City of Colorado Springs’ budget cuts cut off streetlights

For many years Colorado Springs has had a reputation of being conservative; and that’s putting it lightly. Five military installations, Focus on the Family, the New Life Church and other organizations join Colorado College in calling this city home. Its residents have a prominent voice in the Tea Party movement and El Paso County went overwhelming to John McCain in the last election. But in a year in which every American city is cutting back on some social services, Colorado Springs is making national news again for the unique way in which it’s balancing the cities $28 million budget shortfall. One cut in particular has caught the nation’s attention. Starting last February 1st the city began shutting off up to 10,000 streetlights, or just over 40% of all streetlights citywide.

The decision to make the cuts came after voters rejected a city referendum to increase property taxes last November, despite the fact that city residents pay historically low property taxes compared to cities nationwide. Police, firefighters, city buses and other services are being cut, along with the parks service, community centers and schools. The cuts, however, have found a large amount of support. City Council member Sean Paige called the cuts “Fantastic.” Douglas Bruce, the author of Tabor, the taxpayer’s bill of rights, said about the finically strapped community centers, “They inflate the numbers of residents – the poor, the old and the young – who rely on them. It's the same with the buses. They are used by 1 per cent of the people. It would be cheaper to buy them all cars." “If we cut the city budget in half, that might be a reasonable amount,” he added.

The decision to turn off streetlights however has struck a unique cord with city residents and Americans. Long seen as a hallmark of urban civilized life, streetlights provide concrete benefits that make city living safe and pleasant. Since they became standard in metropolitan areas at the beginning of the 20th century streetlights have worked to prevent crime, stop car accidents (previously horse and buggy accidents), and allowed residents to feel secure and comfortable living side by side with thousands, perhaps millions, of others. In a study done by Pennsylvania State University in June 2009 prepared for The National Cooperative Highway Research Board, they found, “In addition to the visual benefits supplied by lighting, the ‘message’ of an improved lighting installation can be interpreted as ‘people care about this neighborhood’, thereby enhancing community confidence and an informal sense of control by the community.” In terms of crime prevention the study concluded, “This informal deterrence is thought to result in a reduction of crime during the day as well as during night… In summary, it appears that lighting has a positive effect on reducing crime and…lighting may send a message that goes beyond visibility as a means for providing a community with a crime-reducing benefit.”

In addition to affecting a sense of community, streetlights help dramatically in one specific area. Automobile accidents are significantly linked to the presence of streetlights. The same study concluded that, “Darkness [or the absence of lighting] results in a disproportionately large number [in relation to exposure] of crashes and fatalities, and in particular, those involving pedestrians. Pedestrians are the most vulnerable population on roads at night and in terms of crash reduction appear to benefit the most from street lighting.” Since pedestrians don’t posses their own pair of headlights they stand to benefit the most from ambient light that keep city streets illuminated. “Pedestrians are between 3 and 6.75 times more vulnerable [to getting hit by cars] in the dark than daylight.” Consider that next time you’re walking downtown from campus.

These cuts say two important things about the direction Colorado Springs leaders and residents (that means CC too) are taking the city. First, all these cuts serve to widen the disparity between the rich and poor, the haves and have-nots. The city has instituted a “streetlight adoption program” to help “interested citizens reactivate streetlights that have been turned off.” But this program is only a possibility for families that have incomes high enough to shell out “$75 for a residential light [and/or] $180 for an arterial light.” For low-income families, or any family suffering long-term unemployment, paying out of pocket just to keep city lights on isn’t an option. In a city still suffering an unemployment rate of 8.9%, it’s easy to imagine night in Colorado Springs where richer, wealthier neighborhoods stay lit, and poorer neighborhoods go dark. Furthermore, even if someone pays for the streetlight outside their house to stay on, they will be affected still when they drive to the store, or school, or anywhere across town. Unless all streetlights stay on, the harms affect us all. 

Additionally, these city cuts, and subsequent volunteer programs (like the ‘adopt a streetlight program’), make the conservative mantra its proponents espouse completely meaningless. What is conservative about a city government having to go hat in hand to residents for charity just so the city doesn’t go dark at night? It isn’t just the streetlights either. The city has a program for residents to use private lawn mowers to mow public parks because the city can’t pay for them anymore. Taxi drivers are being asked to act as part time cops, looking out for criminals. Buses are cut, public pools closed and the police department was forced to sell off its two helicopters on eBay. What is so conservative about a city that relies on hand outs to perform the basic functions that define a community?

Colorado Springs is turning into the logical extent of the “taxes are always bad,” tea party, conservative movement that is poisoning national politics. There are just some things that government does better than volunteers. That’s why, as a community, we hire police, so that taxi drivers don’t have to be responsible for defending a city while they do their normal jobs. Sure, some people might volunteer to mow grass at the local park for a bit, but who wants to plow all the snow off of I-25 by themselves? I’m glad I pay the government to take care of that. As Colorado College students, faculty members, and staff members that live here, this affects us in profound ways. Apart from the fact that your chances of getting run over by a car anywhere off campus just went way up (remember, up to 6.75 times more likely), cuts to police, fire and buses affect us equally. 

We often act at CC as if we live in a bubble, that we’re not a part of the greater community, but it’s a fantasy to pretend that we aren’t connected to Colorado Springs. It’s hard to say we’re preparing to be the leaders of the next generation if we aren’t taking a role in leading the greater community we find ourselves in now. Call the city council, or the mayor, or whatever department you find important. Contact information for all of them is easily available at springsgov.com. If we don’t start engaging the community at a greater level, we will find our city is a place that won’t invest in fire or police protection, or a city where potential future CC students don’t have a community center to go to after school. Just over half of the cities street lights are still on, but it’s up to us as residents of this community, working with like-minded neighbors, to make sure that when the sun sets behind the mountains, our city stays bright for all of us.