Ravenstahl, Peduto vie for LED spotlight
Share with others:
Pittsburgh City Councilman Bill Peduto was in Shadyside on Tuesday night to celebrate the completion of the first phase of an LED streetlight project.
Not to be outdone, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl held his own celebration Wednesday in the West End, using a cherry-picker to install one of the lights himself.
Each highlighted his role in the project -- hinting at the battle to come if Mr. Peduto decides to challenge Mr. Ravenstahl in the 2013 mayoral election.
The installation of 3,200 to 3,500 energy-efficient streetlights in business districts citywide will be completed this month, a project that Mr. Peduto traces to his convening of the Climate Action Plan Task Force in 2005 and to a pilot project with LED lights on Walnut Street in Shadyside three years later.
Mr. Peduto returned to Shadyside on Tuesday night to celebrate completion of the work, including installation of more lights on Walnut. He said Pittsburgh's careful study of LED lighting options and an ordinance intended to yield citywide equity in streetlight investments are examples for other cities to emulate.
The project is "more than just changing light bulbs," said Mr. Peduto, who established a website, www.pittsburghledproject.com, to share details.
But Mr. Ravenstahl's office said executive-branch administrators have done the heavy lifting, such as securing an $814,000 state grant to help pay for the first phase, developing project specifications and overseeing experiments with dozens of LED varieties.
"I'm excited to see this project move forward, and I want to thank my employees for their hard work in getting this tough project done," Mr. Ravenstahl said in a statement. "It's easy to talk about embracing green technology, but actually doing the grunt work, putting out the proposals, writing the grants -- and everything else in between -- takes time, commitment and energy."
Installation of the lights began in December and will cost about $2 million. Besides the state grant, the city is using $50,000 from the mayor's office and savings from energy-reduction initiatives to pay for the work, Jim Sloss, energy and utilities manager, said.
Eventually, the city hopes to convert all 40,000 of its streetlights to LEDs. "We're starting to put together Phase 2, and we've started to identify some lights," Mr. Sloss said.
Mr. Peduto and Mr. Sloss said converting 40,000 lights to LEDs would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 12,700 tons a year -- the equivalent of taking 3,800 cars off the road.
To highlight Mr. Peduto's role in the project, the councilman's office provided a timeline showing that he convened the Climate Action Plan Task Force in 2005, initiated the Walnut Street pilot project in 2008 and shepherded the lighting code through council in 2010. His staff also cited a Feb. 10, 2009, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story that said Mr. Peduto had introduced legislation directing Mr. Ravenstahl to install LED lights.
Mr. Ravenstahl's office provided a number of press releases that date to 2009 and tout Mr. Ravenstahl's leadership of the initiative.
First Published February 2, 2012 12:00 am
