Faulty street lights leaving residents of St-Laurent in the dark

After more than three weeks of on-again, off-again street lights, lifelong St-Laurent resident Bruno Stenson is frustrated.

Stenson said the street lights outside his home on Laval Rd. and de la Sorbonne St. have been inconsistent since Victoria Day weekend. The faulty lights leave Stenson and his neighbours in the dark for multiple nights in a row before turning on for 24 hours a day, he said.

As the problem persists, he says he and his neighbours are worried the lack of light, made worse by the leafy trees that line the streets, could become dangerous.

“It’s an invitation for thieves,” he said.

Two of his neighbours have spotted unfamiliar cars driving on their street without headlights in the middle of the night, Stenson said.

“It kind of makes me feel insecure,” neighbour Richard Long said.

He said some of his neighbours have taken to leaving their porch lights on through the night to make up for the broken infrastructure, “but when it’s dark, it’s dark.”

“How long is it going to take before somebody gets run over,” Stenson asked. “Is that what it’s going to take?”

Long and Stenson, along with other neighbours, have already lodged complaints with the borough, but say they are not impressed with the responses they’ve received.

When a supervisor called Stenson at the end of May to ask about the issue, the lights had turned back on so the file was closed without an inspection, Rosie Estrada from the St-Laurent borough said. When the problem recurred the next day and Stenson called back, the file was reopened. As of Thursday, an inspection has yet to take place.

When asked about the issue, Hydro-Québec spokesperson Ouali Fodil said the problem is caused by old lights and wiring. He said they are working with the borough to address the lights and they would be meeting Thursday afternoon to fine-tune their plan to replace 1,400 affected street lights.

While Fodil did say some of the work may have already gotten underway, he said the vast majority will begin this fall. He was unable to say how long it will take because it will depend on how much of the current infrastructure will need to be replaced.

News of Hydro- Québec and the city ’s meeting has Stenson hopeful that the two groups are working to resolve the issue, but knowing that work is still months away is disappointing, he said, particularly since he and his neighbours will have endure a summer in the dark.