Testing the hypothesis: Part 1

#1: The city of Gainesville has glossed over street lighting issues near the downtown and midtown area perhaps because of costs associated with building lamp posts and energy costs.
The who: The city of Gainesville
The what: they have not paid enough attention to fixing street and alleyway lighting issues around the downtown and midtown areas. 
The why: Most likely because of no incentive to spend excess money on building lamp posts and energy costs associated with lighting. 

#2: Boundaries of the who: Residents and business owners of the area share the need for improving lighting in residential areas and alleyways, GRU working with the city to reduce costs, the city of Gainesville. 

The city of Gainesville does not appear to be the only "who" in fixing the lighting issue. According to others I have interviewed, the GRU's relationship with the city of Gainesville and lighting could be further built upon to reach an agreement where both parties' interests are satisfied. It is is also int he business's best interest that run late and in dark areas to work on improving lighting around their areas. 

Boundaries of the what: of the need include poor lightning in residential areas in the Gainesville community. Any place that has poor lighting and makes residents feel unsafe with break-ins occurring frequently in the area. Also, areas downtown filled with college students that may be deemed as unsafe. 

There seems to be a need for improving lighting in the downtown and midtown alleyways where college students walk through most nights after going out. 

Boundaries of the why: The city does not see an actual issue with the lighting in residential areas because they haven't received a notable amount of complaints from the residents. The city notices that it is an issue, but it is not number 1 on their priority list. The city has other more important things such as road work construction and infrastructure that are bigger priorities. Current costs of lighting may already be seen as low and efficient to the city, and so creating more light and lamp posts would only increase that cost, and the city understandably will do anything it can to minimize overall costs. 

I've found that from interviewing others in the community, especially some that are familiar with the way the city runs its finances, I've seen that many believe that there does appear to be a lighting issue throughout some residential areas of Gainesville. However many of the people I interviewed believe that the city has not seen it as a substantial issue that requires immediate attention. Many of the residents themselves do not make direct complaints to the city, and so, as a result, the issue is overlooked. 


Comments

  1. Caroline KeefeJune 2, 2019 at 4:47 PM

    Hi Jason,
    I'm glad I'm not the only one who has noticed these lighting issues. I live near sorority row and the lighting on my street is quite awful. It's so bad that after a certain time, I don't feel safe walking around because it's so dark and I can hardly see a few feet in front of me. Driving at night also makes me nervous because it can get so dark. I'm glad that you noticed this issue and I hope the city of Gainesville does too and does something about it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jason GhentJune 5, 2019 at 7:01 PM

      It's crazy! It's such a conspicuous problem. Thanks for the feedback too!

      Delete
  2. Enrique CardenasJune 3, 2019 at 11:08 PM

    Hello Jason, I too agree there is a lighting issue downtown. I also think we have this issue around campus. There isn't enough lighting for people out late. I believe there is a huge opportunity to fix this but could be that there isn't enough funding to do so. Some sort of petitions should be floating around about this, so we can have something done about it. Thankfully, I am not the only one who thought this was an actual issue.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Coffy LouisJune 3, 2019 at 11:30 PM

    Hey Jason, I think several people are aware of the lighting issue and are working to resolve it. The fact that you were able to notice the problem in the first place shows that you are already thinking like an entrepreneur. Although, I'm curious as to how you would personally go about solving this problem if the city were to say that it does not have the funding to do it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jason GhentJune 5, 2019 at 7:03 PM

      Thanks for your response man! I have not thought much into the funding aspect, but I don't know what sort of revenue/agreement the university has with the City of Gainesville, if at all. At the very least UF could work on student areas like near sorority row and near the law school that are always very dim.

      Delete

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