Outrage as LA begs for $1M, ignores cheap device to battle copper wire theft

Two Los Angeles council members moved to pour more than a million additional dollars into streetlight repairs Friday, chasing a problem that is already draining more than $20 million a year from taxpayers while entire neighborhoods sit in the dark.

The back-to-back motions, introduced at City Hall Friday by mayoral hopeful and councilwoman Nithya Raman and councilmember Bob Blumenfield, target copper wire theft that has gutted the city’s lighting system and triggered a growing backlog of broken poles.

Blumenfield’s motion asks to shift $787,000 in funds into the city’s street lighting budget, with $472,200 earmarked for labor, $236,000 for supplies and another $78,700 for additional materials tied to repairs and upgrades.

A significant share of that money goes to staffing and overtime.

His district in the San Fernando Valley has been hit hard, with repeated thefts forcing crews to return to the same poles again and again.

Raman’s motion follows a similar pattern. She is asking to move $380,000 into streetlight repairs in her district, with $324,000 of that total set aside for overtime costs alone. 

Copper wire theft now racks up more than $20 million annually in repair costs, according to city figures.  

At the same time, City Hall is asking residents to help foot the bill. 

Ballots have started landing in mailboxes across Los Angeles, asking roughly 600,000 property owners to approve higher fees to fund a massive streetlight overhaul. 

The proposal would boost the city’s lighting budget from about $45 million to $125 million a year to repair and replace roughly 200,000 streetlights.

The pitch from leaders, including Karen Bass, is that the system is overdue for a full rebuild. 

But the timing is colliding with frustration from residents who are being asked to pay more while watching the same lights fail repeatedly.

What makes the latest motions more contentious is that a cheaper fix is already on the table.

---

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters

A private company, End Metal Theft, has been pushing a hardened locking cover that bolts over the access point where thieves reach the copper wiring. 

The idea is simple: make the pole harder, louder and riskier to break into so thieves move on. The cost is about $300 per pole.

Mark James, a spokesman for the company, put it bluntly: “The most cost-effective theft deterrent isn’t replacing what thieves are after, it’s making it not worth their time to try.”

The company says the concept has worked elsewhere. In nearby cities, theft reportedly stopped after locking covers were installed, only to shift to unprotected areas. The pattern is straightforward: thieves target the easiest poles.

Los Angeles has seen the opposite dynamic play out on a massive scale.

The city has leaned toward replacing traditional poles with solar street lights that eliminate copper wiring altogether, but come with a price tag between $3,000 and $6,000 per unit, plus ongoing maintenance and battery replacement costs. 

Both motions must now be formally filed and scheduled for a vote at City Hall. That date has not yet been set.