The 60-Second Philly Streetlight Hack

The city already wired every new LED to a remote dimmer. Most people never use it. They just live with a white slab of light in the bedroom.

You don’t have to.

City crew adjusting a Philadelphia streetlight from a bucket truck

Philadelphia finished the LED swap in 2025. The heads last longer, use less power, and report dead bulbs on their own. They also throw a wider beam. If a pole faces your windows, that’s not a design flaw you have to accept. It’s a setting.

Philadelphia block at night under older street lighting

The team that runs the network can drop the output on one fixture and bolt a house-side shield on the head so the beam stays on the street.

The Hack

Email ledstreetlighting@phila.gov

Three lines:

1. Your address and which side of the block

2. Where the pole sits (mid-block / corner / across from the building)

3. “Please dim this fixture and install a house-side shield.”

Same ask works in 311 if the inbox goes quiet. If they stall, reply in the same thread and ask for a date.

One email. Better light. - AJ

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