Streetlight outages in Los Angeles hit unprecedented level
Image generated with Midjourney
The price of copper has more than doubled since the pandemic. Thieves have noticed, and are ripping out the wiring from Los Angeles streetlights at rates never before seen.
In January the city fielded 5,225 reports for streetlight service, the highest monthly total in at least a decade, and 39% above the same month last year.
The outages have been growing steadily for years, even as the alarm has been sounded. In 2019 there were just over 20,000 reports, according to publicly available MyLA311 Streetlight Service Request data.
Last year, there were 45,927 reports.
For much of the latter half of the 2010s, copper sold for $2-$3 a pound on the spot market, according to the commodities tracking website Trading Economics. The price then began rising, and there have been regular ups and downs. Concerns last week about tariffs possibly being placed on copper pushed the price to over $4.60 per pound.
[Get crime, housing and other stats about where you live with the Crosstown Neighborhood Newsletter]
Until last year, there had never been more than 3,900 streetlight service requests in a single month. That figure was surpassed in August and September.
Then, in October, another spike occurred. There have been approximately 5,000 reports in each of the last four months, including the record-setting January count.
The city’s Bureau of Street Lighting was unable to provide a response to Crosstown questions about the rise in service requests.
Repairs take six months
According to the Bureau of Street Lighting, the wave of theft has made repairs more time consuming and complicated. The Outages and Issues page on its website states, “Theft and vandalism often require heavy construction crews, and can take multiple days—and in the worst cases weeks—to fix.”
The page also states that once reported, the wait for repairs can be more than 180 days due to the “severe wire theft and vandalism.”
According to MyLA311 data on Feb. 13, of the nearly 46,000 service requests placed last year, 43.8%, or 20,123, are classified as still “open.”
City leaders have sought to combat the wave of thefts. Early last year, District 11 Councilmember Traci Park and then-District 14 rep Kevin de León led the charge to form an LAPD Heavy Metal Task Force, designed to crack down on the stealing of copper wire. Later they would bolster its budget.
However, the problem persisted, and in June the heralded new Sixth Street Bridge, known as the “ribbon of light” for its illuminated arches, went completely dark.
Some progress has been made. In July the LAPD announced that 82 people had been arrested for copper wire theft, and 60 were charged with felonies. In September, the LAPD and then-Councilmember Paul Krekorian revealed that compliance checks at recycling centers and metal yards in the San Fernando Valley netted 290 pounds of street lighting wire. Police also recovered 256 pounds of bronze plaques stolen from the city of Burbank.
Going dark on the Eastside
The neighborhoods going dark most frequently are on the Eastside. There were 2,206 service requests in Downtown last year. The second-highest count was the 1,970 reports in Boyle Heights.
Eight different neighborhoods had more than 1,000 streetlight service requests during the year.
Darkened streetlights became a point of contention in last year’s District 14 City Council race, with challenger Ysabel Jurado complaining that not enough money in the budget goes to street lighting, and urging that the city shift to solar-powered lights. De León stressed the importance of going after thieves. In November, Jurado unseated de León. She has since called for a report on streetlight outages in the district.
City residents and leaders have pointed to the inconveniences and even dangers that come from darkened streets. During a District 14 debate last year, a Boyle Heights high school student detailed the challenges his cross-country team faced during evening runs.
During an appearance on Spectrum 1 in December, City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez noted that copper wire theft can also knock out internet service in homes. When lights do go out, she said, there is an “inherent public safety threat.” She noted that repairs cost the city millions of dollars.
How we did it: We looked at publicly available MyLA311 Streetlight Service Request data from Jan. 1, 2016-Jan. 31, 2025. For neighborhood boundaries, we rely on the borders defined by the Los Angeles Times. The city of Los Angeles may update past service requests with new information, or recategorize past reports. Those revised reports do not always automatically become part of the public database.
Have questions about our data or want to know more? Write to us at askus@xtown.la.
