LORAIN, Ohio — Hundreds of streetlights are out across Lorain, and some residents say the darkness has become a safety issue.
A city audit found as many as 500 of the city's 6,400 streetlights aren't working. Two city council members conducted their own inventory, mapping more than 100 dark lights across just the 5th and 6th Wards in Central and South Lorain.
Ward 6 neighbor Shirley Horvath said the problem is especially noticeable after sunset.
"It gets dark,” she said. “I mean, dark enough that you don't want your kids out here playing."
Horvath said plenty of streetlights are near her Norfolk Ave. home, but most aren’t working.
"If there's 20 lights, maybe three work, maybe three, four at the most," she said.
Ward 6 City Councilman Angel Arroyo said he frequently hears complaints about the outages.
"This is a serious safety concern for our city," he said.
FirstEnergy operates the majority of the city’s lights. Arroyo told News 5 he’s reported dark streetlights to the company for the last 18 months but has seen little progress.
"It's unacceptable," Arroyo said.
He pointed out ribbons that the city tied to the non-functioning light posts, including a set of faded ones posted two years ago.
"This marker was put on in 2024; this marker was put on in 2025,” he said, gesturing to the ribbons. “Right here is two years of negligence on them. So there's really no excuse for that."
Horvath says she has also reported the outages, but individual complaints haven't made a difference.
"One or two people calling and saying, 'Hey can you fix this light?' is not working," Horvath said.
News 5 reached out to FirstEnergy for comment on Monday, but did not hear back by the time of this report.
During a similar situation in Elyria in June, FirstEnergy said severe weather and complex repairs had pushed back the timeline in that city.
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The Lorain mayor says city leaders are meeting with FirstEnergy on Tuesday. Residents say they hope repairs happen soon.
"You feel safer when you can look outside and your street's lit up or you can see your car, or you know your yard is going to be ok or if someone does come in there, you can see it," Horvath said.
Catherine Ross is the Lorain County reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on X @CatherineRossTV, on Facebook CatherineRossTV or email her at Catherine.Ross@wews.com.
