LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – For years, FOX5 has reported on neighborhoods across the Las Vegas Valley have been left in the dark after thieves stripped street lights of their copper wire.
Clark County has a new plan for this issue ― solar-powered streetlights.
“No matter where you are, you’ve been left in the dark,” Clark County Commissioner Michael Naft said Thursday morning as 12 solar-powered streetlights were installed on St. Louis Avenue near Fremont Street. “We think that’s unacceptable. We are mad as hell about it. That’s why we have left no stone unturned as we try to look for a resolution.”
Naft and fellow County Commissioner Tick Segerblom watched as the streetlights were fitted with solar panels.
“Streetlights have been a problem for us, and it’s getting worse and worse,” Segerblom said. “So the county is trying to come up with alternatives.”
On top of these lights, which will keep the few wires that are part of the apparatus up high out of reach from most thieves, Naft pointed toward newly implemented laws that make it harder to sell stolen copper wire — and hinted that more of those policies could be on the way.
“We’re looking at policies and laws that we can change to try and bring stiffer penalties to those who are committing this crime and we’re looking at innovative technologies,” Naft explained.
These dozen lights are part of a pilot program aimed at seeing if this could also be a solution in other parts of the valley, although a long-term rollout would take a while.
“In Clark County, we have 65,000 street lamps, so this is a dozen of them,” Naft said. “We’re going to start here and see how it goes. Particularly, monitoring the cost of installation and maintenance to see what’s required of that, and go from there.”
The lights will run on their own all night. They’ve already been rolled out in Searchlight for a few years.
“Now to bring it to the east side is really important,” Naft said. “I hope that they will prove to be effective here in the urban part of the town as well.”
The streetlights cost about $5,600 each for the parts and installation.
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