“Especially around the holidays, the vintage street lamps in Loma Portal are hard to miss.”
“But, obviously, not impossible to miss.”
The Peninsula Newsletter of the PLA is looking into the “unreliability of the vintage street lights” in Loma Portal. But they’re also looking into what the city’s plans are for them – given the controversy in Kensington over the unannounced replacement of their historic streetlamps.
Regarding the unreliability of the Peninsula’s lights, the newsletter covered it in their July 28th online edition. The Newsletter now reports:
This is what we learned from our then-rep for Councilmember Jen Campbell:
“The streetlights in the subject area in question are serviced and comprised of two antiquated/failing series circuits (Chatsworth 1 and 2) that are under regular and consistent maintenance.
We’ve been coordinating with SDG&E to troubleshoot and plan for the undergrounding repairs on Chatsworth 2 (between Goldsmith St. and Lytton St). However, the repairs are contingent on SDG&E equipment and staffing availability to help perform the needed repairs on our side of the circuit. There are no immediate plans to upgrade or convert the series circuit at this time.”
In October we heard the City was hiring more electricians to work on street light maintenance.
Then early last week on Monday, Dec. 5, the Newsletter received an inquiry and plea for help from one of their readers:
“Hello. I am sure you have been following the big issue of historic street lights in Kensington being in jeopardy of removal and replacement. I live near Plumosa Park and received notification recently about street light replacement here. Are our historic lights also in jeopardy? I urge the PLA to investigate this as our lights are also historic and must be preserved. Please let me know.”
That evening, we fired off a request for information from our District 2 Councilmember:
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
They don’t have a plan. They have no intention of fixing them. A number of lamps here haven’t worked in 15 months. The city can’t provide basic services and leans on the excuse that they don’t have enough electricians. That’s a terribly weak excuse.