CLEVELAND — "Why are all the lights out again in downtown?"
It's a question you've been asking for the last several months about a busy stretch of road in the heart of Cleveland.
Several street lights are broken and not working along Superior Avenue.
News 5 viewers contacted us, saying there are immediate safety concerns and that they have become frustrated with the repair process.
"It's dark out all the time," Cleveland resident Sophia Werner said.
It's no secret that it traditionally gets darker earlier in the bone-chilling winter months here in Cleveland.
But Werner says what's going on downtown with the lights —or lack thereof — is a bit outrageous.
"I definitely notice it. I think on my way to work. I expect it to be dark, but on my way home usually I'm like, it's still dark," Werner said.
She told News 5 that so many lights are out along Superior Avenue, she's changed up her routine to get to and from work - and she says she's not alone.
"My coworkers walking home—they're like it's so dark, do you want me to come with you? I'm like, I'm used to it, but if that's how you feel—I'll walk with you," Werner said.
As News 5 Followed Through, we buddied up and checked out the stretch of Superior Avenue and quite literally counted the number of broken street lights with Werner.
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"Look at those people, we can't even see them coming towards us," Werner said.
Dozens of street lights are out for several blocks—specifically right in front of the library, arcade and the Cathedral of St John the Evangelist.
The outages are occurring along Superior Avenue from 12th Street to Public Square.
Robert Carillio, a Cleveland Public Safety Advocate, has alerted News 5 about the persistent outages for years.
"We're back again. Yeah, history repeats itself. Honestly," Carillio said.
We tagged him in to see what he spotted.
"We got vast outages everywhere," Carillio said.
In addition to the Superior Avenue outages, he says 75% of the lights on the Main Avenue Bridge are out.
His bigger concern, though, is driver and walker safety and folks potentially becoming targets of crime in such prominent areas.
"Everybody living down here—surely it can't only be a few people noticing this because it's everywhere. It's not where is it, it's where isn't it," Carillio said.
He claims he's alerted Cleveland Public Power and gotten nowhere.
We even looked at the outage map on Cleveland Public Power's website to see if any outages were popping up.
It reads none are happening in the immediate area.
"No widespread outages message? I say that's a joke," Carillio said.
News 5 contacted Cleveland Public Power by email and phone for answers.
First, I reported the street light outages to their automated customer care line, including the addresses and exact locations.
I then followed up to ask what's going on — specifically, what the issue is and why it's happening.
I then requested an interview and a statement.
A Cleveland Public Power spokesperson told News in a statement:
"Our crews investigated a complaint of streetlights out on January 5th and made repairs. We will be onsite again soon to further investigate and determine what additional action is required. As we continue to work through this issue, we ask drivers to use extra caution in this area as black ice could form later in the evening. "
While downtown residents and employees await a fix, Werner hopes it happens soon for everyone's sake.
"I think it would be nice for everybody to have a little bit more light," Werner said.
News 5 will continue to Follow-Through on the status of light outages and repairs.
