To the Editor:
Keeping the streetlights on in Alexandria starts with city hall’s new Call-Click-Connect system, where like Dorothy going to Oz, you click three times and land in a place that asks you to “call the power company.” The city stays out of the loop and in the happy zone. You’re on your own road to discovery, dude.
Arriving to the Historic District by Metro, you may begin your journey to the water by traversing the western end of King Street’s “lights out” district, where night-shuttered businesses and few restaurants create a picture of gothic gloom. It is here, like Pepper and Martin, whose shop is fronted by an unlit streetlamp, you might feel the need to squint.
This transylvanian pathway refines the meaning of our award as one of America’s “10 Most Walkable Cities” … casting it into the wonderful category of children’s games like blind man’s bluff or pin the tail on the donkey. Even that long-sitting councilwoman Pepper’s solution takes on a childlike aura … becoming an innovative game of spot the festive twinkling patio lights hidden high in the fully leafed-out treetops.
On May 11, 27 of the streetlights on King between Harvard and Union Streets were out. This is roughly 30 percent of the streetlights that should be brightening up sidewalks, restaurants, and shops that run the length of our main shop n’ dine street. And one had to admit that King after sunset did have the eerie feeling of the twilight zone — except at City Hall’s vibrant Market Square.
In the Square a spontaneous crowd had formed around an impromptu band, which I could see from 200 feet away because of the clear-sided, yet historic-looking, dazzling plaza lamps. Tourists checked their visitors guides, people on the sidewalk deciphered the bus schedule, and everyone stepped along merrily without tripping on the bricks. Here it was ... the answer, gracing City Hall alone. The dark pilgrimage from the Metro was over, and we were no longer asked to dither in the dark.
The city has a contract with Dominion Virginia Power that should afford them leverage to ensure their residents and visitors are well served. It also makes them the legal agents for enacting the contractual agreement — not residents. One of Dominion’s board members lives in the Historic District.
Keeping the streetlights on is our city’s responsibility … brightly lit streets lower crime. And right now, many of Alexandria’s “best of” awards are believable only about as long as it takes to change a light bulb.