A member of the public brought the safety lights up during Monday’s City Council Public Safety Committee meeting because of break-ins in the area. That discussion prompted Councilman Jeff Russell, R-At Large, to ask about the status of the permanent lights.

“I know it’s been a long time and we’re hitting the tail end of winter, I brought up the lights under the North Main Street bridge in the viaduct,” Russell said. “I know we passed ARPA funding for safety lights and I know there was discussion of colored lights that didn’t pass, but the safety lights did pass, money was designated for that, and I was just wondering if that was going to go out to bid and what that timeline looks like. I know there’s temporary lighting there, and I know with some of the break-ins that we were talking about tonight the lighting helped with that situation.”

Council members approved lights for the viaduct last June to be paid for with $45,712.50 in American Rescue Plan Act funding after discussion of spending $150,000 on colored lights as part of a bigger project to also install a public parklet under the viaduct. Crystal Surdyk, city development director, said Monday that nothing has happened yet with the permanent lights.

“I honestly don’t have a timeline for you,” she said in response to Russell’s question. “I happened to write it down as we were sitting here because it’s one of those things that popped into my head when Mr. Yochim was speaking that those temporary lights are just that. We’ll look at putting a bid package together and getting it rebid.”

Temporary safety lights are pictured outside the North Main Street railroad overpass. A request for bids is expected to be finalized soon for permanent safety lights for the area.

Councilman Randy Daversa, R-At Large, asked Surdyk about who is responsible for damage to some of the colored lights along the Riverwalk. Daversa said he was fishing in the Chadakoin River when he noticed some teenagers vandalizing the lights.

“There’s actually a protective cover on those,” Daversa said. “They were able to knock that out, it’s plexiglass. After they knocked that out they threw a couple more. We heard a ping, ping, ping, and I looked up and saw the lights flickering. Is the city going to be on the hook to repair that?”

Surdyk said Becc Electric has been back to make repairs to the lights in the past, but if insurance doesn’t cover the cost then the city will have to pay to replace the light. The Riverwalk Illumination Project cost the city $918,173, according to the project approval during an October 2021 City Council meeting. The project includes the Washington and South Main Street bridges and the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities coal silo.

“The more activity that we promote in the basin area hopefully the more it will deter that,” Surdyk said.

One of the Riverwalk Illumination Project lights near the Chadakoin River in Brooklyn Square is pictured. One of the lights was damaged recently, with city officials unsure if the city will have to pay for repairs. P-J photo by John Whittaker