Minneapolis aims to shore up street lighting to boost public safety

As the days get darker earlier and winter approaches, Minneapolis leaders are hoping to bring a surge of brightness to the city's streets.

Mayor Jacob Frey's budget proposal for 2023 and 2024 includes $9 million for street lighting improvements, with the goal of promoting public safety. The money would be used to address a backlog in repairs, upgrade existing lights and add new lamp posts.

"The purpose is to make people feel safe, but also to deter criminals," Frey said in an interview Friday. "Criminals fear a well-lit street."

If Frey's proposal is approved by the City Council, $9 million would go toward replacing and repairing lighting systems in the Stevens Square, Loring Park, Como and Marcy-Holmes neighborhoods, where officials say out-of-date and damaged wiring has caused some widespread outages.

Additionally, the city could draw from a pot of $1.45 million for maintenance and repairs, and a $2.5 million project fund could help pay for new light poles.

Council Member LaTrisha Vetaw, who represents the North Side, has championed the initiative, which she dubbed "Get Lit Minneapolis." In an interview Friday, Vetaw said one of the first things she heard from constituents after taking office at the beginning of the year was complaints about lights. She estimates her office fields five to 10 calls about broken lights each week.

"If you're all alone in a part of the city that's dark, it can feel really scary," she said. "It feels like a small thing, but it's a really big deal."

The mayor's budget proposal said the funding would require "a conversation about the assessment policy for this work." Currently, the city assesses property owners for street lighting, but Frey's budget website says "reducing the rate to something similar to street construction projects (25%) is one option being considered."

"These are the basics that people in our city should expect," Frey said.

Earlier this year, the city spent $1.2 million federal American Rescue Plan dollars to start addressing a backlog of repairs that piled up during the pandemic.

When making those repairs, the city is aiming to use more LED lights, which Frey said are higher quality and more sustainable. Vetaw said an LED pilot program in her ward garnered lots of positive feedback from constituents.

Vetaw encourages residents to report outages to 311 or their council members. She added that her office is also having conversations with Xcel Energy, which is responsible for the city's 28,000 wood pole lights. The city manages the roughly 20,000 metal ones.

Public hearings on Frey's proposed budget will be held at City Hall on Tuesday evening and Dec. 6. The council will approve a final budget by mid-December.