This is Part 3 of a four-part series telling Inga’s saga of getting her streetlight fixed.
After a year, my Get It Done request had finally resulted in the city of San Diego putting a new light bulb in the streetlight fixture in front of my house. But because the fixture is on an SDG&E wooden pole, SDG&E would need to come out and actually plug it in.
SDG&E kept bouncing the request back to the city, saying streetlights are the city’s problem. I was in an infinite loop in the seventh circle of infrastructure hell.
But after true pathological persistence with SDG&E, I almost missed hearing my doorbell ring one morning over the noise of my lawn maintenance service mowing outside. Deciding to check, I opened the door to see someone leaving my front gate — an SDG&E guy!
I ran out after him and said, “Are you here about the streetlight?” And he said he had no idea. He was just told to go to this address and was assuming it must be some issue inside. He hadn’t been given any information. If I hadn’t answered the door, we would have been back to square one.
I explained that I just needed him to plug in the new bulb that the city streetlight people had installed last December.
So you’re probably thinking, “Problem solved!” But you would be wrong. Very wrong.
I will say that this guy turned out to be Hero No. 2 (after the customer care rep who discovered that the streetlight escalation person at SDG&E no longer worked there). I have this man’s name and if I could find him I’d like to buy him and his wife a really nice dinner.
The SDG&E guy went up to my streetlight in the bucket thing on his truck as I hovered optimistically below. But when he came down, I wasn’t seeing the happy face I had hoped for.
“I connected it,” he said, “but the problem is the wiring is bad. They really shouldn’t put aluminum wiring this close to the ocean.”
So it all would have to be rewired with copper wiring to the two nearest poles, each about 90 feet away. (Copper wiring apparently corrodes, too, but not as fast.) He would — gah! — put in a repair request.
That’s when I truly thought it was game over. This probably wouldn’t be fixed in my children’s lifetimes. Doing my best not to break down sobbing in frustration, I explained that this situation had been going on for more than a year, that I had spent many, many dozens of hours being bounced between the city and SDG&E and feared it would never, ever be fixed.
I asked if the city wouldn’t have checked the wiring when they put in the new bulb in December. And he said, “Well, they should have.” (But clearly didn’t.)
So, I asked, is it possible there was nothing wrong with the light fixture itself from the get-go but this has always been a wiring issue? He said that was entirely possible.
About 15 minutes later, I was leaving my house en route to buy the adult beverages that this situation clearly warranted and noticed the SDG&E truck was still there. My Hero got out and said, “I’ve arranged for them to come out today.”
Was I hallucinating? “Oh my gosh,” I said. “Can I hug you?”
He didn’t seem comfortable with that, but I hugged him anyway.
But at 4:30, no sign of them. Had I been stood up yet again? At 4:35, however, an SDG&E crew showed up, including two guys to manage traffic on our busy corner. More heroes. I am so incredibly grateful to them.
So now you’re thinking we’re really finally done. Um, nope!
As I was standing out there with the SDG&E crew, one them offered that they weren’t sure which bulb the city put in, and they needed to know for the wiring.
I said, “Well, if it’s the wrong one, I assume you have extra bulbs because you’re the utility company.”
He said no, the city is very proprietary about its bulbs and doesn’t share them with SDG&E.
But if the light didn’t come on after they had rewired, they could — you guessed it — put in a request with the city on Get It Done to come out and change it.
Did you ever feel like your head was going to explode?
It took over three hours to disconnect the old aluminum wiring and connect the copper stuff.
Then at 8 p.m., they plugged it all in, everybody held their breath and … there was light! Yes, my streetlight was back in action! Neighbors, dog walkers and even we were able to navigate the sidewalk safely again.
But stay tuned next week for Part 4. It’s not quite over yet.
Inga’s lighthearted looks at life appear regularly in the La Jolla Light. Reach her at [email protected]. ◆
