Commissioner Pushes Through Red Tape To Restore Powerline Streetlights

Newly elected City Commissioner Daniel Shanetzky is wasting no time addressing a longstanding safety issue for Century Village East residents — the darkened stretch of Powerline Road between West Drive, the western gate of the Village, and Hillsboro Boulevard.

Streetlights along this busy corridor have been out of service, creating a hazardous situation for pedestrians and drivers alike. Now, Shanetzky is pushing hard to cut through layers of bureaucratic red tape and get those lights working again.

The CVE Reporter has exclusively obtained copies of multiple emails from Shanetzky, FPL, and others documenting the complex bureaucratic maze involved in fixing the lights. 

The issue is complicated by the confusing patchwork of ownership along the road. Some light poles are the responsibility of the City of Deerfield Beach. Others are owned by Florida Power & Light (FPL). Still others may belong to private utility companies like AT&T. Determining who is responsible for which fixtures — and coordinating their repair — has proven frustratingly difficult.

“This is something that should have been fixed a long time ago,” Shanetzky wrote in a June 21 email. “Maybe we can get it moving.”

Shanetzky has spent the past several weeks in constant communication with city staff, utility representatives, and Century Village East Master Management, trying to untangle the web of accountability. Christine Shaw, External Affairs Manager for FPL, confirmed in a July 1 email that the lights along Powerline Road in this area are city-owned and that the City’s contractor has begun the process of ordering replacement poles and fixtures. However, Shaw warned of delays, stating that “there continues to be a backlog on order poles” and that delivery could take “1–2 months.”

Meanwhile, Shanetzky has committed to pushing the matter from all sides — pressing FPL, coordinating with city engineers, and encouraging community members to speak out. “I think a two-pronged attack, with both you and me going over and over it, might be able to get some movement,” he wrote in an email obtained by the CVE Reporter.

For now, installation work is expected to begin on the west side of Powerline Road in the coming days. But residents know that full resolution may still be weeks — or even months — away. Shanetzky, however, shows no signs of letting the issue fade. His persistence is bringing much-needed momentum to a problem that had been left in the dark for far too long.