The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
NOPEC grant to enhance gateway
A $61,665 2021 Energized Community Grant has been awarded to Willoughby from the Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council.
With NOPEC and the FirstEnergy Corp. focusing on energy efficient lighting, the grant money will be in part for the Mentor Avenue bridge that is in between the Andrews Osborne Academy property and downtown, said Mayor Robert Fiala.
“It’s almost always toward something that increases energy efficiency and meant for some improvement that’s going to make a difference,” Fiala said. “Those lights have been in a failure. Electric conduits have rusted out, and we need to do something. We’re trying to get that route better.”
Historic lights over the bridge instead of the “serpent headlights” will enhance Willoughby’s entry way, Fiala said.
“It’s a great entry sequence for Willoughby,” he said, “but what’s really exciting about this is that (Tom Thielman, community development manager) and others have been planning for the last two and a half years a sculptural piece by the new Citizens Bank building that would be a gateway element to Downtown Willoughby.”
Lighting remains immensely important to downtown for safety, easy navigation in the evening and for aesthetics, Thielman said.
“We provide a lot of historic light fixtures throughout downtown and LED lighting on the trees that change color depending on the holiday season, so that all plays in,” Thielman said.
Security and perception issues always come into play when dealing with lighting a downtown or in parks, Fiala said.
“People don’t frequent places that aren’t well lit.
We’ve had ongoing discussions about the safety of our parking,” Fiala said. “There’s a lot of parking downtown at Todd Field. The problem is it’s dark, uncomfortable, you don’t feel safe.”
Technology with LED lighting is improving by the year, Fiala said, adding it’s not just about illumination, but the lights themselves and the color.
“You don’t want to light a downtown with bright, white lights because your mental image of a historic downtown is kind of an ambery, warm kind of feel,” he said.
The city is between $15,000 and $20,000 away from fully funding the gateway element, Fiala said. He hopes to have the lights and the sculpture in place this summer.
“What the bridge really represents to Willoughby is — you see the Cleveland script all the time and everybody takes the selfie picture,” Fiala said.
“We want the bridge to be our selfie. Every time somebody takes a picture there, that’s a promotional piece because it gets transmitted to other people with our name on it.”