Downtown Lighting Project Advances

Downtown merchants, concerned about the safety of employees and customers at night, prompted the City Council this week to move forward with a $590,103 project that will improve lighting in the area.

The council unanimously agreed to hire CDC Engineering Inc. of Irvine for nearly $47,000 to design the project.

The city will start construction next year, William Huber, director of building and engineering, said.

The project will be stretched over a four-year period because the city doesn’t have enough money to complete all the work immediately. About $150,000 a year will be earmarked to cover the project, which will dot the downtown with 61 forest-green, acorn-style light poles with glass globes.