Streetlight Woes

[kapara19.livejournal.com]

Those of you that walk to Davis Square via Simpson Ave know that the streetlight at the corner of Broadway and Simpson has been out since JANUARY. Normally I wouldn't really care about a streetlight but this one is the only thing illuminating the very busy crosswalk on Broadway. So since JANUARY, I and others have had to dodge cars who simply cannot see us. I have lost count of the number of near misses I have witnessed.

I first called NSTAR in February. Since then, I have called about 8 times. Early on, I was told they were "waiting on a part". A few weeks ago, I was told they were waiting on the city to issue a permit because the repair requires they dig in the street. I followed that up with an email to 311 to see what the delay was and was told the city did not have any record of a permit request. Now NSTAR is simply telling me they "are working on it". They are not able to say when the light may be fixed. In fact, they say only the technician knows that and there is no way for them to get in touch with said technician to get more info. They do tell me they have received numerous calls about this particular light, including from the Somerville Fire Dept.

Today, I emailed Bob Trane (my Alderman) to see if he could help. If anyone has other ideas, please let me know. Or if you would like to add your voice to this and call NSTAR, the number is 800-592-2000. You can get to a live person by saying 'Customer Service Representative' both times the robovoice asks how it can help you. The actual address of the light is 986 Broadway.

Comments

No one likes bad press

[missdimple.livejournal.com]

Is there a local newspaper or tv station that does features on just this kind of problem? You might want to see if you can get crime statistics on this corner. They may be worse because it's so dark. The media would eat that up and NSTAR would be on top of fixing the problem, I'm sure. Also, try the folks in the Planning Department...or Neighborhood Services. I'm sure they'd like to know about neighborhood safety.

Re: No one likes bad press

[lonelyholiday.livejournal.com]

Yeah, is this the kind of thing that "Hank Investigates"? I honestly don't know, I don't watch those segments much, but I've seen the promos for it. I grew up in Pittsburgh, and our similar local feature was "Take it to Wayne." We never actually reported anything to him, but any time we'd encounter ANYTHING like this, someone would always say "We should take it to Wayne!" haha.

Re: No one likes bad press

[ron_newman]

I don't know who Hank is, but I'd start with the Somerville Journal and Somerville Patch.

Re: No one likes bad press

[radegund-lj.livejournal.com]

Channel 7's consumer affairs reporter, Hank Phillipi Ryan.

Re: No one likes bad press

[daviscubed.livejournal.com]

The investigative reporter route works wonders if you can get them to pick up your story. A coworker once had Janet Wu come and look at the sewage that was coming up into his bathroom that his landlord was being lazy about. Problem solved very quickly (of course, in his case, he had to go on tv and say "look how filthy my apartment is," but results are results). A decent report would look into how many lights are out, average time to fix. I would think it would pique a decent amount interest if they broadened it to be about more than one light.

What could the part possibly be? A lightbulb?

Globe's Starts & Stops column

[mamabunny72.livejournal.com]

The Globe runs a weekly column that highlights commuting problems like broken traffic lights and that sort of thing. I don't know if they just cover Boston proper, but here is the info from the Globe website:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/startsandstops/
Starts & Stops appears on Sunday in the City & Region section.
Got a commuting problem or question? Write to starts@globe.com

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

That corner is SO dark without that light ... but I thought I saw it was fixed? Anyway, I've always found Bob Trane to be super responsive. Maybe I'll email him as well.

[derekp.livejournal.com]

Just chiming in to say that I reported the same streetlight to 311 in January and they passed it on to NStar then. If anything happens to a pedestrian at this intersection, I think it's reasonable to assign some blame to NStar.

It's not as dangerous to as many people as it once was now that we are in Daylight savings time. For a while there the evening commuters were crossing in total darkness.

[vonelftinhaus.livejournal.com]

This is so horrible! I slightly have in my head where this spot is and I do recall it is very dark at night,but will go and find it.



What puzzles me is " we need the part"???? wtf how bout it's been what, at least 3 full months we might as well put a whole new light!!!! I am sure since public safety is involved maybe the city would say screw the permit waiting process and just get it up!!!

Let There Be Light

[kapara19.livejournal.com]

Thanks for all the advice. I don't think I am up for the TV idea but will try some of the others.

I got a very quick reply from from Alderman Trane. He was at the Alderman meeting last night and brought the issue up with an NSTAR Rep who was also at the meeting. He is supposed to hear back from them today. Maybe that will speed things along.

[vonelftinhaus.livejournal.com]

Please keep us updated, I don't go this way at all but did have a look see at night and it is dark. Even if I have to buy the "part" I would climb up and fix it myself( no worries people I won't climb the pole) and leave the receipt in my taxes

Street light Intersection of Broadway and Simpson

[somervillema311.livejournal.com]

Hi there,

After reading these posts I followed up with Nstar to see what was taking so long to fix the problem at 368 Broadway, Intersection of Broadway and Simpson. I was told by one of the supervisors who is in charge of Somerville that a conduit is actually broken, which will require a dig job. They have lined up the permits and should be getting to work within the next two weeks. I will continue to monitor this work order until it is complete.

Thank you all,

Jesse
Somerville 311
617-666-3311

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Re: Street light Intersection of Broadway and Simpson

[kapara19.livejournal.com]

Thanks for checking into this. I noticed a bunch of Dig Safe markings on the ground around the light this weekend so I am hoping that means the NSTAR light bulb changers are not far behind!!