This one is odd. I was walking downtown and noticed an odd pair of decorative street lights. They are about 15 feet tall, with an acorn bulb on top. Usually, the electric service is from underground, but this pair had a wire run from one to the other (about 40 feet). I looked up and saw that some sort of device had been, um, attached with electrical tape to one pole, and a wire run from the other one to the device. The device was connected with open splices. What on Earth happened here? I sure hope this wiring doesn't have 277 volts in it.

That "Scotch 33" hanger on the twist to lock photocell receptacle is a real sloppy way of doing things, but the whole thing looks lame.

Very likely to be an underground cable fault.
Perhaps too expensive to fix, difficult access, busy main road.
That device attached looks like a lightcell.

I figured it was a light cell of some sort. My concern is the open splice exposed to the elements. I am hoping this is a low voltage device (less than 50V) and the exposed splice isn't an electrocution risk. It just looks...wrong.

What they did is added a photo cell to a Lampost that came without one.
Does listing & labeling, Splices made in junction boxes, Splice approved for conditions, Workmanship all come to mind!!!
Yoopersup

Electric utilities have their own rules when it comes to their equiptment.

Come to my city and you will see damaged u/g steet lighting feeds where the pole has had be removed either coming up from the base wrapped in yellow caution tape or jammed under a orange traffic cone (until the wind blows it away). If your lucky you may see that the utility has put a rusty pole stub back on the base with the wires stuffed in it.

One street I pass each day has had a pole stub on it for 5 years now in place of a street light. Two years ago I was told it should be replaced soon.

If OWNED buy the Utility it comes under Utility . If owned by the City it comes under the NEC.

Yep, and generally, the utility company's practices are much more stringent than NEC would be. It is safe to assume that this is either privately-owned or owned by the city. Either way, there is absolutely no part of it that is legal, even if classified as temporary wiring. From the weathered condition of just the wire nuts alone, that "wiring" has been up there for quite some time. The cable used looks like nothing but a 16 or 14 gauge extension cord. True, it could be IMSA or tray cable, but I seriously doubt it. Regardless, none of those cable types are rated for aerial self support.

Oh, and that's not low voltage either. Those photocell controls have a minimum voltage rating of 120 volts.

Well, I was afraid of that. This really bugs me then, since it isn't farfetched to be concerned that eventually something is going to come loose and energize the light pole. Someone could easily get killed from this. The splice is up there exposed to the elements, snow, rain, heat, cold, etc. It will fail eventually.

I'll report it when I get to work Tuesday.

Isn't the pole bonded? If not, that would be my first concern. The mess in the hand hole of these poles is usually worse than what we see up there.

anyone else think the light bulb is resting on the side of the fixture glass inside this thing? This whole mess screams hack city/county repair...

I wonder if this is near Sacramento...