Minneapolis streets may seem a bit brighter.
Mayor Jacob Frey says crews have been working to replace 26 miles worth of copper wire stolen from lights.
"We're proud to report that that backlog of over 700 lights out is gone. They are now lit," says Frey. "By the way, we are also changing these street lights over from copper wire to aluminum."
The aluminum is in an effort to keep thieves away from the more valuable copper. There are over 22,000 street lights in the city. And last May, the city reported that copper wire theft from hundreds of lamp posts has resulted in a backlog of 450 lights being out.
That number only went up from there, and Frey says the city received numerous reports about lights out across Minneapolis.
"And it was causing a lack of safety," Frey adds. "You couldn't see where you were going."
$500,000 from the city budget was cut last year for light replacement, but that was 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 currently ranges from around $4 to $5 a pound, but prices have been volatile, sometimes going over $6 a pound. It doesn't take much copper to add up to hundreds, even thousands of dollars.
"We see very little theft of the aluminum wires," Public Works Deputy Director Brian Dodds said last year when the city started tackling the issue. "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, aluminum has been a very effective deterrent.
Frey says reports about darkened street lights can still be reported to 311.
