The light that won’t stay lit. 92 Mt. Hermon. By Paul Goldfinger. Left click for full view.
UPDATE, Oct. 17 —
Well, shoot! We noticed on Saturday that the above-pictured light — at Mt. Hermon Way and Pennsylvania Avenue — was burned out, so we called JCP&L to report it. Then on Monday, the light had been repaired, or so we thought. But now, as of Tuesday night, the thing is out again.
So we reported it once again, via JCP&L’s website, and on Wednesday morning Customer Service sent us an email response. The email said they had previously replaced the bulb, but now they suspect that “there may be a problem with the line or the head of the streetlight. We will assess the problem and attempt to make most routine repairs, such as a bulb or photocell replacement, within three days.” The email went on to say that if the damage is more severe a repair might take longer.
Further update: It’s Wednesday night, and the light is back on again! We’ll see if it lasts. — CL
Further further update: Sunday night and the thing is out again. I reported it to JCP&L, and the company promised, via email, to respond within 48 hours. — CL
The street light on Mt. Hermon is one of six we know of that have been out in Ocean Grove. The other five are these:
BROADWAY — Blogfinger reported on October 4 that the light at Broadway and Pennsylvania was out, due to the pole having been knocked down by a car. As of October 4, that light had been out for four weeks. Resident Anita Meeks said she had gone online twice to report this problem. In addition, she personally informed a JCP&L work crew of the problem, and they told her they would pass the information on to “someone.” Status: Pole still down; still no light.
OCEAN AVENUE — We reported on October 4 that a row of four street lights were burned out here, between Main Avenue and Ocean Pathway. They had been out for at least one week at that time, and a citizen told us he had reported the problem to the Township. Status: All four lights still out.
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What to do if you see a burned-out street light in the Grove:
1. Report the problem to JCP&L’s parent company, FirstEnergy. To report by phone, call 800-662-3115. To talk to a human, say “Operator” at each prompt. You can also go to http://www.firstenergycorp.com. Click on “Report an Outage.” Then click “Report Streetlight Problem.”
2. Report the problem to Neptune Township — either to Township Clerk Rick Cuttrell (732-988-5200, Ext 234), Assistant Business Administrator Vito Gadaleta (same number, Ext 232) or Deputy Mayor Eric Houghtaling (Ext. 293).
3. Inform Blogfinger so we can add the problem to our list here and keep track of it on Street Light Watch.
— Charles Layton