Residents along a stretch of St. Charles Avenue said nighttime parades roll in the dark, without streetlights. They said the lights have not worked since Hurricane Katrina in the 2700 block of St. Charles, and only intermittently in the 2600 block, which makes the nighttime parades a challenge for spectators.

“People get off on the streetcar, getting on have no light over there at all, so it’s really spooky," said resident Diane Fee.

The city’s Public Works Department took over streetlight maintenance from Entergy about six months ago and there were concerns that would lead to problems, including a backlog of complaints. However, Robert Mendoza, Public Works Director, said every effort was being made to take care of those problems.

"The ones that we're getting is that one that the guy called, and it’s two weeks later, and he's called, and it’s three weeks later, and he's called, and what it’s usually some kind of underground problem,” he said.

Failed underground wiring was the problem on St. Charles Avenue, Mendoza said, so the city dispatched a team of contractors with a special machine that bores a hole under the road to run new wiring. But those contractors only began work a month ago.

“If someone called about a repair that required a new line to be bored under the street, you know, two months ago, we didn't have that machine in place, so we're adding the different services that Entergy used to do for us, but of course we're adding them in phases,” he said.

In Algiers, Teddy Cook said he and his neighbors were worried about a concrete streetlight pole that broke in half during the hurricane, yet still comes on at night, meaning the exposed wires are electrified.

“I got involved in July, and today it’s still not fixed,” Cook said.

Mendoza said the historic poles take anywhere from 16 to 20 weeks to come in, so those replacement poles that were originally ordered have just started to come in. He added that some people were still calling Entergy about streetlight repairs, which slows the process. Instead, they must call the city's hotline at 3-1-1.