By Megan Burks
Council President Todd Gloria has convened a new committee on infrastructure. It held its first meeting Monday.
Committee Chairman and District 5 Councilman Mark Kersey laid out his plans for the committee last week; they center on assessing the weight of our infrastructure problem first.
In a memo, District 9 Councilwoman Marti Emerald, who also sits on the committee, joined Kersey and other colleagues in laying out priorities for the committee. They include holding a “frank discussion” about park deficiencies in older communities and strategies for mitigating the problem.
It’s a discussion that’s been boiling up in City Heights as skaters in the community advance their campaign for a skatepark. The community is about 100 acres short of the recommended park space for a community of its size. Youth say they don’t have enough places to be active.
Emerald said she wants to explore adding green space (along with more transit options) into future street designs.
Emerald’s memo also touches on another common discussion in City Heights: one about the need for more streetlights. Emerald said there are $26 million in unfunded streetlights. She called for a survey of existing lights to identify dark spots. She wants to then cross reference that information with police reports to see where new lights could deter crime.
City Heights groups have been slowly chipping away at the problem with similar grassroots efforts. The City Heights Town Council is currently working with Mid-City police to install lights on homes in poorly lit areas.