Comment
Rate
City Flips Switch on Lighting
 |
| The biggest hurdle to getting the lights on Seventh Street turned on was finding someone who remembered the project's installation, which occurred in the early 1990s. Photo by Gary Leonard. |
After a Decade in the Dark, Seventh Street Lamps Finally Shine
by Kathryn Maese
After more than a decade of neglect, 32 antique-style street lamps on Seventh Street have been switched on by the city in an effort to launch a permanent lighting district.
The green lamps between Figueroa and Hope streets were installed in the early 1990s as part of a public transit project, but languished as city agencies lost track of contracts and stakeholders lost interest. Still, for some, the dim lights have long been decried as a squandered opportunity.
This July, property owners along the two-block stretch are expected to vote on whether to support the lighting by paying for electricity and upkeep. An assessment would be added to their annual property tax bill. In the meantime, the city's Bureau of Street Lighting has turned the lights on as a courtesy to the community.
"The district itself is being created as we speak," said Stan Horwitz, a senior street lighting engineer at the bureau. "These lights have an interesting history. It's nice now that it's being resolved because it ensures that the lights will be on and functional."
In the next two weeks, Horwitz said the Bureau of Street Lighting will replace the old, yellowed plastic globes with new diffusers. Each of the 32 lamps, spaced about 25 feet apart, sports four six-inch globes and a large eight-inch light in the center.
Over the years small efforts were made to take action on the issue, but each quickly dimmed. In April 2003, the latest effort, by business group the Downtown Breakfast Club, singled out the unlit lamps as a candidate for its Lemon Award, traditionally doled out to the worst Downtown projects. The embarrassment prompted Ninth District Councilwoman Jan Perry and the Downtown Center Business Improvement District (BID) to work on the problem.
"It annoyed them and I was told to get them lit," said Greg Fischer, a Perry staffer. "It was easier said than done."
When Fischer started the process, information was hard to come by. Many of the people who knew about the project no longer worked for the city, and there were few records available. Fischer discovered that the lights were installed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority - then called the RTD - as part of a $250,000 improvement project linked to the Red Line's completion.
At the time, about five property owners created an informal association to determine how to pay for the lights. Macy's Plaza, the Roosevelt Building, the Fine Arts Building, the Home Savings and Loan structure and the 818 Building agreed to sign a city-drafted covenant splitting the costs, which would have been several thousand dollars a year. The few who remember the process say there were problems with the language in the agreement and that some owners demanded special sidewalks, landscaping and lights. Though the City Attorney's office negotiated the agreement with property owners, nothing was ever signed.
"I did some research at the MTA and with people involved with the street lights," said Michael Gagan, a member of the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council. "Nobody could find an agreement. A lot of property owners had changed since then and there was never a lighting assessment district created."
Hal Bastian, vice president and director of economic development for the BID, helped spearhead the current effort to relight the lamps. The BID paid for the lamp's power source to be removed from the basement of Macy's Plaza and hooked up to the city grid.
City and business leaders said there is broad support for the effort and expect the lighting district to be approved.
Fischer said relighting the historical reproduction lamps is not about pedestrian safety, since there are larger, more practical light poles dotting the street. Instead, he said the pieces lend the area some Old World charm.
"It's a fun retro look," he said. "We used to have thousands of these globe and satellite lamps all over the city. Those were ripped out decades ago, so it's nice to see them again in front of some of these older buildings."
Contact Kathryn Maese at kathryn@downtownnews.com.
page 3, 5/9/2005
© Los Angeles Downtown News. Reprinting items retrieved from the archives are for personal use only. They may not be reproduced or retransmitted without permission of the Los Angeles Downtown News. If you would like to redistribute anything from the Los Angeles Downtown News Archives, please call our permissions department at (213) 481-1448.
The green lamps between Figueroa and Hope streets were installed in the early 1990s as part of a public transit project, but languished as city agencies lost track of contracts and stakeholders lost interest. Still, for some, the dim lights have long been decried as a squandered opportunity.
This July, property owners along the two-block stretch are expected to vote on whether to support the lighting by paying for electricity and upkeep. An assessment would be added to their annual property tax bill. In the meantime, the city's Bureau of Street Lighting has turned the lights on as a courtesy to the community.
"The district itself is being created as we speak," said Stan Horwitz, a senior street lighting engineer at the bureau. "These lights have an interesting history. It's nice now that it's being resolved because it ensures that the lights will be on and functional."
In the next two weeks, Horwitz said the Bureau of Street Lighting will replace the old, yellowed plastic globes with new diffusers. Each of the 32 lamps, spaced about 25 feet apart, sports four six-inch globes and a large eight-inch light in the center.
Over the years small efforts were made to take action on the issue, but each quickly dimmed. In April 2003, the latest effort, by business group the Downtown Breakfast Club, singled out the unlit lamps as a candidate for its Lemon Award, traditionally doled out to the worst Downtown projects. The embarrassment prompted Ninth District Councilwoman Jan Perry and the Downtown Center Business Improvement District (BID) to work on the problem.
"It annoyed them and I was told to get them lit," said Greg Fischer, a Perry staffer. "It was easier said than done."
When Fischer started the process, information was hard to come by. Many of the people who knew about the project no longer worked for the city, and there were few records available. Fischer discovered that the lights were installed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority - then called the RTD - as part of a $250,000 improvement project linked to the Red Line's completion.
At the time, about five property owners created an informal association to determine how to pay for the lights. Macy's Plaza, the Roosevelt Building, the Fine Arts Building, the Home Savings and Loan structure and the 818 Building agreed to sign a city-drafted covenant splitting the costs, which would have been several thousand dollars a year. The few who remember the process say there were problems with the language in the agreement and that some owners demanded special sidewalks, landscaping and lights. Though the City Attorney's office negotiated the agreement with property owners, nothing was ever signed.
"I did some research at the MTA and with people involved with the street lights," said Michael Gagan, a member of the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council. "Nobody could find an agreement. A lot of property owners had changed since then and there was never a lighting assessment district created."
Hal Bastian, vice president and director of economic development for the BID, helped spearhead the current effort to relight the lamps. The BID paid for the lamp's power source to be removed from the basement of Macy's Plaza and hooked up to the city grid.
City and business leaders said there is broad support for the effort and expect the lighting district to be approved.
Fischer said relighting the historical reproduction lamps is not about pedestrian safety, since there are larger, more practical light poles dotting the street. Instead, he said the pieces lend the area some Old World charm.
"It's a fun retro look," he said. "We used to have thousands of these globe and satellite lamps all over the city. Those were ripped out decades ago, so it's nice to see them again in front of some of these older buildings."
Contact Kathryn Maese at kathryn@downtownnews.com.
page 3, 5/9/2005
© Los Angeles Downtown News. Reprinting items retrieved from the archives are for personal use only. They may not be reproduced or retransmitted without permission of the Los Angeles Downtown News. If you would like to redistribute anything from the Los Angeles Downtown News Archives, please call our permissions department at (213) 481-1448.
 |
 |
|
| Observing the Observed | Project With A Riverview |
Article Rating
Reader Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of ladowntownnews.com.
You must register with a valid email to post comments. Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Registered users sign in here: |
Become a Registered User |
Popular Searches
