After 258 days without a working streetlight, some San Jose residents want answers

SAN JOSE, Calif. - It's been more than 258 days since Creek Drive in the Willow Glen neighborhood of San Jose has had a working streetlight. 

And while it started out as a small inconvenience, it's grown into a big frustration as there's been an uptick in crime. Residents say they can't get an answer about why it's not being fixed.

"It's kind of hard to believe, but we have been without a streetlight since February," says Diana Castro, who lives on the block.

There was a brief power outage then, and their streetlight simply never went back on.

"We've just been strung along for months now. The city pointing the finger at PG&E, and PG&E pointing the finger at the city," says neighbor Traci Armstrong.

The sign was a recent addition, and residents figured they would track the days and post their frustration for all to see, both on the light and online.

"After about 8 months of waiting we needed to help them connect the dots," says neighbor Jennifer Mowery.

Even worse, they say the dark has brought an uptick in crime. There have been several car break-ins, plus two thefts at a home construction site. 

First it was a $12,000 trailer, a few months later $8,000 in tools were stolen.

"It was stolen in a brazen way, like 'Don't mind me I'm going to load it up and take it,'" Rafael Merino of Ram Construction told KTVU.

San Jose officials say the light should have been fixed long ago. City officials first visited the site on April 4, and referred it to PG&E on April 10. 

This particular streetlight has been upgraded and converted to LED lights.

"So the light itself should work just fine, but it doesn't have any power going to it. We need PG&E to turn that power on," says Colin Heyne with the City of San Jose's Department of Transportation.

PG&E released a statement saying this light is owned and maintained by the City of San Jose. 

However, they have "escalated the issue," and now a PG&E crew has been scheduled to energize the streetlight Tuesday morning.

No word on what the delay has been, but residents say it's about time.

"[There's] a lot of tax [dollars] in Willow Glen," Castro said. "Come on get me a streetlight."