Mayor Karen Bass has launched a major new program to repair and replace up to 60,000 street lights across Los Angeles, signing an executive directive Wednesday (March 25) to kick off what city officials are calling the largest investment in street light infrastructure in the city’s history.
According to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the Solar Street Lights Initiative will harness new solar technology to tackle a decade-long backlog of street light repairs, combat copper wire theft, and cut the city’s energy use — all while pushing Los Angeles toward 100% clean energy by 2035.
“These are the basics that shape how we feel about our city, and whether our city is safe,” Mayor Bass said. “The street light backlog that piled up before I took office is unacceptable — we’re addressing it and making it safer for people to walk their dogs, come home from work, and park their cars at night.”
Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez joined Mayor Bass at the signing of Executive Directive 18, which formalizes a landmark agreement between the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) and the Bureau of Street Lighting (BSL) to identify and install up to 60,000 solar street lights over the next two years.
“Angelenos deserve safe streets that are reliably lit,” Councilwoman Rodriguez said. “This initiative takes meaningful action to fix thousands of our city’s broken lights and restore visibility where it’s been missing for far too long.”
The problem has been building for years. City funding for street light infrastructure has not changed since 1996, and copper wire theft has surged by 1,200% over the last decade. Repairs caused by that theft can cost at least four times more than standard maintenance. Right now, there are more than 32,000 outstanding street light service requests across the city.
Los Angeles operates more than 220,000 street lights citywide, and an estimated 60,000 of them are eligible to be converted to solar. The new solar lights use integrated battery storage, meaning they can stay on even during power outages — a key advantage in a city that has faced repeated grid disruptions. Because solar lights don’t use copper wire, they are also far less vulnerable to theft.
Solar street lights have already been installed in several neighborhoods as part of earlier efforts, including Watts, Historic Filipinotown, Granada Hills, and Van Nuys. The new initiative will expand that work citywide, prioritizing areas with the longest-running outages and the greatest safety concerns.
The program will roll out in phases. Within 30 days, BSL and LADWP are directed to complete a preliminary assessment of the 60,000 eligible street light locations and report back to the Mayor and City Council on which sites will be targeted first. The two departments will also report quarterly on their progress.
Mayor Bass said she will work closely with the City Council — including Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, chair of the Budget and Finance Committee, and Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, chair of the Public Works Committee — to fund and deliver the initiative. The City Council adopted a motion supporting solar street lights earlier this week.
The initiative represents a shift away from patching outdated technology. Hundreds of millions of dollars are expected to be invested through a phased approach, with LADWP and BSL working together to modernize the city’s street light network while meeting sustainability goals.
Recent Comments