Street Lighting

The Windsor Square Street Lighting Project, launched in 2006 to enhance neighborhood safety, was completed in 2014. This initiative installed 99 new ornamental concrete streetlights in the Windsor Square Lighting District, covering the area bounded by 1st Street, 3rd Street, Larchmont Boulevard, and Norton Avenue. The project addressed inadequate lighting on east-west streets like First, Second, Fourth, and Fifth, where insufficient illumination had been linked to increased crime, including drug use and prostitution in parked vehicles. LAPD data suggests that well-lit areas experience approximately 50% less crime.

Following years of resident surveys and planning by a community committee, the project was funded through Proposition 218-compliant property owner assessments totaling $885,848 for installation across 185 parcels. Annual maintenance costs for the district were set at $22,633.08 for FY 2013-14, with individual assessments proportional to property frontage and adjustable annually based on the Consumer Price Index. A mail-in ballot process in 2013, weighted by assessment amount ($1 = 1 vote), secured majority approval, enabling the installation of the streetlights.

The new streetlights, featuring a historic design, complement Windsor Square’s status as a Historic Preservation Overlay Zone (HPOZ). Since 2014, the City’s LED Conversion Program has upgraded these lights to energy-efficient LEDs, with rewiring and bulb replacement completed on streets such as Arden and Lucerne by 2021. This citywide LED initiative saves approximately $10 million annually through reduced energy costs and less-frequent bulb replacement, while preserving the lights’ historic design. The Bureau of Street Lighting is responsible for maintaining both newer and older lighting fixtures throughout Windsor Square.

The project has improved safety by enhancing nighttime lighting in large parts of Windsor Square, but challenges remain. In 2024, for example, the theft of copper wiring running between the new junction boxes led to some long-term outages, which the Bureau of Street Lighting addressed by installing new copper wiring, and pouring concrete into the in-ground junction boxes on some streets.   However, some areas still experience uneven lighting coverage, and copper wire theft poses a continuing challenge.  Residents should report single or multiple streetlight outages at https://windsorsquare.org/report-streetlight-issue (redirects to MyLA311). For other issues, the Bureau of Street Lighting can be contacted at (213) 847-1500 or https://lalights.lacity.org/.