assessment rates have been frozen since 1996 and that the fund that supports street‑lighting operations has not kept pace with inflation and rising material and labor costs. Sanglalang said the bureau currently estimates about $45 million in assessment revenue at the frozen rates and that repair response times have stretched to eight or nine months and could reach roughly a year without new funding.

The assessment proposal matters because the bureau faces repeated theft and vandalism of copper wiring and pull boxes across the city, aging poles and lights that are at or near the end of their useful life, and a recent liability payout the bureau described as $21 million. "Our priority is to make sure that every light goes on," Sanglalang said, explaining why the bureau is weighing a mix of short‑term restoration and longer‑term fortification and solar…