Community board urges streetlight vendor audit, says Riverdale is left in dark

For more than a year, residents throughout greater Riverdale have reported streetlights remaining out for months at a time, including along major roadways, residential streets and public parks, according to officials.

Bronx Community Board 8 is now calling on the city for an investigation of Hylan, the company tasked with maintaining and repairing streetlights in the borough, pointing to widespread outages and lengthy repair delays.

In an Oct. 21 letter to New York City Comptroller Mark Levine, CB8 Chair Margaret Della requested a formal audit of the contractor responsible for streetlights in the Bronx, raising concerns that service requests appear to be marked as completed even when lights remain dark.

Among the locations identified in the letter were the Henry Hudson Parkway and its service roads, Van Cortlandt Park, MacLaughlin Playground and the Jerome Park Reservoir, where the board said large stretches of lighting have been out for at least a year.

The contractor, Hylan, declined to comment.

“Dark streets are not an inconvenience; they are a safety hazard,” Della wrote in the letter, citing reports of crimes occurring in poorly lit areas.

The board also raised concerns about how the city handles 311 complaints, alleging that requests are routinely closed as resolved despite the reported lights remaining out, and questioned whether the New York City Department of Transportation independently verifies completed repairs before approving payments to its contractor.

Della said the request for an audit followed more than a year of unsuccessful efforts to address outages through the department of transportation and the city’s 311 system. However, she said a recent meeting with the agency raised additional concerns about how streetlights are monitored and repaired, particularly in locations without conventional street addresses.

“There aren’t addresses for, you know, wide swaths of outages like Ewen Park, like the Van Cortlandt Park, the Jerome Reservoir, Henry Hudson Park,” Della said.

She described a nine-month outage near her own building that required repeated follow-ups before repairs were made.

According to a spokesperson from the department of transportation, once a streetlight complaint is submitted through 311 it is forwarded to its repair contractor, which has 10 days to evaluate the repair needed.

Some repairs, the spokesperson told The Press, cannot be completed during the initial inspection because of underlying infrastructure problems.

The board’s letter identifies seven primary concerns, including repairs not being completed, complaints being improperly closed, daytime-only inspections, the absence of routine patrols to identify outages and the difficulty of reporting lights without exact addresses.

Della said the comptroller’s office had acknowledged receiving the letter but had not yet provided a substantive response.

The office did not indicate whether an audit would be initiated in a statement to the Press, saying,”the Comptroller takes street safety extremely seriously and appreciates Community Board 8 for raising this matter. We are reviewing the request.”

Council Member Eric Dinowitz said his office has encountered similar complaints from constituents, including reports of service requests being closed before repairs were completed.

“Do light bulbs go out?” he asked. “Yes, but we expect our city agencies to be responsive. And if they’re using a single vendor that is incapable of doing the job, the city needs to find a new vendor.”

Zahava Majowsky, who lives along the Henry Hudson Parkway service road near West 246th Street, said much of the stretch near her home has been dark for more than a year.

Although one streetlight near her building was recently repaired, she said other fixtures remain out. A temporary police light installed nearby has done little to address her concerns, she said, because its glare can make driving uncomfortable without adequately illuminating the sidewalk.

“As a woman, I don’t like walking down there because it’s dark and I can’t see — I usually turn my phone flashlight on,” Majowsky said.

She also said she frequently parks along the service road and worries about motorists being unable to see her family getting in and out of their vehicle after dark.

“I’m always like gripping them because I’m like I don’t know if anyone will see this,” she said, referring to her young children.

In a statement to The Press, the department of transportation emphasized the importance of functioning streetlights and said it works to address community requests promptly.

“Street lighting is essential to the safety, livability, and sustainability of New York City, helping to reduce crashes, enhance pedestrian safety and keep parks and public spaces accessible into the evening. NYC DOT addresses community requests as quickly as possible,” the agency said.

A spokesperson said the agency oversees nearly 400,000 streetlights citywide, including fixtures on streets, bridges, highways, underpasses and in parks.

According to the spokesperson, repair requirements vary considerably. Some outages can be resolved by replacing a fixture or fuse, while others involve electrical infrastructure problems requiring coordination with utility company Con Edison or more extensive work to restore power.

For Dinowitz, the prolonged outages underscore the need for greater accountability over streetlight maintenance.

“These are matters of safety and quality of life,” he said. “And they deserve immediate attention.”