(With apologies to the ghost of George Carlin for the headline)
Some Hoosier cities are citing budget difficulties for pulling the plug on streetlights:
Budget cuts and property tax caps are leaving many residents across Indiana in the dark.
Merrillville has turned off every other streetlight on its main roads. Valparaiso is turning off every other light in some areas and has set others to turn off at midnight. Muncie officials say the city will shut off 85 percent of overhead lights to help balance the 2010 budget.
The moves are a response to rising costs and shrinking revenue that's the result of the ailing economy and property tax caps.
Call me cynical, but this seems like more of a political ploy than a thoughtful response to budget problems. Cutting out streetlights will cause far greater problems than justified by the small amount of money saved -- welcome to our city, thieves who like darkness! This is a good way to get the attention of ordinary citizens and, through them, send a message to legislators: Stop messing with our money.
But as the Muncie Star Press notes in an editorial, it also sends another message to another group:
Comments
Leo:
You'd never know there was a problem with the cost of street lighting...around MY part of town.
LONG after the sun has risen (how messianic of that glowing orb), those lights on the streets are STILL very well lit.
(doesn't affect crime down here one damn bit, either)
Someone in some city department needs to check the old "timer" these lights are on, 'ya think?
I'm just sayin...if they REALLY want to SAVE some money.