by Ted J. Feeney
Streetlights provide multiple benefits. According to the Project for Public Spaces, a national nonprofit place-making advocate, streetlights help calm traffic, aid in wayfinding, enhance community character, and increase safety. For Midtown’s urban neighborhoods, streetlights are considered an effective means of crime prevention. Because public safety is any local government’s primary concern and largest budgetary item, streetlights are an important part of the public safety discussion.
According to Indianapolis Power and Light (IPL), there are 92,000 streetlights in Indianapolis, although the City is responsible for only 29,000. Residents or businesses privately own the others. The City’s budget for streetlights is approximately $5 million per year. From a budgeting standpoint, streetlights are considered infrastructure and the related costs are in competition with other funding priorities, such as roads, sidewalks, sewers, and bridges. There has been a moratorium on additional streetlights in Indianapolis since 1981, when Mayor Bill Hudnut instituted it as a cost-saving measure.
Each of the three succeeding mayoral administrations (Goldsmith, Peterson, and Ballard) has discussed new streetlights, but because of the moratorium, installations have been limited to swapping out existing lights.
Mayor Joe Hogsett addressed the issue during his State of the City address May 11 as part of his public safety initiatives for 2016. In addition to creating the Office of Public Health and Safety to replace the Department of Public Safety, undertaking an inventory of abandoned homes, and establishing 1,000 summer jobs for young people, Mayor Hogsett announced the end of the streetlight moratorium by Executive Order No. 3 (PDF) and promised to install 100 new streetlights across the city—the first new streetlights in over 30 years.
‘Operation Night Light’
The Mayor made good on that promise June 9 when he launched “Operation Night Light” at the Paramount School of Excellence on the city’s Near Eastside. Indianapolis Power & Light (IPL) service teams installed a mid-block streetlight.
“Together with neighborhood advocates and leaders, public safety officials and civic groups, we will identify and rectify the lack of necessary streetlights in Indianapolis in a multi-phase strategic initiative,” Hogsett said. “Phase 1 will see the installation of 100 new streetlights across Indianapolis.” Funding will come from cost savings and require no additional tax dollars.
IPL CEO Raphael Sanchez joined the Mayor at the announcement. “In the spirit of partnership, IPL will commission and fund a comprehensive study that will evaluate the lighting needs across our territory,” he said. While a timeline was not announced, the Mayor suggested it would be completed “sooner rather than later.”
Positive Response
Response to the moratorium being lifted has been positive. North District Commander Christopher Bailey said the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department is in support of the installation of new streetlights. “Most of the concerns I hear from residents, especially those who live in some of our most troubled neighborhoods, are concerns about lighting,” he said. “Under the mayor’s leadership we are going to turn the lights on in our streets and send a message to the criminals that they cannot hide.”
Midtown neighborhoods have been affected for years by the moratorium. Several initiatives are under way to provide much-needed lighting. For example, the Broad Ripple Village Association (BRVA) aims to create a community that is both attractive and safe for the 5,000 residents who live and 700 businesses that operate in the Village, according to BRVA executive director Brooke Klejnot. She said BRVA formed a lighting committee in 2012 to work within the confines of the moratorium.
In addition, BRVA engaged Techlite and Barth Electric in 2014 to develop a comprehensive lighting plan for the village. BRVA also has met with their community development peers across the city to build a coalition of advocates to ask the City to remove the moratorium and have IPL upgrade current fixtures. Currently IPL offers three options of light fixtures, none of which use energy-efficient LED lights. BRVA’s Klejnot hopes that the Hogsett administration starts with Broad Ripple on additional lighting. “We have our lighting plan and are eager to implement our goals for the village,” she said.
Along with a strong police presence and community policing, streetlights are considered a necessary public safety tool. Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association (BTNA) president Clark Kirkman says the group wants “as many lights on as possible.” The neighborhood experienced a well-documented spike in violent crime in 2015, including four homicides within the neighborhood boundaries as well as two additional homicides in other parts of the city involving neighborhood residents.
BTNA at Work
BTNA residents volunteered last fall to identify both abandoned houses and non-working streetlights. Their target area is bounded by 38th Street and 42nd streets between Illinois Street and Boulevard Place. In this target zone where all four 2015 homicides occurred, there are 100 City-owned and 125 privately owned streetlights. Approximately 200 homes in this zone also are located within the Great Places 2020 impact area.
Kirkman says BTNA recently completed an inventory of City-owned lights and is continuing its efforts to identify non-working streetlights. “This is a priority in 2016,” he said. “Because of our efforts we have had success against crime and illegal drugs in the neighborhood.”
BTNA has also partnered with a group from the Indianapolis Bar Association called Operation Lights On to help keep the streets of Butler-Tarkington illuminated. Energy-efficient LED light bulbs (for porches) are available free of charge at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center. Neighborhood residents will also receive other materials about lighting, including a refrigerator magnet showing where to call to report burned-out streetlights. Operation Lights On also will fund the installation of two new streetlights in the neighborhood. In addition, BTNA is receiving local business support. The Illinois Street Food Emporium at 56th Street is funding one of the new lights on a long-term basis and the Ace Hardware at 3833 N. Illinois St. is offering a discount to residents on the purchase of outdoor lighting and home security products.
Meridian-Kessler Neighborhood Association (MKNA) president Nick Colby is excited that the mayor’s campaign promise to lift the moratorium is being fulfilled. “This change potentially has a significant impact to our area, especially in pedestrian areas that are currently not lit,” Colby said. As an example, he cited the recently completed street and sidewalk project on Winthrop Avenue from 52nd Street to 54th Street, designed to make the corridor more pedestrian-friendly. “The piece MKNA could not accomplish, due to the moratorium, was to have additional, pedestrian-level lighting added. We were successful at getting the City to install conduit under the sidewalk for future lighting needs,” he said. “At this point, we have no funding source to install new lights.”
Ted J. Feeney, a Butler-Tarkington resident since 2008, is a board member and past president of the Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association.
