SACRAMENTO, Calif. — TikToker Logan Ivey creates playful movies that always characteristic the quirks of dwelling in Sacramento, however considered one of his lighthearted movies centered on town obtained severe consideration.
On Aug. 22, Ivey posted a video documenting the derelict state of a number of damaged or lacking avenue lamps within the metropolis of Sacramento. In his video, which has been considered 1.1 million occasions, Ivey first notes that an orange cone has lined the stays of a damaged avenue lamp on 14th and O streets for the 193 days because it fell on Tremendous Bowl Sunday.
“Maybe the city just forgot to replace the lamp with an actual lamp,” he says. “It happens. Cities aren’t perfect.”
However Ivey continued to note bolted cones within the place of fallen avenue lamps across the metropolis. After a number of orange sightings, Ivey says that he’s all in on what he has dubbed #conegate.
He recognized 4 different websites throughout the grid in want of changing. By means of private documentation and Google Earth archives, Ivey is ready to deduce simply how lengthy a few of these orange cones have stood within the place of avenue lamps (as many as 591 days within the case of the one at nineteenth and I Avenue).
“So Sacramento, why is a cone your solution to lamps falling down?” Ivey playfully asks in his TikTok.
On the finish of the video, Ivey exhibits off his resolution to a half-broken lamp which has not but been coned: a beaten-up orange plastic bollard positioned haphazardly atop the bottom of the lamp.
“Don’t worry, I got you covered,” he says.
Two days later, the cone at 14th and O was changed with a model new avenue lamp. He additionally discovered {that a} lamp had been erected at 18th and J streets, one other problematic spot that he recognized in his video, and the half-broken lamp he identified was eliminated and changed with a bolted down cone.
In a observe up video posted Aug. 25, Ivey concludes that the three fixes made by town inside two days of his video was sufficient proof that it was appearing in direct response to his viral video.
He was proper.
Why so many cones?
“These include extensive storm damage, difficulties in acquiring the necessary parts and equipment, and staffing shortages,” Miller wrote. “Given these circumstances, the City has prioritized emergency repairs and is addressing issues as quickly as possible.”
Based on data obtained by the Sacramento Bee, it value $5,086.92 in supplies and labor to switch the road lamp.
Along with acquiring alternative components, workers availability is likely one of the most limiting components in fixing damaged avenue lamps. Town has 10 workers members sustaining 40,000 avenue lights and 850 visitors alerts and has began to collaborate with contractors to atone for the remaining repairs, which sits at about 400, Miller mentioned.
Town encourages residents to report broken avenue lamps and visitors alerts to 311 in order that crews can assess and prioritize acceptable repairs.
Ivey had blended emotions upon being knowledgeable that his hypothesis was right and that town did act in response to his video.
“At first I was excited, but then I realized that it is actually kind of just sad. People had commented they had reported these broken lamps and cones to 311 (the actual proper way to get the city to take action) and they were not fixed,” he mentioned. “It taking a viral video to get the city to fix the lamps is a little silly. If it takes two years and a viral video to get a simple lamp fixed, what does it take to solve more major issues?”
TikTok as civil participation
Ivey grew up in Colfax, attended UC Davis after which moved to Sacramento, the place he has lived for almost a decade. It solely takes a couple of minutes of scrolling by way of Ivey’s TikTok account ( heckinsick ) to see his affinity for town, which is commonly featured on his account as both a backdrop for a curiosity-driven journey or the topic of investigation, as within the #conegate posts.
In considered one of his hottest movies, Ivey paperwork the method of turning a $16 mirror from Fb market right into a selfie station positioned in Previous Sacramento. In one other, he holds a flag design contest to switch the one he says the Metropolis of Sacramento is just too embarrassed to fly at metropolis corridor, and makes stickers out of the highest 4 submissions.
Ivey has additionally dug into some native mysteries, from piecing collectively the historical past of the lately disappeared espresso cup statue on prime of the Alhambra Boulevard Starbucks to investigating the regulation behind a Sacramento burger restaurant’s indicators that urge prospects to park in close by tons regardless of neighboring companies’ signage prohibiting it.
A lot of his movies take a better take a look at what some residents could take without any consideration, however Ivey doesn’t consider himself as a journalist and mentioned that it’s not typical for him to push for civic accountability by way of his platform. He mentioned that he pursued the video about cones as a result of he discovered it humorous that the damaged lamps had been ignored for thus lengthy, however that he doesn’t want to be the one making town reply for itself.
Nonetheless, Ivey concluded his observe up video on the cones with a query: “what else does the City of Sacramento need shaming about?”
The content material creator mentioned that past traditional points like homelessness and deserted properties, there must be extra consideration given to “what the heck is going on” with the bike trails in Sacramento, citing ongoing points with main closures and an unsure schedule of when they are going to reopen.
“The bike trails in Sacramento are my favorite part of the city, and they will be what I miss most if I ever leave,” he mentioned. “I can’t seem to bike anywhere without getting blocked and having to turn around. … I was once blocked on a bike trail while biking when it was 100 degrees out. If I turned around I would’ve had to bike another 10 miles to get home, if I kept going I would’ve had to bike on the freeway, so I called for a ride instead. I get that trails need maintenance, etc. but if this was a freeway or any sort of road for cars, they would only close half of it at a time so you could still get through.”
He was engaged on a video about it, however has had bother determining what is definitely occurring.
“Maybe a job for the Sac Bee!” he mentioned.
Ivey’s quirky pursuits on his TikTok channel have led him to a full time job making movies for a startup, which he juggles with being a first-time father to a new child. He additionally sells Sacramento- and Davis-themed merchandise, together with T-shirts that characteristic native signifiers just like the capitol constructing, the Tower Theatre and, in fact, an Anh Phoong billboard.