The thought of tapping an unused lawsuit settlement to repair broken streetlights struck Mayor Helena Moreno at 3 a.m., one morning a few weeks into her term.
She wondered if the Entergy fines the City Council levied years earlier would be enough to make a dent in the city’s backlog of downed interstate lighting.
She texted Erin Spears, the head of council’s utility regulatory office, who confirmed the fund still had almost $3 million. She called her former at-large colleague on the council, JP Morrell, so he could get the ball rolling on his end. And her ‘Lights On’ initiative came to life…