Posted on 05/08/2011 5:17:07 PM PDT by CharlyFord
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — There is now a shocking new strategy to fight copper crime. Street lights are now staying on 24-hours a day in one Sacramento neighborhood and the city is banking on live wires to keep criminals away.
The city now figures keeping them turned on will save money, by warding off copper thieves; keeping the lights on mean live wires, and the unlucky thief who doesn’t know better could be electrocuted.
It’s quite a warning, from a city that’s been hit hard by the copper crime.
Around where I live in North Florida, they are stealing A/C outside units and selling the copper. New construction was being hit hard before 2009.
One of many of The signs we are headed for third world status.
Smoke’em if you got ‘em...
This will end up being a net loss for the city when a scrapper fries and the heirs collect a large settlement.
More than one instance in the Atlanta area of people trying to buy foreclosed homes and upon inspection finding wallboard and floorboard ripped out and all copper wiring and copper plumbing gone.
Typical. The politicians in Sacramento impose endless “green” regulations on the people of their state. And then the city politicians decide to leave the street lights on all day, sucking up dirty power.
What say you, California Gaia worshippers? Should this be allowed?
ummmmmmmmmm.............
I hate to be a buzz-kill here, but streetlights always have power available to them, and utilize a light sensing switch to turn them on or off.
If you cut into the right wire on a streetlight whose bulb is “off”, (meaning it is not illuminated at the moment...) you stand a very good chance of getting fried.
Just sayin’...
So its come to this?
Is this a product of the dying economy, or something else?
I have never seen a streetlight that was not operated by a photocell and if it is operated by a photocell the power is on to the photocell 24/7 and the photocell acts as the switch to turn on the ballast and bulb. all three of these parts are usually integral parts of the light fixture. so the power is on at all times to the fixture. did they remove the photocell and jump the socket it occupies to keep the light on? that would be dumb as hell.
When they start selling city dump "picking" licenses.
Perhaps aluminum will come back as wiring in fire resistant structures.
A lot of these idiots have died trying to steal from power stations and such.
Here in LA we’ve got guys who drive around in their old, beat-up Toyota pick-up trucks grabbing all of the recycleable cans and bottles before the trash guys come.
I’m sure that cities are losing a bundle of revenue to these scavengers...
Makes me think of the instances when hundreds are killed in Africa when someone decides to tap into a gas pipeline.
It’s Sacramento in Mexifornia!! Who knows how they do things? Before this, they may have had a midget climb each light pole and turn the light bulb on??
What you say may be true for suburban and rural areas, bit what I have noticed in the urban areas is that there is a light sensor on one “main” pole that controls a few blocks or so of the lights “down stream”. Where I work I have seen them go on and off simultaneously for several blocks at a time. I guess it saves money on buying light sensors.
“It’s Sacramento in Mexifornia!! Who knows how they do things? Before this, they may have had a midget climb each light pole and turn the light bulb on??”
Yeah, i went to jr and sr high school in Mendocino county in the late 50s early 60s and loved the place but that state has sh** in it’s nest bigtime in the last 40 years.
Certainly true, but just because the light bulb is not illuminated at the moment does not mean that the power is off. Cut into the right wire, and complete a circuit...
We have them here in my small town too. Just this past Wed. I sat my g/son/s beat up old bike to the curb by the garbage cans and it was gone within an hour. The week before it was an old vacuum cleaner.
I don’t begrudge the pickers though, if they can make an honest buck or two off discards, more power to them.
I read about a city though, Bombay? Calcutta? where they actually sell licenses for a small fee to the people who swarm their dumps.
Geez if I put my wife out by the curb will they take her....?
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