Well, every third light on select streets in Cranston is being "red-capped". I was pissed when the light in front of my house was capped. Below is an e-mail from my mayor that explains this in his opinion.
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"Thanks for contacting us about the street lights and your concerns. I understand how you feel and believe me this is not something I relish doing. Unfortunately, there are a number of reasons why I had to implement the program. First, we needed to reduce costs because of a cut imposed by the City Council in the electricity line item in this current 2009-1010 budget from $1.2 million to $960,000. They did this and ignored our warning to them during the budget process that our electricity rates skyrocketed. So, we had to do something to come in within budget.
As we were figuring out what to do with this significant cut, we analyzed the program and found some interesting things. Overall, we pay for approximately 10,000 street lights per year. However, this cost not only includes electricity, but also a significant monthly rental fee for each light. What was also interesting was that the city was responsible to pay for lights on State owned roads such as Route 2 (Reservoir Avenue). This is ridiculous considering they have the responsibility to maintain state roads but they refused to budge on payment for lights. You may have heard the news that the State on several major highways has made the move to reduce significantly street lighting. Thus, we could not in good conscience continue to subsidize all of their costs in the city if they are making that move to reduce their costs.
Since we get hit twice for every street light – once for the electrical cost and the then for the monthly rental – simply reducing the number of hours that we leave each light on wasn’t enough to get us within budget. Thus, we made the difficult decision to eliminate some to alleviate the rental cost.
The process will be two-fold. First, there is the “red-cap” program which will be primarily on city streets. On State roads, the program will be one of elimination. The key difference is that the red-cap program on city streets allows for us to reestablish use of the light in the future when our financial times get better. The elimination program that which will be engaged on State roads involves the permanent shut-off of a light as the City bears the burden of what should be a State service.
What is making matters worse for the immediate is the announcement from the state that the City will be losing over 12 million dollars for motor vehicle tax reimbursement next year. This is precluding us from restoring that line item in the upcoming budget.
Please know that we did not implement the program unilaterally and without regard to safety. That is why it took so long for us to announce the program. My deputy director worked closely with the police department and others to ensure adequate safety for our residents as we went through the program citywide. In areas surrounding major intersections at traffic lights, the policy will be relaxed. Additionally, this policy will not apply at school buildings.
Hopefully you can see that it was a number of circumstances that forced us to reduce the level of service on street lighting. Thanks for considering my comments."--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm going to try to get the light in front of my house relit, but I'm sure as heck are not going to pay for it's oporation. It's pitch black in that little curve in front of my house, so clearly this light needs to be on. Any sudjestions?
