Copper wire thieves are at it again, making many areas dark

| January 23, 2025 | 0 Comments

Thieves of the night are making neighborhoods dark, again. The Larchmont Chronicle has heard from two different areas whose neighborhoods are dark because of copper wire theft.

WIRES EXPOSED at the base of a streetlight fixture on Windsor Boulevard in Windsor Village. Photo by Linda Choi

JUNCTION BOX that houses the wires for streetlights is ravaged on Clinton Avenue.
Photo by Cathy Gellert

Larchmont Village
The streets of Irving Boulevard and Norton Avenue between Beverly Boulevard and Melrose Avenue have been “black” since before Christmas, according to Cathy Gellert, resident of Irving. The lights on Clinton Avenue from Bronson Avenue to Larchmont Boulevard also are not working.

Gellert, a block captain for her block of Irving, has reached out to and responded to neighbors concerned about sudden outages as a result of thieves ripping copper wire from the junction boxes in the ground and on streetlights. Many reports have been made to the city’s 311 number, she tells us.

Unfortunately, the dark streets have created more crime in the area. As Gellert says, “When there isn’t any light on the streets, it’s just an opportunity [to commit crimes].” She told the Chronicle that, in the last couple of weeks, one car was broken into, and a catalytic converter was stolen from another car.

Gellert reached out to her council district, CD13, and to the City of Los Angeles. As this issue was going to press, she had not heard back. “This all happened before the fires, and it’s concerning that I haven’t heard anything from the city or the council district,” she told us.

Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez of CD13 allocated $400,000 in 2024 for overtime repair work by the city’s Bureau of Street Lighting (BSL). The neighbors say they hope the BSL will find its way to this area soon and that the lights will once again shine bright.

Windsor Village
Barbara Pflaumer, president of the Windsor Village Association, told the Larchmont Chronicle that about 10 blocks of Windsor Village have had the copper wire stolen from their streetlights, making them inoperable. She also noted that lights in the area along Olympic Boulevard were out.

Pflaumer contacted Michelle Flores, field deputy for CD5 (headed by Katy Yaroslavsky), and Pflaumer was told, “It’s a citywide problem, and there are delays in fixing the lights.”

Subsequently, on Jan. 15, a Chronicle reporter saw BSL representatives repairing the lights along Olympic, then heading north into the neighboring side streets in Windsor Village. A BSL staff member working on the project said that they hoped to be finished by the end of the weekend (Jan. 19).

BUREAU of Street Lighting is making repairs and hardening access to lights along Olympic Boulevard.

At the end of 2024, CD5 Councilmember Yaroslavsky allocated $60,000 of her discretionary funds to help repair streetlights. It is unknown if there is a cause and effect relationship to these particular repairs in Windsor Village.

Windsor Square
On the day this issue of the Chronicle was going to press, we learned that the streetlights were out on Norton and Van Ness avenues, between Third Street and Beverly Boulevard — again because of wire theft.

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Category: Real Estate

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