Downtown: issues regarding lighting / signs / etc

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jrd1964
Posts: 390
Joined: 19 Oct 2016 06:38

Downtown: issues regarding lighting / signs / etc

Postby jrd1964 » 09 May 2017 22:52

One thing that has kinda bothered me lately, has been the sheer number of streetlights downtown that are on during the day that don't need to be. The problem is especially prevalent on the west side of downtown and in the West End. I have tried to use that Oncor website about reporting streetlight issues, but while good for reporting one-at-a-time outages or problems, the reporting of multiple issues at once would take a week or more if the website is used. I did talk once to a streets worker with the City who I saw while walking by a corner, and he basically told me that there's only 3 workers doing anything about streetlights for the whole city, so any issue like the one I'm referencing would supposedly take a while to solve. I also realized while trying to use the Oncor site, that the lights that are on the shorter poles and have 2 lights, one on each side of the pole, are shown but Oncor considers those private or city-maintained and they won't do anything about those. I've thought about approaching one of the TV stations about it, but the way the station owners have cut back on things with them, I would think none of them would care. Especially KDFW/4 and WFAA/8, they're downtown and must see the problem on a daily basis but nothing's been said or done about it. If the lights all operated normally, and would be on only during darkness, it would save so much in power costs (whether paid by the City or Oncor, or whoever).

(Sorry about the soapbox, and I wouldn't bring it up except that there are quite a few, not just 1 or 2, lights with this issue, and not only does it stick out like a sore thumb, it's costing somebody a lot of money.)

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electricron
Posts: 392
Joined: 29 Oct 2016 11:07

Re: Downtown: issues regarding lighting / signs / etc

Postby electricron » 11 May 2017 15:37

Streetlights are turned on and off by either a timer or photo-electric cells. These devices may be included on every light or using a master for several lights in a string. Or they could be wired directly to the power and not have a control device, in which case having the lights on all the time is normal.