MILWAUKEE — It’s been a struggle over streetlights across the City of Milwaukee. The Department of Public Works reported a record high 121 streetlight outages last week. While those numbers have gotten better, one neighborhood has gone two weeks without their streetlights working.
“Tonight would be day 15 without lights,” John Jeffery said.
Jeffery spoke with TMJ4 News last week, when he had dealt with darkness on his street for seven days. As of Monday night, the streetlights were still out.
“It’s like living up north,” Jeffery said. “I don’t have to go up north to visit family and just stay down here. I live in a city and it’s as dark here as it is up north.”
Tuesday, DPW tells TMJ4 News, Jeffery’s neighborhood, just south of 79th and Villard, would have its lights back on.
But Jeffery isn’t getting his hopes up. The lights flickered on briefly last week before shutting off again. DPW says those lights flickering on were the result of their crews fixing the problem. However, when the lights flipped back off, they were not made aware so it took another week for them to get the system back online.
Jeffery says, he and many other neighbors filed complaints with DPW again last week.
As twilight took over his neighborhood, a familiar glow cascaded upon his street.
“I actually forgot they were amber,” Jeffery said. “I thought they were LED white.”
But then, a dusk déjà vu. The lights flipped off.
And then on.
Then off.
And on again.
“This is just getting ridiculous,” Jeffery said. “It’s very frustrating. You pay for something that the city wants you to pay for but it doesn’t work. What are we paying for? Can we be reimbursed for this?”
DPW reports it still has about 50 outages they are working on. Additionally, the city says John’s neighborhood is part of the roughly one-third of the entire city that has an older circuit system. So it will not benefit from the LED transition that the other two-thirds of the city will see by the end of 2025. There is no timetable for when neighborhoods like John’s will see these upgrades.
Until then, John says he’s going to enjoy the lights while he has them.
“I’m not sure if I’m in the right neighborhood,” Jeffery said. “It’s kind of nice. I can actually see the street and I can actually see my neighbors’ houses, finally.”
If you have a streetlight issue in your neighborhood, even if it’s only for a few minutes, DPW encourages you to contact them at 414-286-2489 or report the outage online.
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