Spring Break
City Council to see street lighting proposal Dec. 5
Jane Frye, Senior Staff Writer
Issue date: 11/28/06 Section: Campus
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An Associated Student Government (ASG) committee is working on plans to add more street lights to poorly lit areas of the Mile Square; which is the area surrounded by Chestnut Street, Locust Street, Sycamore Street and Patterson Avenue.
ASG's Oxford Tenant Organization (OTO), along with a few community members, completed a walking tour in October to note places inside the square where insufficient lighting could present a dangerous situation. After comparing notes, the 15-person walking crew found numerous broken streetlights and recommended locations for new lights.
The committee plans on presenting a proposal to Oxford City Council Dec. 5, which would include a request for all lights to be fixed and about five new street lights to be added to the area.
"A lot of City Council members are eager to hear about our findings," said Jen House, secretary for off-campus affairs and chair of the OTO committee.
House also said that some of the lights had already been fixed when students left for Thanksgiving break.
"Hopefully (this additional proposed lighting) will make people feel safer when they walk around at night," House said.
House herself is a junior who lives on North Campus Avenue and said that her street is "decently lit," but that one side of the street is brighter than the other.
Sophomore off-campus senator Emily Leece is also part of the OTO and participated in the walk as well. Leece feels more lighting is important because such a large number of students live in the off-campus area.
"I think additional lighting would help prevent crime," Leece said.
The committee was given maps of the Mile Square and broke off into teams to take notes on which streets were especially dark. Leece noted that the farther from High Street, the darker the streets are.
"Most of the lighting on streets (farther away from High Street) is from houses," she said.
For Leece personally, the need for additional street lights is important to her because she likes to run at night.
"Sometimes I run in the street since the sidewalks are so dark,"
she said.
Members of the Oxford City Council were invited to participate in the walking tour but no one chose to do so.
The committee plans on conducting the walk at least once a semester in the future to check on the lighting situation and note any broken lights.
