Mansfield Selectmen Asked to Turn the Lights Up

More residents have come forward to urge Mansfield selectmen to shine some light on older residential streets and some subdivisions.

A move several years ago to shut down every other streetlight to save money has combined with burnout of some older streetlight bulbs to produce long stretches of road with no light at all.

After former selectman Amos Robinson of Mill Street appealed to the board twice recently to pay attention to some now dark rural roads, a second former board member, Sandy Levine, seconded that request this week, saying a one-size-fits-all approach to street lighting does not necessarily work in an older community.

At the same meeting, resident and business owner Karl Clemmey said the blacked-out North Common contrasts sharply with the busy and sparkling South Common and asked that the board look at that issue too.

Streetlights were shut off as part of a money saving proposal for the tight 2008/09 budget.  At the time, DPW head Lee Azinheira and then town manager John D'Agostino said the town had far more lighting than area communities comparable in size. George Dentino, who was on the board at the time, voted against the measure.

The effort began with alternate lights in the Cabot industrial park, on Eastman Street, and Route 140, as well as locations where security lights were on all night. Predictions were that the town could save about $65,000 by instituting the shutdowns.

But complaints have continued to come in and have escalated in the last several months as the darkness of fall and winter began to take its toll, some residents saying the lack of light is creating a dangerous situation.

Levine noted at Wednesday's meeting that most of the board members live on wider newer streets in town, and do not realize how dark it can actually be in some of the outlying areas.

"You don't have the tree canopy of the older streets," she said. "(Newer roads) are much more wide open, and they have the safety net of a sidewalk."

Levine said parts of West Street, East Street, Mill Street, Bungay Road and Tremont Street have gradually turned darker.

"Some of them are as dark as a tomb," she said. "The newer ones are doing fine, but the old one have twists and turns, go up and down, and have old stone walls at the sides. If every other light is turned off, it is truly a hazard for some of the old streets."

Levine suggested board members go out and actually drive the routes at night, so they can make a judgment about the light level based on eye-witness accounts.

Dentino said the older residents of town are particularly affected. "A lot of the elderly are afraid to come out of their houses - they don't see as well," he said.

"The fairest thing is to put them all on," Dentino said.

Board member Doug Annino suggested it might be time to bring in some technical support to actually measure how much light is available at a given spot. "This is an opportunity to look at it carefully," he said.

After Clemmey asked the board to find a way to light the North Common near the train station, Levine said she agreed with him, adding wryly that agreement between the two is a rarity.

Town Manager Bill Ross attributed the darkness of the north end to lack of adequate power, but Levine said, "Having the North Common totally dark is not good - I wish there had been some jury rigging so it wasn't quite as bleak."

The electric department is proceeding with its efforts to find burned out bulbs and replace them, but no decision on which darkened lights should be turned back on permanently has been made. The board is considering the cost of implementing that measure.