From Peninsula Newsletter / March 2, 2023
Or do you just want street lights that are smart enough to stay lit?
The story begins in 2016, when San Diego purchased Smart Streetlights Technology “to increase the brightness and provide a substantial energy cost savings.”
We were told the Smart lights would also collect atmospheric data and analyze traffic flow.
Turns out they can capture, record and retain a lot more than traffic and weather together. We featured a story on that near the top of our April 4, 2019 newsletter. (That was a really cool issue. Just sayin’)
That year the candid camera discovery came as a surprise to our City Council members. They had seldom been blind-sided like that before, or since. Kidding. They decided to talk it over for a while.
We did a follow up report on January 30, 2020. Council was still talking.
Jumping ahead. In April, 2022, the Council passed an ordinance creating a Privacy Advisory Board to evaluate the benefits of using the cameras for crime solving and street safety, balanced with privacy concerns of ubiquitous surveillance.
YOU’RE INVITED
In accordance with the City of San Diego’s Surveillance Ordinance, the SDPD is inviting citizens to meetings to learn about Smart Streetlights, ask questions and provide input.
The meeting in our Peninsula community is next Tuesday, March 7, from 1-3pm on the campus of Education First, 3455 Kenyon Street. To reserve a seat email Officer David Surwilo, no later than 8pm this evening, March 2nd!
[Editordude’s note: if you don’t know Officer Surwilo’s email, please contact the Peninsula Newsletter. Also please note that it is past time to register for a seat for the meeting. It’s unclear whether there will be additional seating.]
+++++++++++++++
More on San Diego’s Smart Street Lights
See these earlier OB Rag posts:
The Spy Street Lights of Ocean Beach and Point Loma
Public and San Diego City Council Were in the Dark on Police Access to ‘Smart’ Streetlights
For more, do a word search of Smart Street Lights on our search bar.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
My brother’s dog escaped from the condo once-upon-a-time, and she was
found because she had a high-tech chip installed in her ear. I’m thinking it may be time for all of us to have a high-tech chip installed in our ear lobes. This small act would help reduce crime because the cops would know where we were at all times; they would know when we speed, when we roll through a stop sign, when we blast through a yellow/red light. Therefore, we would not need smart street lights.
I’m proposing we all contribute to a new start up company to help design these life-changing chips. If women installed the chip, then they would not have to download an app that helps track their menstrual cycle. Then the RNC could simply track them & arrest them if they even thought about terminating a pregnancy. This is only one small benefit of a high-tech chip.
A very good name for this start up company would be The Intergalactic Futuristic Eric Blair Corporation for the Freedom of Individual Freedom, or the IFEBCFIF, to keep it simple.
Of course, there would be an app available to connect to your cell phone & ear buds, so that you could listen to commercials broadcast by the RNC, Fox Propaganda Network and other freedom-loving institutions.
I think I love this idea.