NAPLES, Fla. -- Some people living in a Naples neighborhood said they are hesitate to leave their homes at night because a lot of the streetlights are broken.
They said they haven’t been working for a while. One neighbor even said there are more crimes happening in the area because of it.
Peter Torrelli lives in Naples Estates and said night after night, it’s almost total darkness because several streetlights are not working.
“Last year, they put in all these lovely new streetlights in but most of them don’t work,” said Torrelli.
For about a year now, he said the automatic streetlights near his home are either malfunctioning or don’t turn on at night. He said it’s now a safety concern.
“It’s obviously dark and obviously thieves are looking for dark areas and dark homes to break into,” said Torrelli.
He downloaded the ‘Neighbors Ring’ app to see how safe his neighborhood was and saw there were 32 crimes in the area last week.
“There were 13 arrests, one assault, almost three robberies and 17 thefts and without streetlights working in the neighborhood, I don’t feel as safe as I should,” said Torrelli.
It makes other neighbors feel uneasy too.
“It’s just too dark. The lights are not enough,” said Jackie Felter, resident. “There have been a few drivers who have almost hit somebody walking their dog.”
“On my block there are still five streetlights that aren’t lit up. It would be a really nice to be able to ride my bike at night and be able to see where I am going,” said resident, Pete Bedrosian.
Some residents want the lights fixed to have a sense of security. Torelli reached out to Cal-Am Properties who he said manages the property and is in charge of fixing the lights.
“I contacted them three times in the last week and I have not received a response back from them,” said Torrelli.
On Monday, Fox 4 spoke with the manager inside the Cal-Am Properties office in Naples. She gave our contact information to their corporate office in Tampa. At last check, Fox 4 has not heard back yet about the broken streetlights.
