The Los Angeles City Council took a critical step towards trying to fix the rampant street light outages in Boyle Heights and throughout the city.
Today, Councilmember Kevin de León introduced a motion creating a Copper Wire task force that will focus on taking 311 requests from residents reporting an outage. It will also assign officers to address copper wire theft from electrical wire boxes.
The motion passed with a majority vote, with the only two dissenting votes from Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez and Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez.
City officials are blaming copper wire thieves for the blackouts, which have become more frequent throughout the city. Last month, de León held a press conference at the 6th Street Bridge announcing a plan to create the task force. The demand for copper has been driven by its price, which is higher than it has been in a decade.
“I don’t think there’s anyone who hasn’t been impacted by the rapidly growing problem of copper wire. We have witnessed this issue escalate at an alarming rate,” de León said during the meeting.
According to de León, the city had over 500-600 cases of copper wire theft each year for the past five years. That number had increased to over 6,000 cases by the end of 2023. “Our neighborhoods, our parks are bearing the brunt of this public menace,” de León said.
De León referenced information from the LA Bureau of Street Lighting and said roughly 3,700 lights were off in Boyle Heights, El Sereno, and Lincoln Heights.
Councilmember Traci Park supported the motion and stressed the need to solve this ongoing problem. “To every Angeleno out there, if you see a theft or hear of this issue, please report it so we have the data to inform our response,” Park said.
Councilmembers were at odds regarding the proposed task force’s reward program, which would provide a financial incentive to those who report theft. Hernandez agreed with her colleagues that copper wire theft must be dealt with but criticized this reactive approach.
“We know that street lights are an effective and fairly inexpensive way of investing in the safety of our communities,” Hernandez said. “Rather than expend city resources on a reward program that does not intervene until after the damage done with punitive measures, why aren’t we looking at how we can prevent this [criminal] cycle altogether?”
Hernandez suggested focusing on preventative measures such as the installation of solar-powered street lights, which has previously been discussed between Bureau of Street Lighting staff and city officials as a possible long-term solution. “The prevention piece is expensive because we would be switching to a solar system, but at some point, we have to put the horse before the cart. Right now, we’re playing whack-a-mole, and we can’t keep up.”
Councilmember Imelda Padilla also said she’d like to see more preventative measures enacted but wants more focus on the organized crime element of these thefts. “I think we need to stop saying these are the impoverished criminals trying to fund their addiction because it’s obviously bigger than that,” Padilla said. “I hope we can continue having conversations on how we address it on the preventative side and also make sure those individuals who are probably having a hard time don’t fall into this lifestyle.”
On Tuesday, the Council also passed several ordinances ordering the maintenance of street lighting districts across the city, including Hollenbeck Park in Boyle Heights.
Staff requested the restoration of light services in areas such as The Hollenbeck Park Street Lighting District; Lankershim Boulevard and La Maida Street Lighting District; Regal Place and Cahuenga No. 2 Street Lighting District; and Woodman Avenue and Weddington Street Lighting District.
The Boyle Heights Beat contacted the LA Bureau of Street Lighting for comment but has yet to receive a response.
