SAN DIEGO — Crews with the City of San Diego are working to repair hundreds of broken streetlights downtown.
City officials say many of the lights in the Gaslamp and East Village neighborhood often get vandalized by the homeless.
The city says many of the historic lights go out because people break into the base of the light and connect their own personal appliances.
Officials say this is not only dangerous but also costs the city a lot of money to fix.
The city of San Diego is working to fix around 200 streetlights, many of which officials say have been vandalized by unhoused individuals.
“One of the challenges that we’ve seen, particularly where there are encampments is that people have broken into the base of the light poles and they have pulled out the wiring and they have connected various appliances and such to that wiring," said Councilmember Stephen Whitburn.
Whitburn says in some cases people have used the lights to connect cellphones and microwaves.
“That is not only dangerous to the individual but it causes these lights to go out”
It costs the city between $700-$1,100 to fix each streetlight.
“The money that we’re using for this is coming out of the general fund," said Whitburn.
A total of about 600 lights were out in the Gaslamp, East Village, and Downtown neighborhoods. City crews have replaced around 400 so far since May.
“One of the ways we’re prioritizing which streetlights to fix is we look at where we have issues with crime and other issues where people might feel unsafe," added Whitburn.
To prevent the lights from getting broken into, crews are installing lockboxes around the base of the light.
The city began repairing the lights in May and expects the work to be done by August.
WATCH RELATED: Historical street lights in Kensington could soon be replaced instead of restored