AJC - Take to Task: Path Lights not Working

[rjluna2]

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Monday, December 28, 2009
Metro & Georgia News, page B2

Take to Task What's not working

Path Lights not Working

Atlanta

   Like many of his Atlanta neighbors, David Thomson's trying hard to reduce his carbon footprint by cycling and and from work each day.
   Thomson's also not one to complain and not do his part to fix an obvious problem.
   That's why, when he noticed a large number of street and pathway lights along Freedom Parkway that weren't working, Thomson not only sought out who was responsible for fixing them, but took the time to mark the non-working lights with orange tape so they could be identified easily.
   All told, Thomson said he flagged 49 pathway lights, 22 streetlights and 10 wall pack lights along the parkway between Moreland Avenue and Boulevard that didn't come on.  He didn't check the stretch of Freedom Parkway from the Carter Center to Ponce de Leon Avenume, or the lights on the north side of the Carter Center itself.
   "There are so many lights out," Thomson wrote Take to Task in an e-mail, "that the road and pathway are very dark, even at 6 p.m.  It's almost impossible to see impediments in the path or people who may be along the path.  It's a dangerous situation and discouraging to those of us trying to cycle to and from work."
   Thomson's first call was to Georgia Power where a service representative asked him to flag the non-working lights wht a ribbon, which he did.  When the lights weren't working after the three to five days the representative said it would take make repairs, Thomson called again.  This time he said he was told the lights were owned by the city and Georgia Power would not make repairs.
   Thomson has since sent two e-mail inquiries to Atlanta's Department of Public Works but hasn't received response.
   Take to Task called Georgia Power first time where an official confirmed that, although her company installed the lights originally, responsibility for maintaining them had long ago been passed to the city.
   When we raised the issue with a public works official Dec. 18, we were told a crew would be sent out to have a look.  The next Monday we received an e-mail stating that all streetlights along the parkway had been repaired, but that the lights along the pathway itself were the responsibility of the city's Parks Department.
   We tried to reach a Parks Department official to find out how soon the pathway lights might be repaired by hadn't heard back at deadline.
   When Take to Task returns from Christmas break, we'll follow up with the Parks Department again and check on the streetlights Public Works said they repaired.

John Becker

[rjluna2]

An update for the previous article:



Metro & Georgia News - Metro Section, page B2

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Friday April 23, 2010

Take To Task: What's not working

Second round of light fixes

Atlanta Update

   Last December, cyclist David Thomson alerted Take to Task to a surprising number of non-working street and pathway lights along Freedom Parkway between Boulevard and Moreland Avenue.
   Thomson had identified 49 pathway lights, 22 streetlights and seven wall lights that failed to come on.  At the time, Atlanta's Department of Public Works - responsible for the street lights - and the parks department - responsible for the pathway lights - made a concerted effort to repair nonworking fixtures.  In many cases, vandalism and copper theft were the reasons the lights weren't working to begin with, according to the city.
   An e-mailed we received two weeks ago from Thomson, though, made it clear it was once again time to rally the troops.
   "After inventorying the lights again," Thomson wrote, "things have improved, but there are still significant outages that need to be addressed."
   Thomson provided a detailed list of exactly which lights were out and where, with the net of it being the city now had 30 streetlights and 11 pathway lights that weren't working in an area heavily used by motorists, pedestrians and cyclist.
   We alerted interim parks department commissioner Paul Taylor to the nonworking pathway lights April 9.  Having recently lost an electrical field engineer, Taylor didn't paint a rosy picture of when the lights might be repaired, but four days later he e-mailed with good news.
   "We were able to repair 11 lights yesterday by replacing ballasts, bulbs and fuses," Taylor wrote.
   Not to be outdone, the Public Works Department also moved quickly to repair the large number of nonworking lights for which they were responsible.
   "A total of forty nonworking lights were repaired as of today," and official wrote in an April 15 e-mail.
   Thomson seemed pleased when we advised him of the progress.
   "I saw a city truck working today on the streetlights," he wrote.  "Thanks, Take to Task."
   Anyone who uses Freedom Parkway should thank Thomson for bird-dogging the issue.

John Becker