Bass orders 60,000 streetlights to get solar upgrade in 2-year plan

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced Wednesday that the city will replace about 60,000 streetlights as part of a new initiative to address the persistent problem of streetlight outages in neighborhoods throughout the city.

Bass signed an executive order launching her Street Light Initiative during a press conference in Pacoima as she redoubled efforts to address public concerns about light outages and the public safety threat they pose.

Bass orders 60,000 streetlights to get solar upgrade in a two-year plan announced Wednesday.

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Christopher Damien

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The LA Local

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It’s unclear exactly where the lights will be installed or how much the project will cost, but Bass said she will prioritize locations where the solar lights can operate most efficiently and where crime reports show the greatest public safety need. She added that hundreds of lights already have been ordered, with installations set to begin in May.

“The street light backlog that piled up before I took office is unacceptable — we’re addressing it and making it safer for people to walk their dogs, come home from work and park their cars at night,” Bass said in a prepared statement. “Instead of continuing to patch together antiquated street light technology, we’re using solar to make our lights more reliable, resistant to theft and cleaner to operate.”

The mayor was joined at the Richie Valens Recreation Center by Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, who represents District 7, and outgoing chief executive officer of LA Department of Water and Power Janisse Quiñones.

Bass and Quiñones said the new initiative will be a joint effort by the Bureau of Street Lighting and the LADWP, an agreement that will allocate hundreds of millions of dollars to keeping the lights on in the city. While the details of the collaboration and its budget are not yet clear, Bass directed the two public agencies to draft a plan to move forward urgently.

The order requires the Lights Bureau to work with LADWP to complete a preliminary 30-day assessment of the 60,000 lights that could be replaced with solar fixtures.

“The plan should prioritize street lights that are in neighborhoods that have had the longest outages and where there are safety concerns,” the order reads.

The solar lights help the city in its attempt to transition to clean energy and have been reported to be less prone to theft and vandalism.

Calls reporting streetlight outages have surged in the last few years to a high of about 45,000 in 2024 and 2025. The lights bureau has a backlog of about 32,000 repair requests and it estimates a broken lamp will take about a year to repair.

The streetlight outages initially plagued the city’s core, leaving the Sixth Street Bridge darkened soon after it was opened to the public in 2022. The outages have since migrated to various neighborhoods, with higher-income areas seeing significant spikes in reported outages last year. Hollywood Hills experienced a 270% increase in calls in 2025; Atwater Village, a 204% increase; and Silver Lake, 189%.

The outages are caused by both long-overdue maintenance and theft of the lamps’ valuable copper wire for resale. The Los Angeles Police Department had deployed a specialized unit to fight wire theft in 2024, but while the team made progress it was disbanded the next year. Bass specifically said that transitioning to solar is a much better use of the city’s money than repeatedly replacing copper wire that is stolen again in weeks.

“They would make some arrests, but it didn’t solve the problem,” Bass said of LAPD’s task force, adding later that the enforcement amounted to playing “whack-a-mole” with thieves.

Councilmember Rodriguez added that she appreciated LAPD’s efforts, mentioning that an arrest recently happened in the Foothill Division where a person was found with $50,000 worth of wire. But she said that police alone can’t solve the problem.

Many of the city’s streetlight problems stem from the limited budget of the department responsible for repairing and replacing the city’s approximately 220,000 lights. The Bureau of Street Lighting plans to ask voters in the coming election to increase its budget. That initiative was approved by the Los Angeles City Council earlier on Wednesday. 

Bass’ executive order doesn’t appear to impact that voter initiative.

In the meantime, various City Council members have spent millions out of their budgets to pay for additional workers to repair or replace lights that are persistently out in their neighborhoods.

Bass appeared in Koreatown last week to speak with business owners there about how streetlight outages affect them. Koreatown saw a 16% increase in reports of streetlight outages last year. Assemblymember Mark González, of District 54, joined Bass in Koreatown as she announced her support for AB 1941, his bill attempting to strengthen law enforcement efforts against wire theft. 

Meanwhile, the new executive order emphasized the severity of the lighting crisis and underscored that urgency is needed to address it. 

“We want everybody to know that help is on the way and help is on the way quick,” Bass said. “We’re not gonna study this. We’re not gonna do, you know, explorations as to what is needed. We know what is needed. The lights have been ordered.”