Street Lights

Re "Debate Over Vintage Street Lights Heats Up," June 17. I'm writing regarding changing some of the old-fashioned light globes. I have lived for over 50 years on a street that has them. They do what they have to do, and that is light up the street for us. Besides, they add a little charm, which is more than a carwash and a used-car lot do. It would be unfortunate to change the lights. We are all happy with them, so why spend our tax money to change them? SALLY HAYWARD Sherman Oaks

Who invented rocky road ice cream? What's up in Little Ethiopia? What's left to dig up at the La Brea tar pit? And what happens if I spin in the middle of all those street lights in front of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art? Every time we do another installment in our yearlong Southern California Close-Ups series , I go out and corner more Angelenos with a video camera. Like children, parents and candidates for public office, they say the darndest things. This time, as I prowled FairfaxAvenue and Wilshire Boulevard, they supplied answers to all of the questions above, and many more.

A project to synchronize traffic lights on Valley View Street between the Garden Grove Freeway and Artesia Boulevard will begin in mid-July, according to city engineers. The $450,000 project will enable computers to monitor traffic along the busy corridor and minimize unnecessary stop-and-go driving, engineers say. The two-month project, which also involves the cities of Buena Park, Garden Grove and La Palma, will be paid for by Measure M funds and the Orange County Transportation Authority.

The 202 street lights that form Chris Burden's "Urban Light" sculpture were once scattered around Los Angeles . Burden collected these antique lamps and restored them, and now they stand in front of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art . Still in working condition, the lamps glow from dusk until 10 p.m. Times reader Mark Englert captured this view of Burden's sculpture. View past photos we've featured . To upload your own, visit our reader travel photo gallery . When you upload your photo, tell us where it was taken and when.

Property owners along Sherman Way in Canoga Park overwhelmingly approved a new street lighting assessment district to add pedestrian-friendly street lights to heighten security in the area. City officials said of the 61 property owners on Sherman Way between Jordan and Canoga avenues, 35 turned in ballots by the March 11 deadline. Of those, 32 favored and two opposed the new lighting district, according to Stan Horwitz, division manager of the city's Bureau of Street Lighting.

Annual assessments to pay for street lights and landscaping maintenance were recently approved by the Placentia City Council. The assessment for the street light district is $28.29 a year for single-family homeowners; commercial and industrial property owners will pay $169.73 an acre. The assessment pays for the electric bill and maintenance of 740 street lights citywide. An estimated $88,932 will be recouped through assessments.

A section of the Balboa Peninsula's Ocean Front sidewalk will soon see the brighter side--a city project will upgrade street lights on a seven-block stretch near Balboa Pier. The lighting systems from Sixth Street to Palm Street and the Balboa Pier parking lot will be replaced within two to three weeks, Public Works Director Don Webb said. Completion of the $290,000 project is expected by early April.

A city-sanctioned committee will investigate whether Southern California Edison Co. has billed the city twice for some street lights and charged for street lights in neighboring cities. The City Council Tuesday appointed former Councilman Ray Littrell, Jack Schild and Tom Petrosineto the committee, which will include representatives from Edison and the city as non-voting members.

Street lights might be considered public improvements in most places, but not along Mulholland Highway in Agoura. Even though it is within minutes of the Los Angeles metropolis, it gets so dark along the roadway on some moonless nights that only stars and an occasional porch light along a distant mountain ridge twinkle. Gary Haynes, who lives in the area near Mulholland Highway, likes it that way.

County officials have refused to exempt a new housing tract near Mulholland Highway from a requirement to have street lights, a county spokeswoman said Tuesday. The county Department of Public Works reviewed the need for the street lights because the National Park Service and nearby homeowners said the lights would diminish the rural character of the area, which includes the Park Service's Peter Strauss Ranch.

It's the green economy, stupid. It was hard not to think of this twist on his long-ago campaign slogan as former President Clinton toured the Los Angeles area on Monday, making the case that the quickest way out of the country's latest economic morass lies in the wonky topic of energy efficiency.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who served as national co-chairman of Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign, is scheduled to appear today at City Hall with former President Clinton to announce a five-year project with the Clinton Climate Initiative to make the city's streetlights more energy-efficient. The mayor's office said the plan to swap out all 140,000 of L.A.'s residential streetlights with more energy-efficient LED lights would be the largest program of its kind undertaken by a city.

The rampant theft of copper and other metals in Southern California has begun hitting Inland Empire freeways hard, leaving motorists in increasing danger as traffic signals and lights in underpasses and rest areas have gone dark, law enforcement and Caltrans officials said Tuesday. Thieves also have swiped guardrails and irrigation systems along roadways.

The roar of cars and trucks drowned out conversation Saturday morning as a group walked toward the 210 Freeway ramp on North Lake Avenue in Pasadena. The sidewalk narrowed and the street widened. Along the way, tree roots had heaved the sidewalk upward. It was hardly a welcoming route to the Gold Line light rail station, built in the median of the 210, said Marsha Rood, a Pasadena resident.

Truckee town officials are exploring ways to reduce lighting in order to better see stars shining brightly. They're considering night-sky lighting standards as part of an ongoing update of the town's development code. "I think the bumper sticker, 'The stars shine brighter in Truckee' is funny. It should say, 'The stars used to shine brighter,' " said Eric Larusson, a night-sky standards advocate and former planning commissioner. "It's an aesthetic thing -- quality of life."

Thieves have disabled about 700 streetlights in Los Angeles, making off with 370,000 feet of valuable copper wiring over the last four months. L.A. officials said it is a twist on copper thefts that have plagued new home sites and even some office buildings in the last few years. With some lights pilfered during the summer still out, city officials Tuesday expressed concerns about the safety of passing drivers, pedestrians and bikers.

Operation Bright Lights, a program to keep city street lights working, is under way again. Sponsored by the Bureau of Street Lighting of the city's Department of Public Works, the program allows residents to report broken street lights. Implemented in 1988, the program is designed to ensure that the city's 228,000 street lights are fully operational.

In the Westwood section of Rancho Bernardo, ground zero for the Witch wildfire that burned more than 1,700 homes here last month, neighbors are adjusting to what they call the "new normal." Fire trucks have given way to street sweepers, utility vans and contractors. Signs thanking firefighters are being replaced with ads for power washing and something called a Smokeater, an industrial-strength air purifier. Neighbors are walking dogs, pruning roses, feeding finches and skateboarding.

The Sydney Opera House's gleaming white-shelled roof was darkened Saturday night along with much of Australia's largest city, which switched off the lights to register concern about global warming. The arch of Sydney's other iconic structure, the harbor bridge, also was blacked out, along with dozens of skyscrapers and countless homes in an hourlong gesture that organizers said they hoped would be adopted as an annual event by cities around the world.