Indiana cities pull plug on streetlamps to save money

[IndianaGreen]

Source: WTHR-TV

Indiana cities pull plug on streetlamps to save money

Updated: Dec 12, 2009 11:39 AM EST

Budget cuts and property tax caps are leaving many residents across Indiana in the dark.

Merrillville has turned off every other streetlight on its main roads. Valparaiso is turning off every other light in some areas and has set others to turn off at midnight. Muncie officials say the city will shut off 85 percent of overhead lights to help balance the 2010 budget.

The moves are a response to rising costs and shrinking revenue that's the result of the ailing economy and property tax caps.

Muncie Mayor Sharon McShurley says the move could result in more than just darker streets.

"I'm setting you on notice," she told the council. "The decisions you have made, unless you reconsider the budget, are going to be detrimental to the city."

But officials in several cities say the changes are necessary. Merrillville Public Works Director Bruce Spires said the city is more than a year behind on its NIPSCO bills.

The city will turn off 300 streetlights, for a savings of about $2,000 a month.



Read more: http://www.wthr.com/global/story.asp?s=11666470

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In a similar move, the Indiana State Police is laying off 40 highway safety inspectors to save money. This causes a public safety problem since these inspectors were charged with checking trucks and school buses for safety violations.

Indiana is not alone!

[Arctic Dave]

1. I like the streetlight proposal for different reasons.

I don't like the laying off of the personell.

[reggie the dog]

13. plus it will be easier to lurk in the shadows

[RogueBandit]

20. Lighted streets not any safer

Take it from someone who has lurked on the streets...lights don't do a thing to make the street safer. In fact, having a brightly lit area makes the shadows deeper and hiding easier.

Not having street lights forces your eyes to adjust and in that state you can see into the shadows.

[Arctic Dave]

21. That too. :)

I alway thought is was a waste of electricity to keep streets lit up all night long when almost no one is out. Today's headlights are far superior to what was around twenty years ago so driving at night is much easier. My thought wasto just have them at the corners and bus stops etc.

[msongs]

2. sorry, our politicians prefer spending on war and corporate whores nt

[wolfgangmo]

3. It's official - we are now a 3rd world country.

We can't afford streetlights. We might as well be the 1920's.

[Cirque du So-What]

4. Congratulations, GOP & libertarian tax-cutters

You're about to realize your wet dream of drowning government in the bathtub. Hope your Mad Max-style post-apocalyptic dystopia is everything you dreamed it would be. Prepared to pay for private security forces to escort you everywhere you go? Think they're up to the task of providing cover for your pasty, wrinkled backsides 24/7/365? I believe you'll find the collapse of government a less-than-satisfying experience.

[madrchsod]

5. welcome to the new america!

[Bitwit1234]

6. Some towns in Minnesota are considering

leving a $20 monthly fee for your property to support the street lamps.

[CatholicEdHead]

9. Some cities are cutting back on snowplowing here

To have less OT. Main streets first, side streets could take a few days.

[Deja Q]

7. Street lights are okay - enoung nuts don't turn on their car's lights at night

And it saves big-time on energy costs, meaning the energy company will ramp up the cost for everyone else.

[Stumbler]

8. This sounds like a recipe for increased crime.

I thought is was understood that well-lit areas deter crime. Whether it's selling & using drugs or mugging or rape, those wishing to participate in illegal behavior would rather do it in the dark where it's harder to be caught. And with the cuts in local police protection, this just sounds like a perfect storm.

I'm also wondering, don't we have the technology for solar panels to absorb sunlight during the day, storing it in a battery to power the lights after dark? Can't these cities take out loans to install such devices on the streetlamps, thus allowing them to remain on overnight as well as reducing demand on the local power plants?

I suppose a win-win like that's too simplistic... Better to let the residents of those cities fend for themselves when the criminals find out their easier targets than the brightly lit neighborhoods...

[reggie the dog]

14. I confirm that I prefered smoking weed and drinking

in the shadows out of the view of cops when I was a teenager, now I have an condo so I just get high at home...

[TheMadMonk]

17. Have you priced a solar panel + batteries + inverter? nt

[Stumbler]

24. No, have you?

Yes, I agree, it'll likely cost more in upfront costs, but the "investment will last years while shaving dollars off the annual budget.

As it happens, I live in MN, where we suffered a bridge collapse in '07 due to lack of funding from our state gov't. (Thanks Pawlenty) And I believe it is in our gov't's best interests, whether local, state, or federal, to provide for the safety and well-being of our national brothers and sisters.

So will new technology be expensive? Yes! I don't hear much bitching about new military technology being "too expensive." But could this tech save money in the long run, as well as keeping lights on and neighborhoods potentially safer in the meantime? Yes! As I said earlier, it's a win-win...

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

10. Turning out the lights is still gonna be cheaper than buying new solar light poles.

Turning out the lights is still gonna be cheaper than buying new solar light fictures.

and don't forget about paying someone to install them.

[harkadog]

11. I'd like to see them all turned off.

There is way too much light pollution at night.

[TheCML]

16. as someone without a garage.

i respectfully disagree.

[girl gone mad]

18. I agree.

Light pollution is out of control.

[PADemD]

12. Maybe they should convert to these Japanese models

http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/1328/

[Smashcut]

15. All to save $2000/month?!!!

[Skip Intro]

19. It's just not a good sign when our cities can't afford to keep the lights on.

[Rage for Order]

22. My hometown has been doing this for years

Except they don't turn them all off. they turn off every other light, so there are still street lights, only farther apart. Genius

:eyes:

[saltpoint]

23. I can see saving the energy, and maybe some money as well, but while

Muncie makes this sacrifice, out on a lot of U.S. interstate exits the Tire Kingdom sign is huge and burning all night long.

I'd like to see commercial entities take more of a lead here. Most of us don't really do a hell of a lot of tire shopping at 4:30 in the morning, even if Tire Kingdom were open then, which it certainly is not, and so I don't really need to see a gigantic sign in the sky at that hour announcing the store's location.

[boppers]

25. Up next, they'll stop paying for television ads at traffic intersections!

I never did understand streetlights much, having grown up without them... they seem like a gratuitous waste of energy with little benefit.