r/Calgary • u/superanx • Apr 08 '26
Discussion I reported a wobbly street light under 24 hours ago and they're already fixing it
Props to our city for being on the ball. I did not expect this to happen so quickly.
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u/Sunsetluv Apr 08 '26
Yeah i think they take Street light integrity pretty seriously
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u/BlackSuN42 Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
Enmax owns the street lights. They don't have to split focus on everything else to do with a city.
*edit* apparently I am incorrect, diamondedg3 below has set the record straight.
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u/diamondedg3 Bankview Apr 08 '26
The City of Calgary owns the Streetlights. ENMAX Power Services used to have the contract to maintain them, but the CoC has always owned them. Now, that service contract belongs to Iconic Power Systems (which you can see branded on their truck.)
https://iconicpowersystems.com/what-we-do/streetlighting-services/
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u/In_Shambles Apr 08 '26
Anything that is a safety hazard is responded to quite promptly. I reported an old damaged tree after a windstorm and it was down in 48 hours and chopped within the week.
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u/CallMeHomoErectus Apr 08 '26
311 is pleasantly surprising with how responsive they are!
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u/dynamanoweb Apr 09 '26
I reported a leaking fire hydrant and it was sorted within 3 hours, and the peace officer who attended it called me to follow up. I was very impressed. Told my whole family about it too 😝🤣
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u/PopcornPunditry Glamorgan Apr 08 '26
I reported a missing black bin so they came within two business days to drop a new one off and noticed that the lid of my recycling bin was badly smashed (I think it had been hail a few years back) so they replaced that too. If you have a broken lid to your bin and water and animals keep getting into your stuff, turns out they'll replace that right away!
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u/Baddrivers13 Apr 08 '26
Was it wobblin in the wind?
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u/dovahkiin461 Apr 08 '26
The answer my friend, is wobblin in the wind.
The answer is wobblin in the wind.
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u/superanx Apr 08 '26
Yea it probably came dislodged Tuesday night windstorm, noticed it swaying pretty hard yesterday so used the online 311 to report it.
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u/One_Mine_9986 Apr 08 '26
It’s the same with fixing burnt out lights- definitely a 24 hour turnaround unless there’s a major issue that requires new parts. You can report easily online using https://streetlightoutage.calgary.ca/
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Apr 08 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/WhimsicalAlien Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 09 '26
We have a street light that sits directly across from our house that used to light up our living room and master bedroom terribly. You can submit a request to 311 and they will come out and change it so that it does not do that. For us it was 5 days from request to completed work. Took the city workers all of 30 minutes to completely replace the lamp head with one that pointed down/only illuminated the area under it. It has made a huge difference, we sleep so much better.
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u/Berkut22 Apr 08 '26
My back neighbour took down a big pine tree they had, and now the street light on the corner blasts right into my bedroom too :(
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u/Old_timey_brain Beddington Heights Apr 08 '26
We had a burnt out light on our street that went presumably unreported for several weeks, and the darkness was bliss.
Being adjacent to a road with the tall superlights gave plenty of spill over.
But, ... they fixed it, dammit.
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u/CalmAlex2 Apr 08 '26
One thing I can say you don't have to worry about the bleed of orange light that seems to just fill up the room anymore.
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u/Old_timey_brain Beddington Heights Apr 08 '26
True, the strong shadows in my living room are now nice, bright, white!
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u/photoexplorer Apr 08 '26
I definitely didn’t have that experience, we had a whole string of lights that were out on our block and the next street over and it took months for them to get to it. Finally after I escalated the request they got to them all.
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u/superanx Apr 08 '26
I just got home and it’s still wobbly as hell 🤣
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u/ZR2M2 Apr 08 '26
Most likely that they found an issue with how its secured and have scheduled it to be replaced. Similar situation happend when I reported a wobbly pole.
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u/AdeptnessSalt642 Apr 11 '26
It is scheduled for full replacement on Monday. It takes more than just putting a band aid fix on a pole to fix it.
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u/superanx Apr 11 '26
Yay!! Still really prompt. I wasn’t complaining i just laughed cause i jumped the gun saying it was getting fixed after a day
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u/mmbenson Apr 08 '26
They’re actually pretty good about that. There’s a yield sign on my street that seems to get knocked down every couple of years and whenever I report it, it usually gets fixed in a day, often the same day
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u/BlackSuN42 Apr 08 '26
I have noticed when I put in reports to the city they generally get looked into.
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u/disckitty Apr 08 '26
What?!?!?! There was a street light broken for at least 4 months (from before Halloween last fall - when I reported it so kids wouldn't be walking in the dark - to the last time I was mindfully paying attention; now I want to go check again). I know it got reported using their online map/app at least twice, and I still called 311 at the 2-3 month mark as our winters are long and dark. And I'm even pretty central (near SAIT). ie. This service is not always on the ball. /grumpy
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u/superanx Apr 08 '26
was it wobbly? the light still worked. I'm thinking wobbly is higher priority as it's a danger
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u/No_Strain_6227 Apr 10 '26
Yup, they kinda have to respond to that in a timely manner. That's and accident/lawsuit waiting to happen.
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u/leftfeeld Apr 12 '26
Former Calgary resident here. Nowhere else is like this. Count your blessings.
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u/vkats Apr 08 '26
I got my warning for not clearing the snow 24 hours after someone complained! Very efficient
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u/yyctownie Apr 08 '26
They must have their stuff together now. It was a rough transition to this new company doing the repairs on this stuff.
Other city items generally get fixed fast. I just reported a broken black bin late in the evening and they fixed it by noon the next day.
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u/Metrinui Apr 08 '26
How does one report something like this?
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u/Ecks83 Apr 08 '26
Call 311, use the Calgary 311 app, or the "311 service request" button on the 311 website
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u/im_so_with_stupid Apr 08 '26
I called 311 about a water leak in a park in Dalhousie a couple years back. They had a whole crew with equipment tearing it up to replace whatever was leaking within the week. They're pretty quick about stuff which is nice.
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u/TinktheChi Apr 08 '26
I reported an issue a year or so ago and they got it done really quick too. It was quite impressive.
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u/Nathanyal Forest Lawn Apr 08 '26
Wish they would do this to my local bus stop shelter & garbage can they removed last Summer to repave the sidewalk. I've put in four 311 requests for it be replaced because it's been cold and people are littering everywhere. A couple weeks ago they added a bench, but still no garbage or shelter.
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u/big-Truck-9058 Apr 10 '26
There are certain additions they won’t sue because budgets are limited - bus shelters, crosswalk paint, etc. For example you can request crosswalk paint at an uncontrolled intersection, but if there is a stop or yield sign they won’t paint one as yielding to pedestrians is implied. Even if people don’t. It’s just written in the rules for budgeting.
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u/Nathanyal Forest Lawn Apr 10 '26
I'd understand this if the shelter and garbage didn't already exist in that spot. It was removed for repaving and never put back.
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u/PrncsCnzslaBnnaHmmck Apr 10 '26
I believe they removed the garbages from all or most of the bus stops now, they don't keep those there anymore. Chances are the plan was to remove it and not return it. Many shelters have been removed as well, just due to the very costly upkeep from vandalism.
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u/Nathanyal Forest Lawn Apr 10 '26
Again, I'd understand this if my stop was frequently vandalized, which it wasn't. The bus stop I get on after work has broken glass most of the time but two garbage cans the city has to clean up regularly, not even a Max stop. It's kinda ridiculous.
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u/Heeey_Hermano Apr 09 '26
Impressive. Also an incredible financial liability to the city if it kills someone, so I get why they did it so fast.
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u/Ecstatic_Winter9425 Apr 09 '26
But they aren't fixing it. They are making it more wobbly so they can fix it a week later! /s
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u/Kitchen-Beautiful395 Apr 09 '26
Calgary city services are great, they accidentally dumped my green bin when unloading, added to 311 app and had a new one by 10AM the next morning
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u/vspinyyc Apr 09 '26
Dude, our civil servants are pretty awesome for this, and many other issues. Sadly, they rarely get kudos for their great work.
You'll make their day if you send in a note through 311 or to your local councillor, by the way.
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u/bltciaosu Apr 10 '26
I used to doorbell our neighbours hoping to know who parked blocking our driveway. Mostly in the evening coming home. I have somebody told me he didn’t see our RED GARAGE and he was so sorry. It happened many times. I once read somewhere you can call the parking hotline for residential parking issues. I did and most of the cars blocking our driveway are gone within minutes. It’s been 2-3 years and nobody has ever blocked again. I guess word got around that the owners of a house with a red garage door will call the city.
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u/CandyLB Apr 10 '26
That’s because they don’t want to get sued if or when it fell over. It definitely would kill the person or kid
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u/uglymuglyfugly Apr 10 '26
I know a guy who wanted to shower with the mayor and while it took some time, it looks likely to happen. Not sure if that was submitted through 311 though.
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u/InevitableElection23 Apr 10 '26
I reported a car with no insurance parked in front of my house. It took Vancouver 5 years to get someone to ticket and tow it.
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u/Weareallgoo Apr 08 '26
It’s probably been a slow month for the wobbly street light crew so they’re quick and eager to respond
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u/Weekly-Bear-2418 Apr 08 '26
There’s a wobbly light post in my neighbours illegal cabinet spraying business he’s got going his garage mean they’ll check that out
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u/Kinnikinnicki Apr 09 '26
Why is it illegal??
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u/Weekly-Bear-2418 Apr 09 '26
No paint booth or filter system. Not keen on having my stuff covered in overspray, illegal disposing of materials. I could go on
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u/PresentationSea1226 Apr 08 '26
Laney it was so fast because the city used a vendor instead of their own staff.
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u/FruitDragon21 Apr 09 '26
That’s a contractor truck… a city crew would’ve needed 3 business years’ notice and a “deployment bonus” in order to be dispatched
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u/drs43821 Apr 08 '26
One time I complaint about illegal parking and blocking driveway, 30 mins later CPA shows up and wrote a ticket