Residents in Ukranian Village said they are concerned for their neighborhood’s safety as a result of frequent streetlight outages along a stretch of Oakley Boulevard between Chicago Avenue and Augusta Boulevard.
“For an entire street being off, it’s been really frustrating because it’s pitch black on this corridor and can be that way for a couple weeks at a time,” said resident Kimberly Shannon.
Neighbors pointed to graffiti on a nearby traffic sign and said while city crews have responded to their complaints to 311, the repairs have not seemed to last.
“We had carjackings a few blocks away from here so who knows what else can happen,” said neighbor Paul Matwyshn. “If the street is dark, you don’t see who’s coming, who’s going, you don’t know what’s going on.”
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The streetlights in question are older models and not the LED lights that have been installed across the city in recent years.
The Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) said it is committed to diagnosing the problem and fixing it for the long term. Additionally, CDOT said the new LED lights will be installed in the coming days, but it needs to make sure that the circuit is functioning properly.
