STREET LIGHTS OFF?

In the last 5 weeks, twice we have experienced no streets lights in our neighborhood, north of Central Street to Isabella and east of Green Bay to Eastwood. Another weekend evening at 10:00 pm, there weren’t any street lights illuminated on Central Street from Lincolnwood east to Green Bay Road. 

 
When you call the Street Lights/Traffic Repair Dept. to report a problem with one or two street lights, you should leave a message and the staff will make the repair in a few days. However, if the lights are out in a large area, the department recording instructs you to call the non-emergency number of the Evanston Police Dept. 847-866-5000. The police are to page the Street Lights staff. They will send someone out to make sure the lights are turned on as quickly as possible. 
 
We found that twice the lights were turned on in our neighborhood within an hour. The third time, the police officer on the desk didn’t feel that the dark stretch along Central St. wasn’t urgent enough to page the department staff that evening at 10:00 pm. I’m sure the businesses on Central St. and people on the street that evening wouldn’t agree.
 
In contacting the street lights dept. this week, Tom Twigg informed me that they do want to be advised when the lights aren’t on in a neighborhood area. They don’t mind getting paged so they can come out and correct the problem. THEY WANT TO BE CALLED. Tom explained that sometimes the switch gets hung-up and repairing the switch will correct the problem. If that doesn’t work, they will need to replace the equipment box all together. 
 

In the case of our neighborhood lights, they will make the necessary repairs within a week or two. Thanks Tom for your time and attention to our needs.