Ohio village darkens street lights to save money

Leaders of a cash-strapped eastern Ohio village have approved shutting off hundreds of street lights — and some traffic lights — as a cost-cutting measure.
Associated Press
Jan 26, 2013








This is taking things a little too far. I hope no raises are being granted while street lights are being turned off.


I can see this working. In many towns traffic lights were put up long ago when small towns were busier. We have some traffic signals that we could do without. Also, there is nothing wrong with turning off every other street light to save money. A town has to budget their money just like a household does. You have to cut where you can. If they were doing away with police or fire protection, I might not agree.


Not a single progressive can complain, it is a "Green initiative"


This will happen more and more as citys try and reduce cost, and I believe there is no law that says a city has to supply street lighting. It becomes a safety issue. The same thing goes for traffic lights.In Sandusky, if the warrent studies were done, many signalized intersections wouldnt meet the requirements. I been told that many of them were installed because of political reasons. Turning off every other streetlight would save money in the long run, but the question becomes how much is Ohio Edison going to charge to unwire the lights, because they dont do anything for free!


I currently live in Longview, Washington, where half of the city-owned street lights were shut off several years ago. Since then, the city has slacked off on maintenance, and has not maintained the lights that are supposed to still be working, and there are some areas of town that are very dark at night. In some instances, there are also damaged light poles which sometimes take 2-3 years or longer to repair. This has resulted in an increase in crime in those areas of town. Sometimes calling the city results in repairs, but in some cases nothing is done. The Mingo Junction council should pay a visit to Longview to see what NOT to do.

The Hero Zone's picture
The Hero Zone

I wonder what the cost to replace sodium vapor bulbs with LEDs is? They, I presume, provide more light for less electricity and don't have the overheat/turn off issues. Plus it is brighter white light instead of peachy-orange.


I dont know what Edison would charge for doing that, but if you want to see what the light might look like, check out the lighting in the city-owned lot behind Dalys on Water street. They have been converted to led light bulbs.

Really are you ...

The electric companies are just as bad as the big oil companies whan it comes to selling their products. Big oil is selling oil based on future consumption. Eventually countries that have their oil rigs in land will run dry. Ocean based oil rigs will be replenished by the continual dying of sea critters. With electrical generation there is some overhead, but not alot. In neuclear reactors, how often do the rods have to be replaced? Gas, diesel, or coal for those types of generating power plants... The electrical grid has already been established. Electricity is neither created nor destroyed. Shouldn't we only have to pay for the consumption of whatever it is to heat the water to generate electricity, and the manpower who control the plants along with manpower to repair the grid? But then again we should be paying less, because didn't first energy lay a lot of people off?


Who let this one off the porch?


It costs a fortune to have street lights on: whether sodium vapor or regular street bulbs. I am not surprised that this is happening again. It isn't the first time communities are faced with this.

Ever other street light is the first thing they do, then every two then to only intersections being lit. Then turning off stop lights and putting up stop signs. People complain and then get used to it.

Not much can be done about it, but Ohio Edison and others have no one to blame but themselves for pricing themselves out of the market. Let them complain when their larger sources of revenue dry up. Then watch the prices fall. They will come "courting" with offers of lesser charges to cities for street lights. That is what they did before.

Petra Rocks

You could look at New Paris, Ohio and read the story why they turned off street lights. Detroit, Michigan also turned off some of their street lights. Then for good measure, read the story about Highland Park, Michigan and why they turned off their street lights. Their electric bill was $60,000 a month and took out 1000 street lights literally off the streets.


Maybe we should consider going back to oil lamps and street lighters like back in the "old days". Not a lot of light but at least some is better than none. And the 11:00 curfew that went with it. No stores open past that time. Just think of all the electric everyone saves on that little note.

You have these man lighting the lamps at dusk and putting them out at sunrise. There are a few put to work at least. Solves some unemployment woes at least. LOL