LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — People living in a Summerlin neighborhood near Desert Inn Road and Hualapai Road were left in the dark without working street lights for months with few answers as to why.
Channel 13 has reported on this issues in the past and its impact on the community all over the valley.
As of Thursday night, lights were back on throughout many of the affected residential streets, but neighbors are still concerned about their safety due to several lights still being out on major thoroughfares like Desert Inn west of Hualapai, Town Center north of Desert Inn and Navajo Willow Lane north of Desert Inn.
"It's pitch black, and it's prime for crime," said Patty Wiggins.
Wiggins moved into the neighborhood in May and quickly realized the street lights didn't work.
There are elderly people that can't be walking around at night, there are children in this neighborhood that should never be playing out here in the dark.
"There are people who are living alone–even if you're not living alone, it's not a safe place to be," Wiggins said.
Other neighbors have felt the impact more directly.
"A week or two ago, somebody tried to break into our house," said Kelly Connolly.
When asked if she thought it was related to the street lights not working, Connolly said yes because 'there were no lights, making it easy for them to just jump over.'
Wiggins raised her concerns with her Homeowners Association, who forwarded her to the county. They directed her to fill out an online "Fix-It Clark County" report, but she didn't hear back for weeks.
On Thursday morning, Wiggins posted a complaint on a Summerlin neighborhood Facebook group and called County Commissioner Justin Jones' office.
"They said they are very aware of the problem, but that the process is extremely slow," Wiggins said.
Channel 13 saw her post, gave Wiggins a call and started working to get some answers. When I showed up to interview her on Thursday night, the lights were back on.
"I was shocked!" Wiggins said. "I walked out into my driveway as you were driving up and pointed at them. I couldn't believe it, like, 'oh my gosh, the lights are on!'"
A county spokesperson said the outage in this neighborhood was due to an all too familiar cause— copper wire theft.
They didn't explain specifically why it wasn't fixed sooner, however cited the high number of requests and the prevalence of the issue across the valley.
County estimates show nearly one million feet of copper wiring has been stolen since 2022 and that crews have replaced more than $1.5 million of it during that time.
The county spokesperson said there are currently about 200 locations awaiting repairs due to wire theft, adding that's actually down from 300 this spring.
Even as they make those repairs, more wiring is frequently stolen elsewhere which contributes to the high number of repair requests.
In July, County Commission Chair Tick Segerblom told Channel 13 Chief Investigator Darcy Spears public works crews have changed how they fix broken lights, by switching from copper to aluminum wires in some instances, welding shut access points and putting wiring on top of the lights, which is harder for thieves to reach.
"We're replacing it with aluminum wire, putting the wire at the top of the poles, which is unsightly but they can't get it," Segerblom told Spears.
"The assistant to the county commissioner told me that they were considering solar lights, so the copper wire couldn't be stolen, which, that's a good idea," Wiggins said Thursday evening.
In fact, the county installed 12 of those lights in August near St. Louis and Fremont Street in east Las Vegas. The county spokesperson said it's part of a pilot program— though they didn't specify how soon we'll know results of the testing phase or if residents can expect to see them elsewhere around the valley anytime soon.
In the meantime, Wiggins is relieved to have some light in her neighborhood.
"I'm grateful," she said. "I don't know if it had anything to do with my Facebook post, or my calling the county commissioner, or your involvement. I have no idea, but I'm grateful."
The county said if street lights in your area aren't working, the best way to get results is still to report it though the Fix-It Clark County portal here, because if it's not reported, crews likely won't know about it.
