Light Up New London!
"Light up New London!" will create a positive perception of downtown New London by working with store owners and property owners to install LED lights inside storefront windows.
Leader
Kristin Havrilla Clarke
Location
311 State Street New London, CT 06320
About the project
A well lit downtown creates a safer, friendlier and more occupied feel in any area. A well lit street in a commercial area encourages shoppers and visitors to continue walking and exploring the shops, restaurants and other businesses in the area.
New London Main Street plans to light up New London by removing all the potential barriers to installing lights in storefronts. For this new initiative, we will conduct assess existing electrical conditions in storefronts by inventorying available electrical hardware, access to power, access to the storefront, and landlord or business owner availability. We will work with the Building Official and a licensed electrician to ensure that lights are installed correctly and do not pose hazards. Once this assessment is complete, we will work with the property owner or store owner to install lights, and equipment needed, including electrical boxes, power strips, timers and either clip on style lights or electrical fixtures.
To implement "Light up New London!" we plan to phase the project by completing 10-12 storefronts per phase, concentrating on one block or contiguous area at a time in order to have greatest visual impact. The project is expected to begin on upper State Street, where the Garde Arts Center is a long time anchor, and tackle the vacant and unlit storefronts in this area, eventually working throughout the historic waterfront district. The storefronts selected will be part of a Storefront Public Art project that is part of the New England Foundation for the Arts Creative Communities Exchange conference in June 2017.
New London Main Street has partnered with the City of New London's Neighborhood Coordinator and will reach out to downtown residents to engage all of our downtown neighbors. Residents will participate by assisting with the assessment of areas that feel unsafe and unfriendly and identify why- lack of lighting, uneven sidewalks, empty storefronts, etc. With this information, we will work to create an action plan that can be implemented by all downtown stakeholders.
The Steps
1. Fundraise to be able to provide lighting for 1 block (approximately 10-12 storefront)
2. Purchase materials needed including lights, timers and power strips and hire contractors if needed
3. Flip the switch and Light Up New London!
4. Continue to work with downtown businesses and residents to solve issues of darkness downtown
We anticipate that each phase of this project will take 2-4 weeks to implement, depending on willingness of property owners to participate in the project and the complexity of lighting needs in individual storefronts. Because there are many unlit storefronts in downtown New London, we anticipate "Light Up New London" to be a longer term project that will require 7-9 blocks to be completed.
Why we‘re doing it
We want to make downtown New London brighter, and our downtown feel more welcoming so that residents and visitors feel safe and will want to walkaround our historic, waterfront district after dark.