\nBy STEVEN LEMONGELLO Staff Writer
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\tATLANTIC CITY \u2014 Walk down Florida Avenue after sunset and you can almost feel the darkness enveloping you.
\n\t\u201cI tell people to take cabs if they\u2019re from out of town,\u201d said Pete Bennett, a bartender at the Ducktown Tavern. \u201cOr walk in groups.\u201d
\n\tThe Ducktown neighborhood was singled out by then-Mayor-elect Don Guardian last year in his \u201c20\/20 Vision\u201d presentation as one of the areas most in need of improved lighting, \u201cbecause of the amount of crime, and (because) it\u2019s a little darker than the rest of Atlantic City.\u201d
\n\tNow, Ducktown will be the first neighborhood in the city to have all its light fixtures replaced with energy-efficient \u2014 and brighter \u2014 Light Emitting Diode, or LED lighting. The city\u2019s goal is to eventually replace all 8,000 city lights with LEDs by the end of next year, making Atlantic City \u201cthe first city in the state to be completely transferred to LED,\u201d said Councilman Frank Gilliam, who introduced the ordinance approving the program along with Councilman Marty Small.
\n\tThe pilot program, the details of which were formalized in a meeting with Atlantic City Electric on Tuesday, will start off with the replacement of 155 fixtures and bulbs between Texas and Georgia avenues, from Boardwalk to bay.
\n\tAtlantic City Planning and Development Director Elizabeth Terenik said that the city plans to split the cost on a pro-rated basis with the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, with operates the Tourism District south of Atlantic Avenue.
\n\tThe city has also applied to the state Bureau of Public Utilities for a $175-per-light rebate on the approximate $400 cost of the lights, as part of the elaborately named New Jersey Clean Energy Program Commercial Industrial Prescription Measures Program. As part of the program, the city would buy the lights before any rebate or cost-splitting is applied.
\n\t\u201cWe have two objectives,\u201d said Terenik. \u201cTo create a more well-lit environment, and also to save money in costs. LED lights have a lower tariff cost, and that (can pay) for the maintenance of the lights.
\n\tThe LED lights are more efficient, using between 35 to 70 percent less energy depending on size and have a lifespan of about 20 years compared to about five for a normal, high-pressure sodium light, said Mike Picucci, manager of special projects for Atlantic City Electric.
\n\t\u201cAnd there\u2019s less maintenance,\u201d Picucci said. \u201cFor a regular light, if a bulb goes bad, the whole fixture goes. On LEDs, if one diode goes bad, there\u2019s enough (left over) to continue on without repairs.\u201d
\n\tWhile there have been complaints about the increased glare and blue-white coloring in cities such that have switched to LED streetlights \u2014 \u201cI don\u2019t hate them so much as I did at first,\u201d Seattle light-pollution watchdog Bruce Weertman told Crosscut.com in 2013 \u2014 but Picucci said the LEDs provide a \u201ccrisper, clearer light\u201d that also creates less of the \u201cuplighting\u201d to the sky that affects bird migrations.
\n\tStill, said Gilliam, \u201cThe number one thing it does is to add sustainable components to the city. It will be a tremendous savings on electric bills, and that\u2019s very important in this economic climate. … And it does brighten the neighborhood.\u201d
\n\tDucktown Tavern owner John Exadaktilos praised the lighting program, but said that \u201cit\u2019s something that should have been done years ago.\u201d
\n\tDucktown patron Jim Gorman, a Chelsea Heights resident, said he can see why tourists are told to avoid walking the dark streets.
\n\t\u201cGoing towards Arctic, it\u2019s dark all the way (down),\u201d Gorman said. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t walk down that. And I live here.\u201d<\/p>\n
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By STEVEN LEMONGELLO Staff Writer Subscribe to Steven Lemongello on Facebook Follow Steven Lemongello on Twitter ATLANTIC CITY \u2014 Walk down Florida Avenue after sunset and you can almost feel the darkness enveloping you. \u201cI tell people to take cabs…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-casino-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7748\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}