Let there be decorative light!
It took more than a decade, but the city is finally bringing replica antique street lamps equipped with energy-efficient LED lights to eastern Glendale.
The teardrop-shaped lamps are much like the iron decorative lamps that lined streets across New York City in the early 20th century. Under what was dubbed the Parkside Decorative Street Lighting Project, the replica lights are going up on the residential blocks of Doran, Rutledge, Aubrey, 74th and 75th avenues between Woodhaven Boulevard and 88th Street.
Additional replica lights are also being installed on 88th Street as part of a separate project, according to state Senator Joe Addabbo.
“The installation of decorative lighting along 88th Street is something for which I have advocated for many years now,” state Senator Joseph Addabbo said in a statement Thursday. “I am thrilled to finally see the cooperative efforts of my office, constituents and the city result in this new lighting. By following through with this funding request from the community, it proves to New Yorkers everywhere that every issue brought to light is important and can be successfully addressed with the right combination of hard work, determination and patience.”
Addabbo had inherited the Parkside project from his predecessor, former state Senator Serphin Maltese, upon taking office in 2009.
The new lights already seem to be hit among Glendale residents who have posted about the project on the Glendale Civic Association’s Facebook page in recent days.
“These decorative lights will add to the charm and character that Glendale already possesses, and I thank the NYC Department of Transportation for finally using the funds to make this project a reality,” Addabbo added.
The Department of Transportation has been hard at work in recent weeks changing conventional streetlamps on roadways such as Metropolitan Avenue, 80th Street and Queens Boulevard. Crews are switching out the amber-colored sodium lights for bright white LEDs, which consume less energy.
