The first part of 2016 could end up being a little brighter.
Atop Mayor Lenny Curry’s capital improvement plan is $480,000 for Downtown street and lighting improvements.
How and where projects should be implemented won’t be known until a $70,000 study is completed by mid-March, said Curry spokeswoman Marsha Oliver.
But, the focus of it will be what specific areas of Downtown need lighting for safety, she said.
The remaining $410,000 will be used for the projects themselves. Another $270,000 is slated for fiscal 2016-17.
The funding comes from the ongoing annual city infrastructure plan, not the Downtown Investment Authority.
However, improved lighting Downtown was one of the many redevelopment pieces that went into the authority’s business investment development strategy approved last year.
Better lighting can improve access to and from the St. Johns River along the streetscape.
It can better connect the core and surrounding neighborhoods. And yes, it improves the level of safety both real and perceived.
“It does change the way people see it,” said Jim Bailey, DIA board chair and publisher of the Daily Record. “It’s a lot more than just changing a bulb.”
Aundra Wallace, the authority’s CEO, will work with the city’s Public Works department on the study. One of his goals is to have a well-lit walking path from Downtown’s core to The Elbow District, the growing nightlife area along Ocean and Bay streets.
Take a walk or ride on Adams Street toward the courthouse to see “stark differences,” Wallace said — it’s where LED lights have been installed.
“There’s very different illumination … they give off a very safe feel,” said Wallace. “That is what we want for Downtown.”
Many of those lights were put up as part of a partnership among the city, JEA and GE, he said.
That pilot program was announced in April for advanced LED streetlight technology for energy savings and maintenance. The lights used a GE software platform that connects machines, data and people to improve performance and increase lifespan.
Results from the GE Intelligent Cities pilot are expected next month, said Oliver.
Wallace said those results would likely be incorporated into the overall plan for Downtown.
Where the city decides to improve lighting Downtown won’t be known for a couple of months, but Wallace said the fact it’s happening is big.
It will help further dispel the myth that Downtown isn’t safe and, hopefully, attract even more people to the core. He calls that not only an easy win, but an important one.
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