When you think of voting, maybe the federal or local elections come to mind first. But what about streetlights?
Streetlights votes — yes, votes — are being tallied Wednesday, meaning parts of Los Angeles could be brighter than before if approved.
The installation of most streetlights in the city have no public involvement. But streetlights which light up front yards and entryways of private homes and businesses go through a different process.
That’s considered a “special benefit,” and means an assessment can be levied on the property to cover the city’s costs, including maintenance, operation and services. The assessments can range from $50 into the thousands.
As the Bureau of Street Lighting puts it, they aren’t responsible for “lighting up front yards of properties.” Even local and federal governments may have to pay up if a special benefit applies to them.
Why do we vote on some streetlights?
This is where Proposition 218, which passed in 1996, comes in. It basically says if there’s a property charge levied on your property, you have the right to refuse to pay it.
Hence the vote. Property owners in a “lighting district’”— some as small as a block, with only a handful of owners — get to cast a ballot about whether they want the streetlight installed.
The time it takes from the initial proposal to actually voting can take months. There’s a myriad of City Council motions and public works reports that plan out where the lights are needed. But if you’d get a special benefit, eventually a street lighting ballot will show up in your mailbox. It’ll have information inside that looks like this:
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