How long should it take for Cleveland Public Power to replace a residential streetlight?

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Avvie Johnson does not believe that it is an outrageous request, one she has been making, she said, since October when someone drove down her stretch of Martin Luther King JR. Blvd., and ran into and snapped in half the Cleveland Public Power light pole that sat in front of her house.

She said she relied on that light pole to add a bit of security to her home, security, she said, as an elderly female who is handicapped gave her a sense of well-being.

Johnson is at a loss for how it could take this long to get a fix for the light pole, let alone a reply from C.P.P., which she has also never received.

“This is ridiculous. You all should come and take care of your property,” she said shaking her head.

Johnson told 19 News that she had been calling a C.P.P. customer service line since the pole went down but when we contacted C.P.P. were were given a specific Street Light Outage Hotline and we gave that number to Johnson who called it 2 weeks ago.

She wasn’t impressed.

“They are supposed to give you a reference number but they said it so doggone fast you can’t write it down,” she said.

We first reached out to Cleveland Public Power on August 2nd and brought multiple issues to their attention including some significant, dangerous issues, we found up and down Chester Avenue involving light poles that had rusted right off their bases and a couple that were tied off, one to a sign, another to tree, to keep them from falling.

We also informed them of Avvie Johnson’s problem and gave them her address in hopes they could get out there and replace the pole.

In response, Cleveland Public Power released this statement to 19 News:

We would like to thank you for bringing these issues to our attention. We have investigated the steel poles along Chester Avenue and added the repairs and installations to our crew schedules. In areas where we found unsafe conditions we have marked them to keep the public safe, and these are a priority for repair.

We encourage residents to call our 24-hour automated Street Light Outage hotline 216-621-LITE (5483) to report these matters. This automated system provides a tracking number allowing residents to track progress of repairs.

Cleveland Public Power has successfully converted 94% of the City’s street lights from high pressure sodium to LEDs.

Since the release of that statement, on August 3rd, Cleveland Public Power has resolved the safety issues along Chester Avenue but has not been out to Avvie Johnson’s home to replace the pole.

“I have to come home to my house before it gets dark because I have to go up these steps,” she said.

We have reached out to Cleveland Public Power, once again, to try to get an idea when they may be out to fix the light pole in front of Johnson’s home. We have also asked what they consider a reasonable amount of time, once they get a request for a repair, to get that repair complete.

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