This is Part 1 of a four-part series telling Inga’s saga of getting her streetlight fixed.
Get It Done: the app where city repairs go to die.
At least that’s been my feeling since posting a repair request over a year ago when the streetlight in front of our corner house went out. I was dismayed to find out at the time that the city of San Diego was backlogged 5,900 streetlight repairs. That number grew to 6,100 two months later. We doubted it would be fixed in our lifetimes.
Unfortunately, the streetlight fixture (exclusively maintained by the city) is mounted on a wooden telephone pole owned — and this is important, powered — by SDG&E. And neither party wants anything to do with this light or each other.
In my efforts to resolve this situation, I have spent the past year in an infinite loop in the seventh circle of infrastructure hell.
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There is a true paucity of streetlights in my neighborhood, so having even one of them go out is bad news. Our corner, in particular, is heavily trafficked by pedestrians, including restaurant-goers, dog walkers, people exercising and us just trying to find our driveway. We had an electrician come out and put in additional outdoor lighting just so we could find our front gate. Even the dog was afraid to step off the porch into the abyss.
Without this streetlight, our entire block was pitch black. So dark, in fact, that at night we could hear the screeching of tires as cars barely made the turn at our corner. This was not an idle fear on our part. Three times since we’ve lived here, cars have crashed through our front fence, one coming to within six inches of the house.
The irony is that if it weren’t for me, this light would have been out for at least 30 years. I’ve had to deal with its repair twice before in the decades I’ve lived at my quirky address. The first two times the light went out (2002 and 2012), its repair was complicated by the fact that neither SDG&E nor the city of San Diego would lay claim to our streetlight. Eerily, both insisted there was no streetlight in front of our house. (Cue the “Twilight Zone” music here.)
It’s hard enough to get a streetlight fixed in this city. Getting a non-existent streetlight fixed is exponentially harder. I consider the repair of a phantom streetlight not once but twice and now three times to be among my top life accomplishments and should be listed in my future obituary.
Previously I could deal with actual humans. Both times it took six months of pathological persistence. But pathological persistence is my middle name. (Well, actually it’s Louise.)
Now, alas, the only way to get a streetlight repair is through the city’s Get It Done app. No hope of prevailing upon actual humans, as I have done before. I was pleased to read some months ago that the city was going to hire outside contractors to catch up with the backlog.
When I filed the Get It Done report, I was careful to include three photos including the exact location of the streetlight, including the street sign below it, and photos of the fixture mounted on the wooden telephone pole. Just try to say it doesn’t exist now, SDG&E and city!
So I was thrilled to get an update message from Get It Done after a mere year on the waiting list saying: “Thank you for using Get It Done to report non-emergency problems to the city of San Diego. Your report is now closed. City crews recently resolved the issue or conducted the necessary repairs as reported in your inquiry.”
Except no, they didn’t. The streetlight was still out. An entire year wasted. Were we back to the whole “Not our streetlight” issue?
Yup! The city ultimately confirmed what I already feared: “The streetlight on the wooden pole belongs to SDG&E. Follow would have to go through them. Thank you.”
Um, you couldn’t have mentioned this in your update before closing out the repair request?
Gah! Summarizing a lot of conversations, it turns out the Get It Done guys did come out and replace the streetlight bulb in December. But because it is mounted on a pole owned by SDG&E, SDG&E has to execute the power source. That is, plug it in. I would need to file an online repair request with SDG&E on its own version of (Let’s Never) Get It Done called We Can’t Do It Either.
Stay tuned for Part 2 next week. It only gets weirder.
Inga’s lighthearted looks at life appear regularly in the La Jolla Light. Reach her at [email protected]. ◆
