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A long-simmering feud between a local business group and city officials could extinguish the Victorian-style lamp­posts that line Atlantic Avenue.

The popular lights, which supplement the avenue’s standard streetlights, aren’t covered in the city’s general budget — forcing the Atlantic Avenue Local Development Corporation to pay the city’s Department of Transportation for their maintenance. But no money has changed hands for two years, and the city has been fighting with the group for several months over the unpaid repair money.

Negotiations fell apart completely this week when the LDC declared it would not enter into a contract with the city to maintain the lamps and accused officials of “bad faith” dealings.

“If the lights are destroyed, the DOT will be to blame,” said Ian Kelley, director of the Atlantic Avenue LDC.

Kelley said that his group paid the city $10,000 in 2004 and saw “nothing” in return.

“We will not continue to pay good money and see our lights fall into disrepair,” he said.

The DOT says that the LDC initiated the installation of the replica lamps between Hicks Street and Third Avenue — and, as such, it is the LDC that is shirking its responsibility by refusing to settle the debt. A spokesman for the agency said that city workers would not replace broken lamps until payment is received, though standard street maintenance and the flow of electricity to the lights would continue.

Neither side will say how much money remains in dispute.

The tussle dates back to 2001 when the original contract for the care of the lanterns expired with some fees still unpaid, according to Candace Damon, a former president of the LDC who negotiated the original contract with the city. Under that contract, the LDC paid $820,000 to install the lamps and another $25,000 for maintenance and electricity.

A new contract was never signed, and now, the stalemate could be terminal.

Atlantic Avenue advocates say that several of the lamps have already been lost to car accidents. Now that the city has said it will no longer replace the 19th-century-style lamps, these advocates believe the historic hardware will soon go back into Trotsky’s dustbin.

“Unfortunately, I don’t see the car crashes stopping anytime soon, so eventually all the lamps will be gone,” said Sandy Balboza of the Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association.

Meanwhile, storeowners fear that the bureaucratic bungling will hurt business on the historic row of antique shops, restaurants and boutiques.

“Anything that looks shabby discourages [shoppers],” said Rachel Leibowitz, the owner of Circa antiques near Pacific Street.

And Balboza stressed the importance of extra lighting. Over the last two years, there have been at least 346 accidents within the 10-block, lantern-lit stretch, The Paper reported.

“The lights aren’t just pretty they function to serve pedestrians,” she said. “They make a big difference for people who are walking on the street when it is dark and there is traffic.”

©2007 The Brooklyn Paper

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