Beginning on April 17, the City of Los Angeles will send a unique ballot from LA’s Bureau of Street Lighting (BSL) to 500,000 property owners asking them to approve a proposed special benefit assessment increase to fund the maintenance of some 220,000 street lights as well as a vast underground network of conduit filled with 27,000 miles of copper wire.
“It’s imperative that residents answer the ballot in order for change to happen.” Miguel Sangalang, executive director and general manager for the Bureau of Street Lighting, said about the upcoming ballot.“ Our mission is to make sure we’re able to light the way for Los Angeles, and we can’t do that without the necessary funding or support from the community.”
Since its founding almost a century ago, the Los Angeles Bureau of Street Lighting has been at the forefront of innovation, technology, and design. As lives become more digitally connected, the Bureau is improving and enhancing LA’s street lights to provide even more benefits to the community. The Bureau was among the first cities in the world to convert street lights to low-voltage LED, improving lighting conditions and saving energy.
“Innovation is a blessing and something we have embraced especially in the transition to LED lights, which has saved us around 10 million dollars a year due to energy consumption, which we have invested into other programs,” Fabien Cheng, assistant director and chief engineer, said about how the bureau of cut costs while still serving Los Angeles. “This saving has allowed us to increase electricity capacity for not only street lights but also to build over 1,000 new EV charging stations throughout the city,” Cheng noted. Most LED lights are at the end of their life, and replacements on a wide scale will be needed.
As most cities embark on LED conversions, 98 percent of LA’s network of street lights has been converted to LED. Each year, this investment delivers:
• 64 percent energy savings
• 67,000 fewer metric tons of CO2.
• Approximately $10 million in energy savings
Over 430 EV chargers have been deployed on street lights with more on the way.
The bureau is exploring ways to further improve sustainability, including through solar and battery technologies that could enable our streetlights to run fully off-grid on renewable energy.
“A lot of people have a misconception of the maintenance of street lights because they think it’s simply fixing the bulb, and it’s not that simple,” Manuel Hago, maintenance superintendent, said about the process of maintaining light poles. “We have to work jointly with the water & power company, so that makes communication extremely important, then after that, the wiring, the conduit, and the foundation of the pole are our responsibility. So when apartments and businesses lose power because of a system issue, or a construction hit the conduit while digging or any other external factor, it takes time to diagnose the problem and make the proper corrections.” Hago also said that a lack of workers is another reason why it takes longer for lamp fixtures.
BSL is expanding the way Angeleno’s think about the city’s street lights, making them into even greater neighborhood assets that bring pride to diverse communities:
• BSL has installed 18 air quality monitoring sensors to support the City’s Clean Up Green Up program. The Bureau has also recently received a grant through NASA to augment ground-level sensors with satellite imagery.
• Lights in the city’s new Transitional Lighting Zones increase brightness during high levels of pedestrian traffic, improving visibility and safety.
• 20 Safety Cameras have been mounted to street lights to help deter illegal dumping.
• Street Light banners depict events, art, and identify the culture of L.A.’s neighborhoods — and new digital banners will provide more real-time messaging for public information.
For more info visit lalights.lacity.org