Cape & Islands News

It's lights out in some Cape Cod towns

Cape towns turn to a street light shutdown to ease budget woes

   This stretch of Route 28 in Harwich between Chatham and Orleans has a halogen light every hundred or so feet. Neighbors report that there is no pedestrian traffic at all here and half the homes are occupied only during the summer. Walter Brooks photo.

By Gerald Rogovin

Plummeting tax revenues in Massachusetts have made budget reductions imperative for Cape Cod towns. Several have turned to  shutting off street lights as a quick response. Altogether, about 70 Bay State towns have begun investigating the approach, according to Wayne Bergeron, a Dennis selectman.

Street lighting goes back to 1879 in the United States. At first, it was done by lamp-lighters,
who toured a town at dusk each day, lighting gas lamps.

Incandescent lighting succeeded gas in the early 1900s. It was followed by high-intensity
discharge lights, which are common today. High-pressure sodium lamps have also become
popular. Yarmouth installed some about 20 years ago, according to Town Administrator Bob Lawton, who said they were the first on the Cape. But some engineers consider them less appropriate for night lighting.

Where do you stand on shutting off street lights to save money? Vote in our poll now.

Budgeting and night lights

Whatever the design, street lights have emerged as a budget consideration for Fiscal Year 2011, and, in Yarmouth and Dennis, a controversial topic.

A survey of seven Cape Cod towns -- Yarmouth, Dennis, Barnstable, Sandwich, Falmouth, Chatham and Provincetown -- suggests that town officials in all are staying abreast of the implications of shutting off street lights in the effort to reduce budgets.

400 on the block in Yarmouth

Yarmouth residents had until last Monday (10/26) to appeal proposed street lights that were to be shut off by next Monday (11/2). About 400 of the 2,447 in the town were to be turned off. Part of the reason was budgetary, Lawton said. But since 1989, town policy has called for reviews of street light placement, by order of the Board of Selectmen.

They have been limited to street intersections, curves in roads and on those roads the police department considers them essential for public safety.

Lawton said that the policy was revised in 2003, when a guide was issued to citizens that noted which lights were considered essential. He said that volunteers continuously examine the lights for compliance with the guide. The 400 to be shut off were determined last spring and again two months ago.

If all 400 are shut off, Lawton estimated that the town will save $30,000 a year in energy costs.

"We're not looking at Route 28, Station Avenue or other well-traveled roads. But we can't afford to light up the whole town," he observed.

Extinguish a light, save a job?

Dennis proposed turning off 697 of its 2,300 street lights, about 30 percent. The objective was to save money. Bergeron estimated that $23,000 could be saved in the second half of the current fiscal year, $53,000 in all of next year. "The difference could be in avoiding laying off an important town employee," he pointed out.

When residents objected at an October 20 selectmen's meeting, complaining that shut-offs threat night-time drivers and pedestrians, and risked crime, an "adopt-a-light" program was discussed. It could involve a one-time fee and a monthly lease, altogether costing about $450 a year.

The town owns the lights and NStar owns the poles. They would have developed a program together.  But NStar backed down in negotiations. Next month, the selectmen will consider a plan to be worked out by the Town Administrator.

An online survey conducted by CapeCodToday.com over the past three days - 10/28-30 - showed that 50 percent of readers participating in the poll approved shutting off street lights to save money. Opposed were 42 percent. Eight percent were undecided.

Barnstable to wait and see

Street lights in Barnstable's seven villages are the responsibility of the town's five fire districts. Hyannis  district commission's chairman Richard Gallagher said, "We're not contemplating any action right now. But we are keeping an eye on what is happening in Yarmouth and Dennis. When budget deliberations  come up in January, we may consider the matter. But not yet."

Barnstable's Finance Director Mark Milne told town officials last week that $1.2 million in budget reductions plus another $1.8 million for the schools must be identified in the next fiscal year.

Towns like Provincetown which have after dark activities need ample street lighting. File photo.

Falmouth to assess; Chatham, Sandwich Ptown have no plans

Falmouth has begun an analysis of its 2,500 street lights to determine the pattern of their distribution.  Some may have to be eliminated, according to Heather Harper, Assistant Town Manager. She said that the process will be townwide, and will include public meetings. She anticipated that it will start after the town concludes budget discussions later this calendar year.

Harper estimated that it costs  the town about $200,000 annually for energy. "Street lights are a statewide subject these days. Some of ours have been in place for more than 30
years. What was the criteria for their placement? The analysis will give us the opportunity to determine what is the optimum distribution pattern," she said.

Chatham has no plans for shutting off street lights this year, according to Dan Tobin, Director of Parks and Recreation and formerly Director of Public Works. "We surveyed our situation a number of years ago," he recalled.

Elsewhere, the matter hasn't come up. A spokesman for Sandwich's Town Clerk's office said he hadn't "heard a word about the subject." Provincetown's Town Clerk reported, "We're not aware of any discussion about shutting off street lights. At least, not yet."

Gerald Rogovin began as a journalist in 1948 in dailies, weeklies, radio and magazines; and in the past 9 years back to weeklies and magazines. In between, for 36 years, he headed his own public relations firm in Boston. He lives in Yarmouth Port with a skepticism confirmed by 60 years in the inky trade, and he also blogs for us on Rog's Gallery.