Minneapolis shining a light on streetlight repairs

Last August, Troy Kester reported four broken streetlights on W. Broadway to Minneapolis’ 311 hot line. The city didn’t fix them until spring.“The fact that there’s a whole string of messed-up lights doesn’t send a good message to the people driving through,” he said. Minneapolis is reviewing its streetlight system after noticing in municipal ­surveys that residents of north Minneapolis — where Kester reported the lights — and the Phillips community in south Minneapolis report dramatically lower rates of satisfaction with their lighting than anywhere else in the city. Those areas also have higher poverty and crime.