Councilman Faria "LED Lighting To Bring Significant Savings To East Providence"

LED Street lights are the wave of the future. They offer both energy savings and a significant pocketbook savings while brightening our City Streets. I've been advocating for this since I first took office and I was thrilled to be able to sponsor a resolution for the funding to finally implement this LED conversion so that the City would see the substantial financial savings as soon as possible. I've been in meetings with the City's administration and this is something they've also been considering in the past so it was just a matter of finally "making it happen." The City Council voted unanimously to pass a resolution for the funding and the immediate savings will pay the funding back," it's a wash, there will be no additional cost to the taxpayers". We're expecting the cost of the conversion to be paid back in four years. This will bring a lifetime financial savings to The City of East Providence.

"I receive calls everyday from my constituency regarding our darkened City streets caused by the red capping program sought by the budget commission back in 2013 . They shut off approximately 1,100 streetlights throughout the City and upon my constituents requests, I am continuously turning many of those lights back on due to safety concerns. Currently 885 of those red capped lights are still turned off. These poorly lit streets have increased the concerns especially amongst elderly residents for safety reasons and this conversion would alleviate these concerns. "We have approximately 5,000 street lights in the City and we would now be able to turn every single light back on with an anticipated savings of $600,000.00 annually, a 75% savings including annual maintenance costs. That is a significant savings for the Taxpayers.

"City's and towns across the country from Boston to Los Angeles have converted to LED street lighting and are saving millions annually. Providence has just made the conversion. "Now it's time we brighten our City with this type of savings." The City is also making an investment in renewable energy for our Municipal buildings. This Council is looking forward to seeing this conversion take place soon and continue to bring our constituents tangible results.