Have you noticed a street light that is out near where you live or travel through Bedford? Did you know that you can help the City keep those lights working by reporting them when you see them?
How To Report A Street Light That Is Out
If you notice a street light is out, you can help the City by taking a few moments to report the light is out. One very important thing you can do is get the pole number from the light. This will be a 5 digit number that will be located somewhere on the pole of the light. You can either write down the pole number or you can just take a picture of it. If you can’t find the pole number, note the address of the building the street light is in front of.
Once you have a pole number, there are a few places you can report the street light being out.
The easiest is to report the street light and its pole number to your ward councilperson. They will make sure that the information gets to the right place. If you are in Ward 5, you can either email me at heather@bedfordward5.com or you can call me at 440-227-3620. If you are not in Ward 5, contact information for your councilperson can be found here.
You can also call the Service Department at 440-735-6583 to report the light out or email the information to Michelle Hollo, the City Manager Secretary, at mhollo@bedfordoh.gov.
Why Should I Report a Light out?
In any city, it can be difficult for the city employees to have eyes on everything, especially things where it is only apparent they are broken after most city employees have gone home. Broken street lights are both a safety issue and a cost issue.
Street lights that are out can create dark areas in your neighborhood that make it easier for crimes to happen or it can make it hard for both pedestrians and drivers to see potential hazards.
On the money side, the City still has to pay First Energy for the street lights. The City would much rather pay for working street lights than non-working ones.
I Reported A Light Out. It Has Been Weeks And It Is Still Not Fixed
While the City does pay First Energy for the lights, the City does not have control over when First Energy will repair them. The City maintains a list of known broken lights and follows up with First Energy frequently about them, but ultimately it is up to First Energy on when they will repair them.
If you are not sure that a broken street light has been reported or not, it is perfectly fine to report them again. The City does not mind at all about duplicate reports of lights out. They would much rather hear about the same light several times than to not hear about one that is out at all.