ATLANTA — Mayor Andre Dickens is on a mission to make the City of Atlanta a much safer and brighter with a program called ‘Light the Night.’
The program will install and replace thousands of lights in the city. It’s a partnership between the City of Atlanta and Georgia Power.
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Dickens said under his administration, they have already replaced 11,000 lights with LED lights.
“With the 11,000 lights all across the city of Atlanta, we’re seeing that people are safer,” said Dickens.
His next goal is to focus on college campuses.
Austin Euler is a student at Clark Atlanta University. He said safety is on the minds of many students in the Atlanta University Center.
“Well you know, there were actually two shootings, recently, on campus. One of them took one of our athletes, and then a couple days after that, there was another shooting,” said Euler.
The AUC is off of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, which is next to several neighborhoods and full of students. It’s one of many areas that the City of Atlanta is focusing on next when it comes to bringing more lights to the city.
The plan is to drive away crime in dark neighborhoods by installing brighter lights.
“There are certain places around on campus that I don’t feel comfortable walking past at a certain time,” said Euler. “I think more lights, in key places, will be a great addition.”
That uneasy feeling is something Mayor Dickens said he wants to change. That’s why he’s supporting the light the night program.
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On Monday, Channel 2 Action News got a look at the work that has already happened in the downtown area, hotel district and the Georgia State Campus.
Channel 2 Action News has reported for years on some of the struggles the city has had with streetlights.
Last year, a city audit shed light on the issue. The audit found that 12% of the city lights were not working, which is one of every eight lights.
The mayor said that could expand.
He said he wants to focus next on areas like southwest Atlanta and the Buckhead area, and he wants it done as soon as possible.
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