Long Beach : Residents Will Foot Bill for Brighter Street Lights

West Long Beach residents will fund a $404,100 project to change their street lights from a dull yellow to champagne white this January.

Residents who favor the change say the 200 new lights will brighten the streets, deter crime and increase their property values, said Myles Standish, vice president of the West End Community Assn. The association initiated a petition drive to encourage the city to approve the change.

“It’s like a steppingstone to building a safer community,” Standish said.

The neighborhood, which is bound by Broadway, the Long Beach Freeway, 7th Street and Pacific Avenue, borders the downtown business area, which installed the brighter lights last year.

To cover installation and maintenance, property owners will be charged $3.14 for every linear foot of property that borders the lighted streets. For Standish and his neighbors in a condominium building on West 4th Street, this will equal about $70 per unit over a 15-year period.

Standish said he expects his energy bills to increase by about $10 a month after the 15 years because the white lights are more expensive to run.

But Mike Carneghi complained that he cannot afford the increase and others insisted that the city should pay for the change.

Long Beach installed yellow lights throughout the city in the late 1970s because they were energy-efficient and more economical.