The Public Lighting Authority of Detroit to Hold Community Meetings to Develop Improvement Plan

June 20, 2013

The Public Lighting Authority will hold seven public meetings throughout Detroit in coming weeks to engage and gather input from the community as it begins to develop a three-year improvement plan for the city’s lighting system.

“The community meetings are a critical step towards improving Detroit’s chronic lighting problem,” said Maureen L. Stapleton, PLA board chair. “We want to hear directly from the community, so that our three-year improvement plan truly reflects the needs, interests and opinions of Detroiters.”

The PLA community meeting schedule is as follows:

North Central: Wednesday, June 26, 6–8 p.m.
Northwest Activities Center, 18100 Meyers Rd.
Northwest: Friday, June 28, 6–8 p.m.
Brightmoor Community Center, 14451 Burt Rd.
East: Wednesday, July 3, 6–8 p.m.
Samaritan Center, 5555 Conner St.
West: Monday, July 8, 6–8 p.m.
Greater Grace Temple, 23500 W. 7 Mile Rd
Southwest: Wednesday, July 10, 6–8 p.m.
Wayne County Community College Downtown District, 1001 W. Fort St.
Central: Monday, July 15, 6–8 p.m.
Coleman A. Young Community Center, 2451 Robert Bradby Dr.
Northeast: Wednesday, July 17, 6–8 p.m.
Perfecting Church Cathedral, 7616 E. Nevada St

The community meeting agenda includes an introduction to the PLA and explanation of the organization’s role, an overview of Detroit’s lighting system, and an opportunity for the community to offer input on options and ideas to improve Detroit’s lighting system.

The PLA was authorized by Michigan Legislature in 2012 and approved by Detroit City Council earlier this year to develop a three-year plan that develops and implements strategies to improve Detroit’s public lighting system. It’s estimated that half of Detroit’s 88,000 lights are inoperable because of coil theft, bulb outages, vandalism and maintenance issues.

“It is important for the community to understand that these meetings are not meant to answer questions about specific non-working lights. We are asking the community to advise us as to what they want to see in a revamped lighting system,” said Stapleton.

The PLA is governed by a five-member board appointed by the Mayor and the City Council.

For current lighting issues, the community is asked to continue contacting the Detroit Public Lighting Department at 313-224-0500.

For more information, contact:

Berg Muirhead and Associates
313-872-2202

Bob Berg
bberg@bergmuirhead.com

Peter Van Dyke
pvandyke@bergmiurhead.com

Discover our Mission

The Public Lighting Authority (PLA) is a state-created authority whose mission is to improve, modernize and maintain all street lights in the City of Detroit with brighter, more reliable, more energy efficient lights. The new lights in neighborhoods are 150-watt equivalent LED lights, twice as bright as the 75-watt equivalent High Pressure Sodium Lights that were the standard under the old system. The LED lights are also much more energy efficient than the High Pressure Sodium lights.