The theft of copper wire from street lights continues to be an ongoing problem, but the City of Minneapolis is doubling down to help combat it.
There are over 22,000 street lights in the city. Copper wire theft from hundreds of lamp posts has resulted in a backlog of 450 lights being out.
"That's about 2% of the total, and that's 2% too many," says Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.
$500,000 was cut last year for light replacement, but that has been added back in - and doubled.
The scrap value of copper wire varies depending on its grade and condition, but it can quickly add up to a lot of money. It generally ranges from around $1.25 to well over $2.00, even $3.00 per pound. It can add up to hundreds, even thousands of dollars quickly.
So far, over four miles of lights have been repaired with another 17 miles expected to be completed by November. They are also replacing copper with aluminum, says Public Works Deputy Director Brian Dodds.
"We see very little theft of the aluminum wires," says Dodds. "Sometimes they'll open up the bases. They might even cut them, but then they realize this is aluminum, this is very little scrap value, and they move on."
Dodds says so far, it's been a very effective deterrent.
As for why these lights are important? Frey says it is simply an issue of safety.
"You need lights in a city to make sure that people are safe and feel safe, both the reality and the perception of safety," says the mayor. "And this is something that is among the most core city services that we are charged with completing and we need to get the job done."
Next in line for repairs are the lights in the Bancroft neighborhood in the southeast section of the city.