Volunteers Identify 65 Faulty or Missing UWS Streetlights

Volunteers working on behalf of City Councilmember Gale Brewer have identified 65 nonfunctional streetlights on the Upper West Side, in a unique survey.

The survey was conducted between Jan. 29 and Feb. 14. The results were sent to the NYC Department of Transportation, which is responsible for maintaining the city’s streetlight stock. Some of the faulty streetlights included in the survey have already reportedly been repaired, according to the blog ILoveTheUpperWestSide, which also wrote about the survey.

According to an interactive online map created by Brewer’s office, the offending lamps are scattered from West 54th Street to West 95th Street, revealing that significant issues with local infrastructure span a nearly 40-block swath. Most of the lights in question are either faulty and flickering or otherwise damaged. Some are outright “missing,” apparently meaning that a streetlight that is supposed to be there—according to city records—isn’t.

For example, a “missing” streetlight was listed at the intersection of Eighth Avenue and 55th Street, while another one was (not) found near 120 W. 87th St. The surveyor that described the latter simply wrote: “There’s a stump where a light or utility pole should be. This side of the street is very dark.”

Other streetlights had slightly less severe, but no less awkward, problems. One dual-pronged one located at 262 Central Park West was only half-functional, the surveyor wrote; the light over the street was dead, but the sidewalk-facing light was “OK.” There were also multiple streetlights that were broken near the West Side Highway (which a volunteer surveyor referred to by its “Joe DiMaggio Highway” nickname), which could ostensibly seriously endanger pedestrians if left unaddressed.

The survey comes on the heels of Brewer’s constituents identifying additional faulty lights on Columbus Avenue between West 64th Street and West 96th Street last year. Brewer sent a letter to the DOT about those streetlights on Dec. 3., 2024, which she said led to their repair.

Locals can already report broken streetlights via the city’s 311 number, which alerts the DOT. According to the agency’s website, contractors then “have four (4) hours to respond to street light emergency conditions, such as a fallen pole or an electrical issue.” Milder issues must be fixed within 10 days.

Yet Brewer latest survey clearly maps out how streetlight deterioration has outpaced this status-quo monitoring system. In a follow-up letter addressed to DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez on Feb. 20, Brewer noted that she trusted his agency to make even more “necessary repairs.” However, she also added some suggestions.

”According to publicly available data, there were 606 requests logged for street light repairs within the boundaries of Community Board 7 in 2024,” Brewer wrote. “My understanding is 311 and DOT do not take a request when there is an existing ticket open for the same location. That means the 606 requests in 2024 represent unique, non-overlapping instances of nonfunctional street lights.”

Brewer concluded the letter by writing that the DOT could possibly “reevaluate how data on street light conditions is kept and shared. I was surprised to learn from your office that there is no publicly available street light map or inventory.” Indeed, the map that her office has created serves that exact purpose.