Newport Left in the Dark as Town Council and Electric Company Deadlock
A standoff between the town council and Northern Electric leaves Newport without streetlights, prompting fears of crime and a possible new franchise.
There is as yet no prospect of street lighting as the town council and the light company are each standing pat on their original propositions. In the meantime the town is obliged to put up with darkness, a condition which does not at all please our people and practically leaves us at the mercy of the floating element.
The town needs the all night service which it enjoyed until June of this year and no other solution of the problem will suffice. It is understood that unless some terms can be arrived at soon with the Northern Electric company the council will take up the matter of granting a franchise to another company. Several propositions for a new lighting system have been made informally to the council which will be taken up in the near future if there is no getting together with the Northern Electric.
“practically leaves us at the mercy of the floating element.”
Then as now, utility franchise disputes leave residents in the dark. The 1908 standoff between Newport's town council and the Northern Electric Company echoes modern fights over broadband, power, and who controls the infrastructure we all depend on.
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