Streetlight outages around San Diego State University have left Mary Lane, Dorothy Drive, Rockford Drive and 63rd Street in darkness after sundown.  

Students walking in these areas at night must do so with low visibility, which has raised safety concerns, according to the Associated Students Board of Directors. 

SDSU’s External Relations Board of Associated Students addressed safety issues, including increased susceptibility to trips and falls, vehicular collisions and physical injury or assault, in a letter to the San Diego City Council. 

In the letter, they demanded that city electricians be dispatched immediately to repair or replace any nonfunctioning streetlights in the area.

On Oct. 6, the A.S. Board of Directors acknowledged that this issue would only be exacerbated for students celebrating Halloween in the late hours of the night. 

Thus, the Board of Directors amended the letter to change the demand, now stating that all repairs must be completed by Oct. 31. 

The letter also has two other demands, which include: A publicly available timeline and action plan that outlines when all restorations will be complete, and a long-term plan agreed upon by the City of San Diego, SDSU and local community organizations that streamlines the restoration process for future lighting issues near campus.

According to the letter, student requests sent via San Diego’s Get It Done app received no significant communication, with many students experiencing wait times of more than 500 days. 

In a Board of Directors meeting, Abby McLachlan, A.S. vice president of External Relations, said that previous communication with the city government had only led to unsatisfactory solutions.

The city offered partial solutions on an unclear timeline, McLachlan said.

Furthermore, the city cited a lack of funding as the reason for the subpar solution, according to McLachlan.

“They just don’t have money to make a permanent solution. They acquired funds for a temporary solution, but didn’t give a deadline,” McLachlan said. 

McLachlan also explained that, due to the large number of students living in the affected area, this issue is an even greater concern for the Board of Directors.

“The highest concentration of students who live off campus live in these streets,” McLachlan said. “I would say there’s over 500 students.” 

In the same meeting, the Board of Directors also discussed a planned, in-person meeting between the External Relations Board and city employees to create a solution that the External Relations Board deems sufficient. 

As of the publication of this article, no repairs have begun on any of the streetlights.