When the Streets Go Dark, Neighbors Will Now Know Why

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday authorized posting signs on city lampposts saying that the lights are off because residents declined to pay for the electricity.

About 62 street lights have been turned off after residents in those neighborhoods voted against paying the electric bills.

“What I’m hoping is that this will only happen in one or two isolated situations before people realize that they need to . . . part with some of their dollars to keep the lighting on in their neighborhoods,” Councilwoman Laura Chick said.

The street light imbroglio was triggered by Proposition 218. The measure, approved in 1996, mandates that government agencies let residents decide on new special services--including the cost of operating street lights.

But Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., a sponsor of Proposition 218, denounced the city’s decision to turn off the street lights and the posting of signs.

Los Angeles officials should fund the street light operations from existing property taxes, Coupal said. The signs, he said, are part of the city’s effort to shift responsibility for the lights.

“I would call it spiteful retribution,” Coupal said. “They are trying to place the blame on someone else for their own bad policy.”

So far, 62 street lights have been ordered turned off after property owners casting ballots in about 26 neighborhood elections decided against paying the yearly electricity costs, said Phil Reed, assistant director of the city Bureau of Street Lighting.

The average cost to homeowners is about $50 a year.

An additional 75 elections involving about 1,360 street lights have resulted in property owners agreeing to pay the benefit assessments, Reed said.

There are about 2,000 other street lights in neighborhoods where elections are pending. The majority of the city’s 240,000 lights were installed before Proposition 218, officials said, and therefore are exempt.

The Street Lighting Bureau is still weighing whether to use its new authority to post signs on street light poles, Reed said. Some people are worried the signs might attract vandals.

The council also voted Tuesday to approve turning off two street lights in a Reseda neighborhood represented by Chick.

The council action came after two of six property owners on the block near Covello Street indicated that they did not want to pay the annual assessment. The other residents ignored two requests from the city to cast votes.

Chick said posting a sign on the dark street lights may get residents to realize the significance of the lighting ballot. “A lot of people get these kinds of official government notices and they don’t pay attention,” Chick said. “I certainly think the sign is worth a try.”

City officials said the state’s voters set the rules for the assessments.

“The public clearly made its will known that it wanted to have a say in such fees and when the property owners vote down money to keep the lights operating, I think we are left with no other choice,” Chick said.