Burnside Block Blackouts Frustrate Residents Who Say Complaints Are Getting Them Nowhere

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Even police can't see. That's one of the complaints from people living on a frequently dark block in Chicago's Burnside neighborhood.

Residents say their blackout complaints are getting them nowhere.

It's pitch black in the 9300 block of South Kimbark.

Longtime resident Angela Fulton said the streetlight block blackouts are getting ridiculous.

"It's not uncommon for us to basically lose lights for up to three to four times a month," Fulton said.

"We never know which way to look," said resident Corderia Cook. "We never know who's coming up from behind us, anything like that. Especially having small children, living at the beginning of the block is dangerous."

Cook and Fulton say the street lights were out for 10 days recently until a call to 8th Ward Alderman Michelle Harris's office got them fixed.

That lasted three days.

"It goes out, comes back on, goes out, comes back on," Cook said.

"I don't think it's fair that we should have to sign a petition in order to get the new lights," Fulton said.

Adding to the frustration is the blocks around them have brand new LED street lights that work.

"We were told six years ago by the alderman's daughter that we would have new lights put on our block," Fulton said. "That has yet to be the case."

"So the infrastructure here in Burnside is 100 years old," Harris said.

That's a reason, Alderman Harris says, for the frequent light outages. She said she blocks need to submit a petition for new street lights, but even those are piling up.

That's because she gets $1.3 million a year total for new lights, street resurfacing, and speed bump, curb and sidewalk repair in her 550 block ward.

"You do the math," she said. "I'm not even doing a project per grid. The more lighting I do, the less likely I am to be able to improve my roads in my community."

Harris said without a petition it's not likely the block will get new lights.