Cleveland Public Power crews fix broken poles brought to light by 19 Investigates

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Cleveland Public Power crews were at East 17th Street and Chester Avenue on Tuesday afternoon working to remove one of the dangerous light poles we first brought to their attention to last week.

The metal pole had rusted completely off of its base and was being held up, dangling, by a rope that was tied off to the Conrad’s sign that sits at the corner of 17th and Chester.

The base of the pole, which was right in front of an RTA bus shelter, had dangerous, jagged metal jutting out, posing a risk for anyone who may be walking by.

Crews on the scene Tuesday told 19 Investigates they were taking down the old broken pole and were also going to remove the rusted-out metal base. The workers told us they were then going to attach a new LED to an existing wooden pole.

On August 2, we alerted CPP, the city’s municipally-owned electric company responsible for the street lights, about several dangerous light we discovered on Chester, between East 17th and East 55th.

A spokesperson for CPP told us the next day that the “unsafe conditions” would be a “priority for repair.” But on August 7, we found that many of the safety hazards had still not been removed.

After spotting crews working to fix poles on Chester near East 36th Tuesday morning, we reached out to CPP again to ask when they would begin the critical work to fix the most pressing issues, like the dangerous, dangling pole at East 17th Street.

Hours later, CPP workers came out and finally took it down.

There is still another pole, also completely detached from its rusty base, being held up with rope that is tied to a tree near East 19th Street in front of Krenzler Field.

We also found a significant new problem at that location on Tuesday: a wire just dangling down, almost to the sidewalk. There were no CPP crews in sight and the wire had not been roped off.

19 Investigates will continue to follow up with CPP until the dangerous light poles along Chester Ave. have all been replaced or repaired.

Cleveland residents can report broken street lights to CPP’s 24-hour automated Street Light Outage hotline at 216-621-LITE (5483). The automated system provides a tracking number that allows you to track the progress of repairs.

Have you been dealing with broken street lights or fallen poles in your neighborhood? Give us a call at 216-250-1618 or send an email with photos to 19tips@woio.com.

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