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Over a century ago, the Wabash, IN City Council signed an agreement for an electric lighting demonstration of the city. If the 1880 demo proved successful, the city would pay the Cleveland Telegraph Supply Company $1,800 for a permanent fixture atop the courthouse to light the city, and claim the designation as the first all-electric lighted city.
An easy decision, right?! Maybe not. It turns out not everyone enjoys the prospect of bright lights at night—Navy SEALs, for instance. Wabash citizens, then unaccustomed to a lighted city, questioned the city's decision, the motives of outside influences, and whether cows and chickens would lose all productivity, like modern day youths after an all-night video gaming session...
Needless to say, the experiment was a success. The city of 2,500 hosted 10,000 visitors, including elected officials from 19 cities, who poured into Wabash to experience the spectacle. Wabash was officially on the map as the first city in the world to be lit by electricity…sort of. The claim relies heavily on the idea that light fixtures positioned on the courthouse, which was built on a tall hill overlooking the city, qualified as lighting the entire city.
Wabash wasn't the first city to claim lighting fame. The current host of the Olympic Games, Paris, claims to be the rightful, "City of Lights." Depending on your internet search, this claim stems from King Louis XIV promoting safety and reducing crime with street lamps in 1667, or being the first city in Europe to utilize gas lighting for streets in the early 1800s, OR the commercial use of the Yablochkov arc lamp during an exhibition at the Louvre in 1877. Regardless how and why they laid claim to the title, much like our "Magic City" moniker, numerous other cities claim to be the, "City of Light," including Perth, Australia; Curepipe, Mauritius; and Karachi, Pakistan (circa 1970).
All that background on lighting to highlight the fact that cities have been implementing and emphasizing lighting for a long, long, time. For centuries, societies have understood the link between lighting and safety and human activity. As Billings City Council spends their third meeting—following two City-County Planning Board meetings—discussing a lighting requirement for new residential subdivisions, it's worth remembering the topic of lighting in cities is not unique to us or this moment in time.
We've written in previous Council Bulletins about this topic, so we won't repeat all that information for readers. In summary, requiring lighting in new neighborhoods benefits residents by:
- Increasing public safety
- Improving traffic safety
- Increasing property values
- It's less expensive to install at construction
Read previous Council Bulletins here:
We've seen how important adequate lighting is to the perception of safety when conducting Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) security surveys for local businesses. Well lit areas feel inviting and safe, allowing regular citizens to use a space. Thanks to some lighting and territorial reinforcement improvements at The Pub Station, people feel comfortable walking in the back alleyway, taking senior pictures, and not worrying about safety concerns—a stark contrast to the feeling of approaching a dark alleyway at night. Now imagine if your neighborhood felt like an unlit back alley.
For some Billings residents, that's likely how it feels. In 2021, a National Police Services Survey was conducted in Billings, garnering 995 respondents. The survey showed over half don't have adequate lighting on their streets. And without adequate lighting, it's no wonder that 1/4 of Billings residents don't feel safe in their own neighborhoods at night. Assuming that survey information is accurate and indicative of the larger Billings adult (18+) populace, it means approximately 23,000 people don't feel safe in their own neighborhoods at night. Frankly, that's too many.
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