St. Paul grapples with massive street light theft crisis
The St. Paul City Council heard a sobering update on July 23 about copper wire theft crippling the city's street lighting system, with over 3,500 lights currently out of service and repairs taking an estimated 20 years to complete under current conditions.
Public Works officials told the council that the problem has become a frustrating cycle: as soon as crews repair a light, thieves steal the copper wire again. Currently, more than 10% of St. Paul's street lights are non-functional due to theft and other damage. The last time the city believed all lights were working was in 2022.
The scale of the challenge alarmed council members. Council President Akre rejected a proposed street lighting improvement district—which would charge residents a special fee—calling it "a way of asking our residents to pay more for their wire to be stolen." She demanded innovative solutions rather than funding mechanisms that don't address the root problem. Chair Johnson echoed this sentiment, asking Public Works to develop a comprehensive strategy and reflect it in their upcoming budget request.
Law enforcement highlighted a critical gap in enforcement tools. While catalytic converter theft is tracked in an electronic database that allows police to identify repeat offenders, copper wire theft records are kept in paper journals "under the desk," making it impossible to track patterns. New legislation effective January 1, 2025, aimed to improve enforcement, but police noted it still lacks the searchable database system that makes catalytic converter enforcement effective. The council discussed potential legislative changes and multi-agency approaches involving public works, police, legal staff, and community engagement.
In a separate discussion, the council heard about the city's mill and overlay program, a cost-effective street rehabilitation technique that extends pavement life in 2-3 days at a fraction of reconstruction costs. Public Works noted the program is hampered by aging equipment and limited staff, but remains one of the few affordable options given budget constraints. Chair Johnson requested detailed financial breakdowns showing actual spending, needs, and resource allocations to inform budget decisions.
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Notable Quotes (10)
One of the key things we wanted to talk about is what a frustrating thing it is. Like we do a lot of work. We work very hard. We're doing repairs constantly. And sometimes as soon as we repair a light, something else happens and it's down again. and the f the wire is stolen again. And this is turning into sort of this repeated cycle.
The estimate right now is over 10% of the lights in the city are out. So that equals to 3,500 street lights that are out right now. And then we look at the timing of things. The last time um when we asked asked our team that we thought everything was fully functional was in 2022. ... it's estimated it could take at least 20 years to address the current lighting situation.
I am I am not hearing the innovative strategies that the director mentioned. I'm hearing a lot of things that have been tried, haven't worked, the frustration of staff, the frustration of the public. ... a street light improvement district, for example, is not something that is a solution to this problem. It is a way of asking our residents to pay more for their wire to be stolen. So, that is a non-starter for me until we have a way of actually addressing this problem.
Well the catalytic converters is is they they are recorded in an electronic database called leads online and that that is a different database than than what is included in the copper wire theft. The copper wire theft uh requires the the seller to have a license... but it's not in a searchable database. ... to say that we're recording this data on a on a clothbound journal that's kept under the desk um it's not efficient for any law enforcement agency to be able to go out there and say this person has been here 15 times in the last two weeks.
What does it look like to have an innovative strategy to address the issues that we are seeing because you know doing nothing obviously is going to lead to further degregation of this and also just like a bigger problem in the long run and a more expensive problem for the city... if more investment doesn't necessarily mean that the problem is solved because we're trying to come up with a more comp uh comprehensive strategy then I hope to see that reflected in the budget ass for the department as you guys are going into budget season.
Simply put, mill and overlay is a way of adding life to old pavement. When a street surface deteriorates, it can be rehabilitated through mill and overlay. It begins with the milling or removal of the top layer of asphalt. ... The new pavement can then be opened to traffic within 15 minutes of completion. All said and done, the mill and overlay process is done in 2 to 3 days and the street is set to last for several more years.
It's one of those very few affordable options. We don't have as much money as as we wish we did to be able to fund this kind of improvement... It imparts structural uh uh benefits to the road. It actually increases the the you know carrying capacity and helps it live longer. ... and it's a super effective way to improve the the pavement condition versus reconstructing. We're not going to go out and reconstruct a road just for the sake of having a smoother riding surface.
Our the equipment that we use to perform this work is is uh it could be more optimal. It's not as big as it could be. we could have bigger equipment that is uh more efficient. It, you know, can cover more area at one time. It could impart more energy into the work that it's doing to have a more solid product in the end.
It would be really helpful to see the actual finances behind what is being presented... my questions remain of like the amounts of resources that are actually allocated. I appreciated the 4 million and the 1 million but like that doesn't actually translate for me of like what you know what we're spending what we need um what is the kind of dollar amount behind the work that happens
The machine you're talking about is our uh beige. So, uh, what that process allows us to do is we, uh, we have a lot of, or not a lot, we do have some waste when it comes to asphalt, like if the truck's done at the end of the day and they dump it in one of our yards. So, with this machine, we're able to take it in mostly in the winter and uh, put it in this machine and it'll heat it up and recycle it so we can use it again. How that helps us is too less waste that we have to pay to get rid of.
Ordinances & Resolutions (7)
Effective January 1, 2025, aimed at better enforcing wire theft. Discussion about its limitations compared to catalytic converter legislation.
A proposed funding mechanism, similar to the Sidewalk Improvement District, requiring legislative change.
City-level rules related to scrap metal sales.
Related to catalytic converter theft, requiring electronic database registration of sales, used as a comparison for copper wire legislation.
Public Works' plan for arterial mill and overlay projects.
Agreements with state or county for maintenance responsibilities on their facilities within the city.
Historic residential reconstruction project areas, used to determine the order for residential mill and overlay work.
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Mill and Overlay Program
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