By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

Parts of St. Laurent are too dark because of inadequate lighting, some residents told a recent borough council meeting.

One longtime resident said she and others are concerned about safety.

“We all got alarm systems, we all got cameras, because clearly, there’s something going on. We all see people going in our cars, we see everything, but there’s no lights. So we can’t see the people. There’s just no lights. My mother is 84 years old, she leaves my house and there’s no lights. Why are there no lights? It’s like there is a power failure and every city I go to, I don’t see the same problem.”

Mayor Alan DeSousa asked the resident to identify specific areas. The resident responded, “everywhere I walk, St. Louis, Valade, Fraser, Marlatt, White. My mother leaves my house, each time she says, ‘I’m going to fall, I’m going to fall!'”

DeSousa said no lighting has been removed by the borough, but that the lights “have changed across the entire community.”

“But there’s no lights!” the resident said. “We need lights! We have people robbing houses! St. Laurent is not the way it used to be!”

DeSousa said the street lights are there, “so if there’s a street light missing…”

“We don’t even have the poles!” the resident said. “Fifty people are complaining about the same thing. The lights used to be very bright.”

DeSousa said the identified streets have been around for decades.

“The streets were built in the 1950s and 1960s, the lights are there. The type of lighting has changed, they became more efficient. Our lighting system was fragile, we worked with Hydro-Québec and we followed them, not just on the lighting but on the fragility of the wiring. They replaced them, over three years, all the wiring was changed. If you do have specific areas or streets where the lighting is not there, we’ll check it out and validate what the lighting requirements are.”