The authors of this article, Kirk Cheyfitz and Bill Mitchell, are the founders of Detroit143, a grass-roots journalism project that has focused attention on the city's complex and costly streetlight problem.
Their site, detroit143.org, contains extensive information on the lighting system, including slides from an in-depth study from 2010 that contains history, costs and other information.
More than any media outlet, Detroit143 has been out in front in reporting on a plan by officials to cut the number of streetlights by nearly 50 percent.
