Old-fashioned street lamps could soon light the future of Columbia Street.
A group of businesses and residents on the burgeoning waterfront strip have launched a campaign to replace the oh-so-2007 street lamps with the ornate vintage lanterns that blaze in historic districts around the city.
“This is one of the oldest parts of the city and it would be a real shame not to have the old-style lamps,” said Frank Manzione, a real-estate broker in the area who recently sent petitions to elected officials.
A historic luminaire costs approximately $200,000 more than a standard street pole, an extra cost that must borne by the community — but Community Board 6 District Manager Craig Hammerman said the cost was worth it.
“There is growing fear we are losing parts of our history and values as a community,” he said. “This is a small, but symbolic way of retaining that.” And an increasingly popular one, too.
The fancy lamps were installed on Clinton Street between Atlantic and Hamilton avenues in Cobble Hill last year. A few years earlier, the lamps appeared on Smith Street and on Atlantic Avenue. In all cases, the lamps were funded with contributions from local officials and private or business donors.
Sam Cooper, spokesman for Assemblywoman Joan Millman (D–Cobble Hill) told The Stoop that his boss likes the idea. But residents should get going: A spokesman for the Department of Design and Construction said the agency would have to know who was paying for the lamps before they could even be ordered. By then, said spokesman John Spavins, it might be too late.
So somebody better start burning the midnight oil — and fast.
