HIGHLAND PARK, Mich. (WXYZ) — Highland Park is installing more than 40 solar-powered streetlights in neighborhoods that have gone without them for years, marking a significant step forward for a city that lost more than 1,000 streetlights in 2011.
Watch Tiarra Braddock's report below
DTE removed the lights to settle a $4 million debt with the city. Now, through a partnership between city officials and a Highland Park-based community organization named Soulardarity, 48 streetlights are being installed on 10 streets.
Dallas DeYampert lives on Tuxedo Street, one of the first streets to receive the new solar-powered streetlights.
"It's nice, it's very nice, it's definitely a change," DeYampert said.
"It's definitely nice to sit on our porch and have the light shine on us," DeYampert said.
Walt Nelson lives a block away from DeYampert and said he is excited for his neighborhood to get the streetlights.
"When those lights went away and that darkness hit, it was sort of a depressing state," Nelson said.
"It just wasn't safe anymore to be outside at night playing or walking down the street," Nelson said. "Just to hear the lights were going to come back was such a relief."
Highland Park Mayor Glenda McDonald said the goal is to bring streetlights to every neighborhood in the city.
"We are working towards relighting Highland Park the best we can as soon as funds are available, we will continue to move forward," McDonald said.
Max Boyd, operations manager at Soulardarity, explained how the organization chose which neighborhoods would receive streetlights first.
"We also wanted to make sure they were heavily populated areas so obviously doing them on streets that have majority residents existing," Boyd said.
The project was funded in part through grants. For Nelson, the new lights represent something bigger than safety.
"Having new light in the city is just a symbolic thing… it's a symbol for change," Nelson said.
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