The flickering lights in the parking lot of the Miami Commons apartments believed responsible for prompting a tenant to have seizures are still not working. The landlord has stated there are plans to replace them with a new LED lighting system.
On Feb. 5 the apartment complex turned the malfunctioning lights off to keep them from flickering. A month later, those lights are still off, but temporary lights are being used to illuminate the lot.
“We’ve had a couple [contractors] come out to see exactly what the issue is and what the cost would be so it’s just taking a little bit of time until they’ve all gotten out here and been able to look at it and get back to us,” said Matt Superka, the general manager for The Commons.
What caused the lights to malfunction is unknown, but according to Superka, the contractors believe it’s a tear in the line underground.
Angela Nevins, regional manager for Capstone Real Estate Investments which manages the complex, said the lights are going to be replaced with LED lights, which have been ordered, but may still take a few more weeks to be installed.
“It’s not like a light bulb or a simple piece or something we can just go out there and change,” she said.
Christine Rose, a resident at the Miami Commons, reported the malfunctioning lights back in February. Rose is epileptic, and said the flickering lights caused a strobe effect which caused her to have seizures. Rose was forced to cover her bedroom window to keep the flickering light out and needed assistance to get to and from work when the lights were malfunctioning.
“We definitely want things to be fully functioning and to be on top of it and to get things done as quickly as possible,” Nevins said. “As soon as we were notified, we started looking into it, so this is the direction we decided to go: to change them all over to LED lights.”