In East Ybor, they have seen the light (how could they not?). In South Tampa, some say keep it dim. In any case, bulbs citywide are beefing up.
By SHERRI DAY
Published September 3, 2004
TAMPA - Joe Howden likes it bright. In his East Ybor City neighborhood, it's the difference between calm streets and crime-ridden ones.
But Howden pays a price for increased wattage.
"Basically, you can read a book on my block at midnight," said Howden, who lives on Fifth Avenue.
An exaggeration? Not at all. Howden's street shines that brightly.
"One day you realize no matter how many curtains you put in your bedroom at night, you can't make it dark," he said.
Improbably, Howden wants things to stay as they are.
In the early 1990s, he led his neighborhood's call for brighter street lights. Then, much of east Ybor City had 25-watt bulbs. They weren't household incandescent bulbs but industrial-strength high-pressured sodium lights. Still, they left plenty of dim, shadowy areas ripe for criminal activity.
City officials replaced the bulbs with 250-watt lights on residential streets and 400-watt lights at intersections. Now much of the lighting is on par with the high-beam lights at car dealerships and shopping malls, and the neighborhood feels safer, Howden said.
City officials hope to replicate those results in neighborhoods throughout Tampa. Under its Lighting Initiative, brightening is on tap for nearly every street lamp in Tampa.
But one person's beacon, it seems, is another's searchlight.
Residents in several South Tampa neighborhoods oppose the Lighting Initiative, saying the crime prevention tactic is unnecessary and inappropriate on quiet, tree-lined streets. In Palma Ceia Park, Anni Ellis is incensed.
"My little street will be illuminated 450 times more than what it is right now," said Ellis, who lives on Arrawana Avenue between Mississippi and Stroud avenues. "We don't want it, and we don't need it. We've had one purse snatching on my street in the 10 years that I've lived here."
Actually, Ellis and her neighbors will not get 400-watt bulbs like the ones in Ybor City, police Officer Art Hushen said. Those are strictly the domain of commercial and entertainment districts. The new lights will be 100 to 150 watts, replacing 50- to 70-watt bulbs. Light will shine forth in the shape of an eggshell, illuminating the street and about 10 feet to 15 feet onto the sidewalk, TECO officials said.
Still, others share Ellis' concerns. Residents of Palma Ceia and New Suburb Beautiful fear the lights will ruin the ambience of their communities. And around the country - in cities ranging from Santa Fe, N.M., to Chicago - there is a backlash against overlighting and subsequent light pollution, which projects a haze against the night sky.
In city governments' quests to make communities safer, they unwittingly create environments that many residents find intrusive and can actually impair vision, critics argue. Even Howden, who refuses to complain about the lights on his street, faults the city for overlighting Seventh Avenue in Ybor City. He says the bright lights distort the local architecture and poison the area's atmosphere.
The Tampa Lighting Initiative started when City Council member Mary Alvarez responded to complaints from her constituents in West Tampa. Deluged by drug-related crime, residents asked Alvarez to make streets safer by increasing lighting. The Police Department's crime prevention unit, transportation officials and Tampa Electric Co. were already studying the effects of increased lighting as part of environmental policing efforts. The two groups merged and in 2002 began testing new lighting in West Tampa.
Pleased with results, former Mayor Dick Greco approved the upgrading of lights for the entire city. The project, which began last year, will take four to seven years to complete, requiring new bulbs and significant rewiring of about 16,000 lamps. Police say the result is worth the effort.
"Lighting is the No. 1 deterrent to crime," said Hushen, a member of the department's crime prevention unit. "Any place you go, the first response is, "We need more lighting.' "
In Palma Ceia Park, they may not be able to read novels on the street at midnight. But police hope residents will see enough to describe a criminal's tattoo.
"We want to have enough light where you can identify a risk, identify facial features," Hushen said. "We want that offender to feel vulnerable. If you're walking your dog, I want you to be able to look 20 to 30 feet away and say, "He's wearing a blue shirt, and he's got brown hair.' "
TECO workers are following an eight-phase plan, moving from high-crime areas to lower-risk communities. First served were large swaths of West Tampa and East Tampa.
Even with 100- to 150-watt lights, residents clamor for more illumination.
"The citizens are still saying that it just looks like it's not light enough," said Carla Jackson, the mayor's neighborhood liaison.
What they want, Jackson said, is Ybor City-like light.
Workers aim to install about 350 lights per week, or about 3,600 new bulbs a month, depending on weather. In a few weeks, TECO expects to begin installing lights in northeast Tampa around the University of South Florida.
Initially, Ellis hoped she and her neighbors on Arrawana could avoid the glare by buying their own street lamps and leasing lighting from TECO.
About 17 Tampa communities, including Manors at Manhattan and Culbreath Isles in South Tampa, do that.
On average, residents pay an annual $56 assessment, but in some areas, like Tampa Palms, the cost can rise to $904 a year. But the price is too steep for Ellis and the homeowners on her block, because only seven agreed to sign on. The others say they can't afford an extra bill.
Beyond buying her own lights, Ellis has few options, city officials said. There is a slim chance that her block will escape planners' eyes. But more likely, it's destined for 100-watt bulbs, councilwoman Alvarez said.
"If you're going to have one or two neighbors complaining that the lights are too bright, that's one or two out of maybe 20 homes homes on a block," Alvarez said.
"You just can't please everybody. That same person would be complaining about it being dark if her house had been robbed."
Sherri Day can be reached at 813 226-3405 or sday@sptimes.com[Last modified September 2, 2004, 12:50:18]
