**PRESS RELEASE - CITY OF FRESNO**
Saying that “the dark days are over” for city streetlights that had been damaged by copper wires theft, mayor Ashley Swearengin today joined three councilmembers to celebrate the completion of the repair project.
“This is a significant day for the City of Fresno,” mayor Swearengin said. “We turn the corner on what literally has been a dark time. The lights are coming back on for the streetlights that were impacted by copper wire theft. We will now be able to conduct routine service on our streetlights, so this is an occasion to celebrate.”
Mayor Swearengin was joined at the event by council members Lee Brand, Steve Brandau and Paul Caprioglio. Councilmember Brand offered legislation that dedicated resources to accelerating the repair of the lights, and councilmembers Brandau and Caprioglio personally worked to fix a total of almost 500 streetlights in their respective districts.
Of the city’s 42,000 streetlights, more than 5,000 were darkened because of copper wire theft. That number would have been higher, but the city took decision action to stop theft by “hardening the targets” through a low-cost, highly-effective method of theft detection.
“We realize there are still many lights out due to normal outages because bulbs or sensors have reached the end of their useful life,” mayor Swearengin said. “We know many citizens have been waiting patiently to get their lights re-lit. We ask the community's continued patience as we now set out over the next three months to get those regular outages repaired, and to return to our normal response time of 2-4 weeks for repair.”
Saying that “the dark days are over” for city streetlights that had been damaged by copper wires theft, mayor Ashley Swearengin today joined three councilmembers to celebrate the completion of the repair project.
“This is a significant day for the City of Fresno,” mayor Swearengin said. “We turn the corner on what literally has been a dark time. The lights are coming back on for the streetlights that were impacted by copper wire theft. We will now be able to conduct routine service on our streetlights, so this is an occasion to celebrate.”
Mayor Swearengin was joined at the event by council members Lee Brand, Steve Brandau and Paul Caprioglio. Councilmember Brand offered legislation that dedicated resources to accelerating the repair of the lights, and councilmembers Brandau and Caprioglio personally worked to fix a total of almost 500 streetlights in their respective districts.
Of the city’s 42,000 streetlights, more than 5,000 were darkened because of copper wire theft. That number would have been higher, but the city took decision action to stop theft by “hardening the targets” through a low-cost, highly-effective method of theft detection.
“We realize there are still many lights out due to normal outages because bulbs or sensors have reached the end of their useful life,” mayor Swearengin said. “We know many citizens have been waiting patiently to get their lights re-lit. We ask the community's continued patience as we now set out over the next three months to get those regular outages repaired, and to return to our normal response time of 2-4 weeks for repair.”