City Power’s flurry of activity in these suburbs was due, in a large part, to the work of ward councillor Tim Truluck, who made a point of logging as many street light issues as he could manage.
Truluck began his ‘street light spotting’ in April. He drove around Parktown North at night and took note of street lights that weren’t working properly. He counted 80 issues on that first trip.
In May, Truluck was joined by Saxonwold and Parkwood Residents Association member Mubinah Essat. The two travelled through lower Parkwood and parts of Saxonwold, where 160 issues were noted.
The councillor was joined by urban inspector Moipone Lekala in July, when he performed the same exercise in Parkhurst, and found 87 issues.
“Spotting is something City Power should do, but things like bad visibility during the day and traffic can make it difficult. We looked for things like flickering bulbs, lights left burning during the day, lights that don’t work at night, lights obscured by trees, and damaged poles,” said Truluck.
Lekala logged the issues with City Power, and the entity responded by sending a team to repair a number of the problems.
“I noticed a lot of the Parkwood issues were sorted out, and about two-thirds of the Parktown North issues were repaired. The team then moved on to Parkhurst,” he said.
Truluck added that the exercise did not only result in repaired street lights.
“We’re getting snapshots of different suburbs. We can see what the main problems are, and whether they’re recurring issues. This enabled us to keep a record of issues and we’re able to follow-up on them,” he said.
“It has been a fun experience, as I’ve got to know both a resident and our urban inspector better. It’s not hard work, takes two or three hours, and we’ve already seen results.”
A list of questions was sent to City Power spokesperson, Sol Masolo for comment.
