The LA City Council and Mayor Karen Bass’ latest brainstorm – slapping property owners with a roughly 120% hike in the streetlight assessment fee (as high as $1,500+ for an apartment complex) – is peak government stupidity.
Instead of stopping the thieves who have turned copper wire theft into a thriving local industry, LA City Hall has decided those responsible are the homeowners who keep paying taxes and somehow expecting streets to stay lit.
Copper theft has surged a reported 1,200% in the last decade, creating a backlog of over 32,000 repair requests and outages, each of which can drag on for a year or more.
Los Angeles’ Bureau of Street Lighting has been starved of meaningful funding since the 1990s, staffing is thin, and crews waste time navigating the same recurring crime scenes – often complicated by encampments and general disorder.
A specialized LAPD task force on copper theft was quietly disbanded after modest results. Penalties for theft remain laughably weak, scrap yards keep buying “hot”metal with minimal scrutiny, and the whole cycle spins on, while officials shrug and reach for their calculators to propose new fees.
It’s outrageous that law-abiding property owners are being billed for such a basic public safety failure.
Keeping streets illuminated helps deter crime and prevent accidents. It’s basic government work, funded by taxes Angelinos already pay.
Shifting the cost of repeated theft onto residents isn’t leadership. It’s outsourcing accountability. Criminals steal with impunity; residents get the invoice.
Mayor Bass has a grand plan: Convert up to 60,000 city streetlights to solar-powered units over the next couple of years. No more copper wiring at the base means thieves will have to find another hobby, City Hall officials promise.
The city seeks to expand an existing contract with the LA Department of Water and Power – you know, the people who left the reservoir empty – rather than running a fully competitive bidding process.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
