Committee asks DWP for report on backlog of damaged street and pedestrian lights

The Government Efficiency Innovation and Audits Committee on Feb. 21 voted to request that the Department of Water and Power report on the existing process for repairing damaged street and pedestrian lighting infrastructure, including timelines, bottlenecks, a comparative analysis with other major cities and any additional resources needed.

Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez, chair of the committee, moved the amendment to Council File 25-0125 and the committee approved the item as amended. The roll call recorded Rodriguez, Blumenfield and McOsker voting in favor; the motion carried.

The committee’s action followed questions from Council member Blumenfield and a presentation by a city staff member identified in the meeting as Miguel Sangalan, who described theft and vandalism as the “main driving force” behind large-scale repairs and slower response times. Sangalan told the committee the bureau has seen service requests related to street lights increase from about 16,000 five years ago, to roughly 32,000 last year, and to roughly 45,000 currently.

Sangalan said crews have adopted multiple countermeasures: using aluminum in conduit to avoid copper theft, moving some installations overhead in repeat-theft locations, fortifying fixtures with concrete and steel, and piloting solar compartmentalized units. He said fortified installations have “been fairly effective” at holding up in about 90% of cases but that fortification is “expensive and lengthy.”

The staff member reported a reduction in the bureau’s field workforce from about 73 crews last year to about 53 crews currently, and said roughly 10% of the city’s street-lighting system — about 700 fixtures — are out of commission, with about 70 in active repair status. He said roughly 75% of the bureau’s current workforce is focused on theft and vandalism response and that some crews are grant-funded, which limits the bureau’s ability to reassign labor without replacing those funds.

Committee members also asked about deployment of EV charger co-locations on street-lighting infrastructure. Staff said about 150 new co-locations are projected this year and that the city has used the CAO’s equity index to guide equitable distribution. Staff said the energy used by chargers is tracked separately and that the bureau has provided usage data to DWP; the bill from DWP is pending. Revenue collected from charger usage was described as “in the hundreds of thousands,” but a precise figure was not provided at the meeting.

Separately, staff described a state contract of about $8,500,000 to build roughly 13 miles of conduit and fiber from Downtown Los Angeles to the 91 Freeway as part of a state middle-mile project; staff said potential revenue from that asset has not yet been determined.

The committee directed that the DWP report include recommendations to help reduce the backlog of damaged pedestrian and street lights and identify any additional resources needed. The committee requested the comparative analysis of repair processes used by other major cities and current timeline and bottlenecks in Los Angeles.

The committee opened public comment but had no speakers and then closed public comment before taking the vote.