Villarrasa Switches Off Half Its Street Lights

VILLARRASA. Since 1 March, one in every two street lights in Villarrasa has been switched off between one and six in the morning. Six months on, the village, home to 2,300 people, is divided, and the October council meeting will decide whether the measure stays.

The mayor, Rosa Merino, says the decision is “sensible and necessary”. The first full bill, for April, was 28% lower than the previous April’s. “We estimate that in a year we’ll save 40%,” she says. The electricity company, however, points out that in that month the price per kilowatt-hour was 10% cheaper than a year earlier.

The El Pontón Residents’ Association doesn’t see it the same way. “People are scared. There are more burglaries and everybody knows it,” says its chair, Marta Ibarra. In July, the association surveyed 120 residents: 70% said they felt less safe walking home at night.

Figures from the Guardia Civil, the local police force, paint a different picture: between March and August, four burglaries were reported in the village centre, compared with five in the same months last year. Only one took place between one and six in the morning.

One group that is celebrating the darkness is the Valley Astronomy Club. Since the lights went off, the Milky Way can be seen with the naked eye from the square, and its “star nights” drew around 300 people in August. “It’s been the best August in ten years,” says Andrés Soto, owner of the bar on the square. This year, what’s more, the village festival was moved from July to August.

The debate goes on in the street. “What people feel is one thing and what actually happens is another,” sums up one resident. For the council meeting, the town hall has promised to present all the bills for the six months.