Bright City Lights

by queenseyes

In order to answer a couple of viewer inquiries regarding recent improvements to City Hall and the missing Court Street light standards, I contacted Daniel Kreuz, Acting Commissioner of the Department of Public Works. Dan informed me that the work that was recently done to the building was Phase 1 of the project, and this summer Phase 2 would be implemented. "Two years ago The City surveyed the exterior of the building," he told me. "The city realized that there needed to be repairs made. Phase 1 required that the back of the building and the south-facing weather side needed to be addressed first at a cost of 3.5 million dollars.

The common council just approved the second allocation of Phase 2 (2.5 million dollars), which will begin this summer. The masonry from this old building is being held up by steel. As the steel rusts, it expands and shifts the stones. The building had not been cleaned in quite some time. It now looks like it did back when it was originally built seventy-five years ago (1932 at a cost of $700,000)."

Just down the street from City Hall, there are brand new light standards that have replaced the outdated globes. Apparently the poles and fixtures have been in for a while, but workers ran into some serious problems when they discovered that there were foundation problems. The lighting has now been operational for two weeks.