Rock Bottom? Debt-Ridden Detroit Suburb Literally Rips-Out 1,000 Streetlights, Darkens Town
- Posted on November 3, 2011 at 10:31pm by
Tiffany Gabbay
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HIGHLAND PARK, Mich. (The Blaze/AP) — As the sun dips below the rooftops each evening, parts of this Detroit enclave turn to pitch black, the only illumination coming from a few streetlights at the end of the block or from glowing yellow yard globes.
It wasn’t always this way. But when the debt-ridden community could no longer afford its monthly electric bill, elected officials not only turned off 1,000 streetlights. They had them ripped out – bulbs, poles and all. Now nightfall cloaks most neighborhoods in inky darkness.
“How can you darken any city?” asked Victoria Dowdell, standing in the halo of a light in her front yard. “I think that was a disgrace. She said the decision endangers everyone, especially people who have to walk around at night or catch the bus.
Highland Park‘s decision is one of the nation’s most extreme austerity measures, even among the scores of communities that can no longer afford to provide basic services.
Other towns have postponed roadwork, cut back on trash collection and closed libraries, for example. But to people left in the dark night after night, removing streetlights seems more drastic. And unlike many other cutbacks that can easily be reversed, this one appears to be permanent.
The city is $58 million in debt and has many more people than jobs, plus dozens of burned-out or vacant houses and buildings. With fewer than 12,000 residents, its population has dwindled to half the level from 20 years ago.
Faced with a $4 million electric bill that required $60,000 monthly payments, Mayor Hubert Yopp asked the City Council to consider reducing lighting. Council members reluctantly approved it, even in an election year.
“We knew it was going to hurt,” Councilman Christopher Woodard said. “We’re all hurting.”
In late August, contractors from DTE Energy began rolling through the streets, taking out two-thirds of the light poles.
“It is a winning proposition, but that doesn’t make it a winner with the citizens who find themselves in the dark,” Woodard added. “We had to watch our backs when we got out of our cars before. Now we have to watch them even more closely.”
Unless the government gets an unexpected infusion of cash or sees an uptick in its dying tax base, many parts of Highland Park will remain beneath a shroud every night.
The city’s monthly electric bill has been cut by 80 percent. The amount owed DTE Energy goes back about a decade, but utility executives hesitated to turn off the juice.
“We are extremely concerned with public safety,” said Trevor Lauer, vice president of marketing and renewables for the Detroit-based utility. “We recognize that street lighting is something that contributes to public safety.”
Now, he said, the company has “a municipal lighting customer I’m confident can pay its monthly bill.”
Most of the 500 streetlights still shining in Highland Park are along major streets and on corners in residential areas. DTE Energy has listed the city’s overdue bill as an uncollectable expense.
The leader of a nonprofit group that works to reduce energy costs for low-income families said he’s not heard of any other communities becoming so desperate to save money that they turned off streetlights. It might be a sign of things to come.
“If it works in Highland Park, I could not imagine other cities not looking at that as one option,” said David Fox, executive director of the National Low Income Energy Consortium in Alexandria, Va.
In its heyday, Highland Park was one of Michigan’s urban jewels, with large yards, spacious homes and tree-lined streets.
Henry Ford put his first moving assembly line here, and his factory eventually churned out a car every minute. By 1930, the city had grown to 50,000 people.
Ford later moved his primary manufacturing operations to River Rouge, southwest of Detroit, in search of room to expand. Highland Park survived that loss. But it never recovered from Chrysler’s decision in the 1990s to move its world headquarters 50 miles north to Oakland County.
“That took away $6 million” in taxes, Woodard said. “That was a lot of money to not have anymore. It was a major industrial operation moving out of here. When Chrysler moved out, things started to happen.”
Small businesses catering to Chrysler workers began to fail, and the city struggled to pay its bills. And like Detroit, which lost 250,000 residents from 2000 to 2010, people moved out, leaving hundreds of abandoned houses.
In 1980, the census counted 27,000 people living in Highland Park. By 2010, that number had fallen to 11,776.
The median household income is $18,700, compared with $48,700 statewide. And 42 percent of the city’s residents live in poverty.
“It’s pretty ghetto,” Cassandra Cabil said from her front yard. Voices drift in the darkness from down the street, but the speakers can’t be seen.
The 31-year-old short-order cook works odd hours and sometimes makes it home late at night. She watched recently as crews removed the streetlight and pole from in front of her rented home.
“It’s really dark unless people have their lights on,” she said. “There’s a lot of vandalism going on, people breaking into these houses.”




















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Comments (146)
Cold War Vet
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:45amI used to go up there on business all the time, up until 2010. I hear it’s much worse now. At the time, I didn’t think it could get much worse than it was, so I’m using my imagination here…
Report Post »jb.kibs
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 2:39amthey are going to have to get flashlights and exercise their 2nd.
Report Post »rangerp
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 5:05amwhat? this is one of LBJ’s model cities. It is a place where the auto union thrived. It is a place of peace and harmony after the left declared the war on poverty.
Report Post »Mil-Dot
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 6:36amIf they simply turned them off the “citizens” would rip them out and sell them for scrap anyway. So why not have the city rip them out and sell them for scrap?
Report Post »loriann12
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 6:56amI don‘t understand why they didn’t make it a broader area, and cut back every other one. They had to rip out every single one in one neighborhood? does this mean this is the neighborhood with the fewest people?
Report Post »Detroit paperboy
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 7:31amThe deep slide downward for all our urban areas can be traced directly to LBJ’s war on prosperity….. Welcome to Detroit everybody…. Until we reduce the size and scope of govt. By 50% or more, we will see zero growth. My brother owns an engineering firm up there , he has job openings but no qualified applicants. U guessed it, they get them from india… Cuz of our liberal education system , and a 70% drop out rate in the Detroit area…. Everything liberals touch turns to crap. But they just wont stop. The DEMOCRAT PARTY OWNS DETROIT…
Report Post »hidden_lion
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 7:37amThey should install those solar pathway lights along there yards on both sides of the streets. The residents could spare some of there drug money or welfare cash to light their own yards. Problem solved.
Report Post »Detroit paperboy
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 7:43amThis must be more of that hope and change stuff, or maybe its Obamas green energy plan. What scares me , is we are seeing the DETROITIFICATION OF THE NATION, God help us please…
Report Post »progressiveslayer
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 8:02amDark town?
Report Post »lillymckim
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 8:40amSee what Big Union can do for your city!
Report Post »JRook
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 11:23amYou also might want to check the historical record on why there is a concentration of minority groups in the industrial Midwest towns. Again, associated with obtaining cheaper labor.
Report Post »smithclar3nc3
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 12:26pmAnd we are installing 20,000 dollars solars street lights in IRAQ…….that makes sense
Report Post »Yeah_Buddy
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 6:07pmGee, couldn’t they just turn a switch to power the lights off? They had to rip up the poles? That is one teed-off electric company.
This is what a democratic city looks like?
Obummer did want energy rates to neccessarily skyrocket, so…maybe he can get them some weak solar lights you can’t see 2 feet in front of to replace electric lights.
I feel sorry for these people, they look so lost.
Report Post »In detroit
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 6:23pmJust moved back to Michigan to help with sick family sad to see democrats have totaly destroyed this place , ask any of them all republicans fault , but who runs this place
Report Post »In detroit
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 7:03pm50 years of voting democrat has paid off well the city is in ruins , this is your brain , this is your brain on democrat any questions , nice job detroit
Report Post »Cold War Vet
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:42amBe proud, progessives, liberals, OWS protesters, marxists, commies etc. You earned this. It is YOUR DOING and YOU OWN IT. Be proud. Be very proud…
NEVER underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups!
Report Post »americanfirst
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 2:12amAgreed! Keep VOTING OBAMA – he’ll keep you in the dark!!!
This galvanized allegiance for the last 70 years or so to all things black hasn’t worked out so well, has it?
Report Post »db321
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 9:06amLooks like some of that Obama Stash has run out.
Report Post »JRook
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 11:21amSo when corporations move out and communities fail, as happened under Reagan, Bush Sr. Bush, Jr. and virtually every president it is somehow a progressive, democratic issue. Trade deals that result in companies moving factories to Mexico and overseas to exploit workers at $10 a day has nothing to do with it. You don‘t even know what you don’t know. What is happening in the economy right now has more to do with 2 decades of a real drop in wages than anything else. And the Republican answer is to eliminate the minimum wage and remove collective bargaining rights for workers. What are the lawyers, bankers, physicians, etc. going to do when the average worker can no longer afford to pay their fees. We are at the beginning of a decline that was set in motion by Reagan. The concentration in wealth in the US is a direct result of the move of manufacturing jobs overseas to locations where workers can be exploited for slavery wages. Over the long run the US has not benefited from either the trade deals or the minor reduction in prices. The world is in a non stop deflationary spiral, tied to a dramatic reduction in comparative wages. My son worked during the summer at nursery for $8.50 hr. less than I made in a paper mill during my college summers in 1978. Reason, the nursery owner was paying most of his illegal workers $6 cash under the table. Time to fine the business owners who do that $250,000 per illegal worker.
Report Post »irritated1
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 12:10pmRook…Time to enforce illegal immigration laws period…Not just fine companies. Also, the reason manufacturing is leaving the U.S., is the very unfavorable business climate…ie: One of the highest corporate tax rates, unsustainable pension demands, EPA regulations that are counter-productive( I’m not saying regulation is unnessesary) Not to mention we have to compete with China who has very little regulation and almost no tariff equality when dealing with the U.S. You can say The Republicans are to blame all you want, when in fact it is GOVERNMENT that is mostly to blame.
Report Post »Dismayed Veteran
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:00pmJROOK
I worked for a company who had a facility in Nogales, Mexico. To keep people from jumping the border to Nogales, AZ, the company provided free housing, breakfast and dinner for the entire family. In 2001, the hourly wage was $2.00 grossed up for taxes. This may seem “serf-like” to you but it is better than most Mexicans lived on.
Report Post »smithclar3nc3
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:48pmJROOK,
Report Post »It‘s Obama fault not becuase he’s the sitting President but because he’s a liberal pro-union marxist.
The demise of Detroit is as much theliberals and the unions fault as it is the criminals fault. Unions have destroyed the area for manufacturing and liberal politicains have destroyed the area with fees and regulations. If Obama wasn‘t liberal and didn’t support the industries and policies that ruined detroit no one could saddle it on him. But facts are facts
RationalMan
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:41amBlaze,
Report Post »In defense for Detroit, this happened in “HIGHLAND PARK, Mich”….not Detroit!!!
Big difference when making this report!!
Cold War Vet
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:43amYou may be right. I think Detroit is actually WORSE.
Report Post »christianUSA
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:51amFrom east subs to inner city to Highland Park its solid built up and the streets / stop lights were coordinated; this use to be a nice area before the 60s riots!
Report Post »RationalMan
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:55amCold War Vet,
You’re right about Detroit, I’ve heard recently that this City might be taken over by the State.
If I’m not mistaken HIGHLAND PARK was also taken over by the State three yrs ago!
Report Post »(I think around that time!)
c0mm0nsense
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 7:58amThats right, in Detriot their taking down whole neighborhoods.
Report Post »Detroit paperboy
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 8:00am@ rationalman
Report Post »No offense bro but Detroit and Highland Park are two sides of the same coin, and if you ve been there you be hard pressed to find where one stops and the other begins, so, no , not“ big difference”… The good news is that Democrats can take people on tours of both cities to showcase longterm effects of liberalism… Lets throw in Flint also… DEMOCRATS OWN THOSE CITIES !!!
KangarooJack
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 9:06amAh! Let’s make the distinction clear. Detroit isn’t some seperate City. The sprawl goes on for miles and miles. Canton/Westland/Inkster/Dearborn/Wayne/Detroit/etc. are all one big blob. Urban sprawl. It is bleeding into Saline now (by passing Ann Arbor) and heading West.
Report Post »Don’t much care for this…
RationalMan
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 11:49pmYou’re c0mm0nsense,
Highland Park is a “Neighborhood” outside of Detroit!
Get the map out and look at it (Check the boundary line!)..not you CommOnsense.
Matter of fact, Blaze I heard it was “Hamtramick” that this was happening too! Hamtramick was also taken over by the State..I think in the 90′s???
Detroit got ruin under Colmen Young Administration…back in the late 80′s?
Report Post »RationalMan
Posted on November 5, 2011 at 12:01amDetroit paperboy,
Why don’t we make all of Michigan Counties as part of “Detroit”?
A is A, a county or neighborhood isn’t part of Detriot.
Report Post »Check the boundary line!!
RationalMan
Posted on November 5, 2011 at 12:30amBTW, Detroit paperboy,
Are you using the “Detroit Water Dept” as your location?
Tell your readers how “Detroit Water Dept” do send supplies to Macomb, Oakland and Wayne Counties? So is this your “Boundary line”? What about in Upper Peninsula (Mich.)? Do they get your “Detroit Water” ? Detroit Water Dept. is nothing but “SCAM”!!!!
Report Post »christianUSA
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:41amOpinion: The downward spiral of Detroit since 1960s riots continues it never recovered; and this is what the ows riot protest could well give all of US.
Report Post »piper60
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 4:13am50 years of progressives in power. That is what happened to this town AND Detroit.
Report Post »Outlaw_Josey_Wales
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 5:39amOWS will come to Detroit, this will be the biggest riot the world has ever seen. I think this will happen in Spring or Summer of 2012.
Report Post »hidden_lion
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 7:42am50 years of democrat communist control. This is all demoncrat caused. The populace did it to themselves. Detroit needs to be bull dozed and the residents scattered to the four winds. Then, and only then can it be rebuilt in a more glorious form. It could become the beacon of hope, if the people would let it happen.
Report Post »progressiveslayer
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 9:34amOur Marxists presidents utopia going nation wide,just what the man made disaster wanted,check your ammo because people have to eat and when the grocery stores are out of business they’ll be foraging for food and anything else they want.
Report Post »FireWolf
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:40amPerhaps they’ll just doze over the whole town and let the deer and raccoons take over??
Report Post »Cold War Vet
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:42amThat would actually RAISE the real estate values!
Report Post »Fantastic Four
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:38amWhat an easy fix:
Report Post »Firm Reliance on Devine Providence
Now you need to pick yourselves up come together as a community and stop relying on the MORALESS POLITICIANS. Clean up and farm on the empty lots so you have food teach your children at home. Finally make proposal to cut Government salaries to minimum wage and benifits to match the private sector, that will get the dead weight around the citizens back this way you can rebuild your community.
God Bless you all for what you fell pray to.
Jaycen
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:37amChrysler moved because of riots, like many of the businesses in the area. Thanks Frances Fox Piven!
Great job, Progressives.
Report Post »Cold War Vet
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 11:49pmSsshh. Don’t tell JROOK. That deluded imbecile still thinks it’s the Republicans fault! Let‘s nevermind that Detroit has been under CONTINUOUS DEMOCRATIC RULE since the 1960’s. Union greed, Entiltlement programs. Welfare. Government intervention a’la communism. Yep. It’s a Marxist paradise. JROOK, you should move there. You deserve to live there you subhuman vermin!
Report Post »Tri-ox
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:29amWell, obama has said that we must learn to do with less – obama wants everyone scratching in the dirt – this is the liberal/democrat/occupier/progressive/rioter/socialist dream comes true – this is obama’s America.
Report Post »ADNIL
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 5:52amActually, scratching in the dirt (aka: gardening) will be a step up from what they have planned for us. (internment and slavery)
Report Post »Apple Bite
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:21amKim Jong Il approved.
Report Post »Cold War Vet
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:46amYou betcha!
Report Post »JR1984
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:15amYou get what you vote for.
Report Post »One Man Progressive Wrecking Crew
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:15amThis is what liberals do to their cities and Chicago’s around the corner, NYC, the entire Bay Area, Seattle, Atlanta, Newark, on and on soon facing the same fate. :(….
Report Post »CatB
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:16amWhen I lived in Michigan we always said “last one out turn off the lights” .. I guess they ARE!
TEA!
Report Post »Psychosis
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:14amlets give a rousing applause for the democrats running this city clap clap clap
way to go dumbocrats
wonder what dem controlled city will be unable to pay even the most miniscule items next
Report Post »CatB
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:20amHighland Park used to be one of THE neighborhoods … now it is just “the hood”.
Report Post »4GODUSAANDISRAEL
Posted on November 5, 2011 at 2:07pmMy top 2 in the next large cities to topple like detroit is either Oakland or Cleveland. It breaks my heart to predict Cleveland because that‘s where I’m from, but the last time I visited home (this Aug.), Cleveland has become a very, very sad city since i last visited 4 years ago. The jobs aren’t there, and downtown is losing jobs like crazy. add into the mix that Kucinich is from the Cleveland area, and you run into the perfect mix of another major city dying.
Report Post »Fantastic Four
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:13amHere it is folks UTOPIA as promised………They sure rode the donky till the wheels fell off……
Report Post »On The Silent Wings Of Freedom
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:11amFrankly, I’m not sure what all the fuss is about. I live in a neighborhood that has no street lights by choice (Thousand Oaks, CA) and it does not seem to be a problem for anybody. A lot of people have porch lights and other exterior lighting that is more than sufficient. Pedestrians and bicycle riders should have flash lights regardless.
Report Post »CatB
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:17amYou obviously have never been to Detroit …. perhaps you should go and get educated in what decades for progressives can do to a city. … It ISN’T safe WITH the lights .. it won’t be any better in the dark.
Report Post »oneopinion
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:30amIf you have never been to Highland Park then your comment is understood. You’re more than likely white while the people of Highland Park are black. Black on Black crime? There are good people living there but the animals will now prey on them like hyenas after helpless babes.
Report Post »Fantastic Four
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:41ami’m from Cali and Thousand oaks is one of the riches cities here. Let’s also remember your cops over their pull over everyone they do not reconize to protect you.
Report Post »Californiasodbuster
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 4:03amThe way things are going, you will soon wish you have have them, your little sweet spot is next on the map when they come crawling, wake up.
Report Post »Sparhawk
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:10amWhy rip out the bulbs/poles? Why not just turn them off but leave the hardware there to be used if/when the financial situation improves? Seems like a stupid waste.
Report Post »Lord_Frostwind
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:29amThat’s the point, they don’t expect the financial situation to ever improve. To the electric company, this town is dead. In all honesty, it’s probably a safer investment to scrap the streetlights for parts than it is to wait for someone else to steal all the valuable components out of them.
Depressing isn’t it?
Report Post »abbygirl1994
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:09amWell that ought to make it better for the criminals.. idiots.. How about the people.. you know the ones who even though poor need the added protection of street lights!
Report Post »CatB
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:19amIf you have a dollar … you can buy a house in another neighborhood. Until they turn off those lights also.
Report Post »Lord_Frostwind
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:39amCompanies cannot provide their services at a loss forever. The city was in debt to the electric company for running the street lights over 4 million dollars. It’s like taking care of a dying parent at the expense of your own children, as terrible as it sounds there is a point you reach where you have to cut losses and put them in a home, because if you don’t everything falls apart, and you, your parents, and your children are going to be bankrupt with nothing to show for it.
It may seem callous, but what about the electric company? They have to pay their workers whose families have to eat. And if they go out of business how many other neighborhoods will be left in the dark? The Greater Good is a cruel principle, but it keeps society functional.
Report Post »carnifex
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:51amPerhaps you would like to donate to the city to pay their $4,000,000 electric bill? Or!…They can put in a wind farm and generate the electricity for free! If that doesn’t work, you can always use the old hook up unicorns to giant treadmills that turn generators trick. Would you believe millions of hamsters on those little wheels in cages? You are the problem with the OWS. You are the weakest link.
If you go all Alinsky on someone and they don’t get the mocking, have you really Alinskyed?
Report Post »kaydeebeau
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 6:12amI have to pay to provide my own street light $9.00/ month on my electric bill. A bargain compared to what it would cost if I had to pay a tax bill to provide to me for “free” from the city. I pay for my own trash pick-up $16.00 /month another bargain compared to what my tax bill would be to provide trash pick-up to me for “free” by the city
Report Post »amerbur
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:09amCome on Detroi!!. Pick yourselves up. Pray, work, dream, build. Do not let old thinking destroy you. You can do it!!! Do not give up!!! Find a way. You are Americans!!! Do not be defeated!! Start small. Spread the Good news. In him all things are possible!!!! Each one of you can give a little more, do a little more, together you can do it!!!
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:32amDetroit elects Socialists… and suffers from the result: ‘Obama is giving us Money from his Stash’!
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:07amDTE rates are controlled by the State! And, HP has been the Dregs of Detroit for years! Everyone there probably has a Weapon, but No Wealth… so No Problem!
Report Post »FORLORNHOPE
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 1:01amWhat is the city paying out to retired city workers?
Report Post »newhickschick
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 12:57amMean, evil corporation forgives $4M debt.
Report Post »Robert-CA
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 12:54amif you vote for Obama he’ll bring back the lights LOL
Report Post »gemmeri
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 12:54amIt will be interesting to see how this affects their overall crime rate… Any bets it will rise? I personally think this was one of the stupidest moves I have seen or heard of in a long list of government faux pas… Why not less city government members & employees? I think someone better review their salaries & benefits. Why not just a mayor & why not just bare bones staff? It doesn’t sound to me like a council has enough left to worry about. In fact, it sounds to me as if the governing council has made some very bad choices for its community & sent its business interests elsewhere… Why? Those are the real questions this area should be asking. Why did the businesses go? And why hasn’t the city council attracted new businesses to replace them if the moves were not because of council greed or bad policy making… Something stinks in Highland Park. We have some very similar problems in our area… but ripping out streetlights is decidedly not one of them. What a stupid a** move.
Report Post »poverty.sucks
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 12:44amFailure to seek the Light of God will bring darkness. Enjoy yourselves.
Report Post »The_Almighty_Creestof
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 12:43amUnless people were stealing them, what was the point? Are they saying there is no hope? Why tear them out when you can just turn them off. At most, remove the bulbs. Did they think the poor were going to go down to Walmart to buy a few street light bulbs?
BTW, I’ve read that on January 1st, 41,000 in Michigan are being thrown off welfare due to the states policy of a maximum lifetime benefit of 4 years allowed on it. Of that number, almost half are in Detroit & Flint. They’ll still get food stamps though.
I’m sure the streets will be well lit then…by the arson and rioters!
Report Post »prage2001
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 12:41amDidn’t I recently read an article on here about the city replacing these lights only to have the wiring ripped out (for the copper) within a day or two?
Report Post »FlowerBell
Posted on November 4, 2011 at 2:11amYes, they rip the copper out of the street lights and sell for scrap. They break into homes people are trying to restore and take all the new appliances and rip the copper wires out of the walls before anyone has a chance to move in. They also climb onto the tops of buildings and rip out the parts of air conditioning units for scrap. Basically they will take anything, even after it’s been nailed down.
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