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Half of Detroit’s Streetlights May Go Out as City Shrinks

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posted on May, 24 2012 @ 12:45 PM
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Bloomberg
By Chris Christoff - May 24, 2012 9:06 AM PT
Half of Detroit’s Streetlights May Go Out as City Shrinks
 



Detroit has 88,000 street lights. 40% are broken.

The Mayor has a plan to borrow $160 Million and reduce the total number of street lights to 46,000.

I wonder how this will affect crime ?


Detroit, whose 139 square miles contain 60 percent fewer residents than in 1950, will try to nudge them into a smaller living space by eliminating almost half its streetlights.

As it is, 40 percent of the 88,000 streetlights are broken and the city, whose finances are to be overseen by an appointed board, can’t afford to fix them. Mayor Dave Bing’s plan would create an authority to borrow $160 million to upgrade and reduce the number of streetlights to 46,000. Maintenance would be contracted out, saving the city $10 million a year.




Other U.S. cities have gone partially dark to save money, among them Colorado Springs; Santa Rosa, California; and Rockford, Illinois. Detroit’s plan goes further: It would leave sparsely populated swaths unlit in a community of 713,000 that covers more area than Boston, Buffalo and San Francisco combined. Vacant property and parks account for 37 square miles (96 square kilometers), according to city planners.




What does This sound like ??

“You have to identify those neighborhoods where you want to concentrate your population,” said Chris Brown, Detroit’s chief operating officer. “We’re not going to light distressed areas like we light other areas.”
:shk:



Related Detroit Threads:

Facing bankruptcy, Detroit to spend $330K on Washington lobbyists


Self Defense Killings in Detroit Spike to 2200% Above National Average; Justifiable Homicide up 79%


How 'bout those solar powered lights ??

Where is Obama on this problem ?




posted on May, 24 2012 @ 01:43 PM
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Not to sound crass.....but I don't think the prairie parts of Detroit need street lights.
There are blocks and block of houseless areas.
A guy started a farming business in the city. Farming.
hantzfarmsdetroit.com...

and on the blocks where there is one house? two houses?
Should a cash-strapped city supply power and water to one house?
There's plenty of empty houses...maybe it would be cheaper to move that citizen than have utilities there.



posted on May, 24 2012 @ 02:30 PM
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Wait a second!

Where is Obama and his Green Energy?

Oh, wait. Most of those solar companies went belly up.

So how about we fix this problem for about 2 Million bucks? 15,000 lights? Convert each of them with a $100 solar panel, and run them for free energy from the sun.

Oh, no. That wont work. While the cost of a single solar panel with enough size to light a streetlight would be around $50 each, the UNION THUGS at the power companies would NEVER do anything for less than UNION WAGES to save their city.

Instead, Detroit will continue its plunge into utter darkness.



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