How many Somerville city workers does it take to change a light bulb?

[bostonartist.livejournal.com]

Hey everyone, I really need your help to solve a simple problem!

About 3 months ago the overhead street light in front of my place burned out. I figured someone from the city's department of public works would come by at some point and fix it. After a few weeks when that did not happen I called the Somerville DPW and was told that the city's chief electrician was in charge of such problems. I was then connected to him. He informed me that he relays the info of burned out street light locations to someone at NSTAR and NSTAR would come and fix it.

Well it has been 3 months and I have called the Somerville DPW at least 6 times and all I get are excuses about NSTAR. I have called NSTAR directly but the people at NSTAR don't even know where to direct such inquires and they won't tell me who is in charge of such repairs. They simply take my name an number and NOTHING happens.

It is PITCH BLACK out in front of my place and I am concerned about break-ins and general safety.

Does anyone have any ideas of how to rattle the Somerville DPW or NSTAR in to fixing this SIMPLE light???

Thanks for any ideas!

Comments

[sissychrissy1.livejournal.com]

Perhaps there's someone you could file a complaint with at City Hall who could get things rolling? Write a letter to the Somerville Journal and see if they'll publish it - I'm sure the city doesn't want their laziness in print.

[overstim.livejournal.com]

get yourself a BB Gun at Galyans, and break every damned light on the street. that SHOULD get someone down.

No, seriously.

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

I second this one.

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

Call the mayor's office. Really.

[preraphaelite.livejournal.com]

Try the MA Attorney General's Utilities hotline -- 1-888-514-6277.

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

wouldn't it be glorious if all the street lights were taken down? it would, really.

sorry, astronomer at heart :)

#

somerville pride

[dreamlightning.livejournal.com]

RULE 1: In somerville nothing fixes itself, and nobody fixes anything. if it's going to get fixed at all, a little gnome will randomly walk out of a hole in your yard, wave a magik staff, and everything will be a-ok.
I mean, really, the DPW has enough to deal with as it is.. what with the remodeling of the pit which calls itself East Somerville, the 6 days aweek of trash pickup, cutting down branches from perfectly good climbing trees, re-hanging the x-mas lights in davis square, street cleaning every other day, towing cars that don't need to be towed, fixing random potholes on "no traffic" streets and cruising around in those flashy orange pickups trying to impress girls.... they can't really be expected to fix one stupid little light on your street, can they?
RULE 2: quit worrying about break-in's. slim to none chance of that happening if you got locked doors. people don't really bother with windows unless they KNOW you're not home. and if you're not home, and your windows are open, well... partly your fault.. :)

Re: somerville pride

[signsoflife.livejournal.com]

If one is not home, windows can be broken. If it's pitch black, ones neighbors won't see anything.

[liamstliam.livejournal.com]

Call the mayor's office.

He's willing to swing a hammer to fix other things, so try him on this one.

[nathanjw]

It's almost certainly NStar's problem; the electric utilities started out as electric and light utilities, and have mostly kept that role in our area. However, NStar has a reputation for fixing lights very slowly, with a large number of total lights out in a given city (I think there was an article about this in Cambridge within the last year, in the Globe or the Chronicle, but I can't find it right now). Some cities are dealing with this problem by exercising provisions in a 1998 law to buy the lights back from NStar so they can maintain them themselves and fix streetlights more quickly.

So I think your options are:

(a) wait, because NStar doesn't care about you and doesn't have to;
(b) research city buybacks of lighting and lobby the mayor and your alderman on the subject.

[saraheeyore.livejournal.com]

Try the Globe - http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/cityweekly/globewatch/

[jadelennox]

I don't have an electric bill on me, but look at the back to see if there's a phone number to complain to the state. When I was having terrible problems with the phone company once, I called the state office which they're required by law to put in (very small, almost illegible) letters on the back of every page of the phone bill, and suddenly they fixed everything. It was great.

Other than that, I agree with the people who suggested calling the mayor's office. Ask him if his commitment to safety which includes harassing random kids because they might be gangs extends to getting a simple streetlight replaced. If the office says they can't help (which I doubt), ask if the mayor's office elite that would like the Somerville Journal to know their decision. But I don't think it will come to that.

[julishka.livejournal.com]

in addition to all the good suggestions above, try contacting the alderman for your neighborhood. they'll often bring these issues before the board.

good luck.

[four-thorns.livejournal.com]

dont know if this is still a problem for you, but check this out:

http://www.boston.com/news/messageboards/globewatch/index.shtml?p1=RR_ReportersQuestions