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Historical Summer 2004 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
The installation of pedestrian lighting – the last piece in the long awaited streetscape improve-ments on the 6000 and 6100 blocks of Delmar – will not occur until August, 2004, according to Metro.
The specified lamp was to come from a manufacturer which has suddenly gone out of business.
According to Carol M. Schmidt, Metro’s Division Director, Capital Projects: “Sterner Lighting was the fixture (the lantern at the top) manufacturer specified for the project. Three days after we received the bids, the manufacturer announced to the industry that it was shutting down its custom fixture production immediately. Since we did not have a purchase order in with the company, we could not get our fixture through them.
I immediately started looking for a replacement fixture, with the intent of presenting design alternatives to the group for selection. Working with local lighting fixture representative, we have been able to find another company, ELA, that will make the fixture as designed, and within the same price range as was bid by the contractors. Since ELA will be making a mold from the University City prototype, there will be a mold available for future spares and future purchases by the City and University City.
I am relieved that we were able to get the Delmar Loop groups exactly what they want. “We are currently confirming delivery dates.
The revised delivery dates will affect the schedule by three to four weeks, putting installation in August.” Note that Metro could have ordered the fixtures as planned – if the bidding had been sooner. Because the bidding for the pedestrian lighting was overlooked by Metro, this latest delay is the direct result of Metro’s having overlooked (or perhaps deliberately postponed) the bidding until AFTER the sidewalks were done. Regular readers may recall that THE TIMES reported on the light fixture selection over two years ago (Feb.-March, 2002), and one has to wonder how preparation of a bid package could have been so seriously delayed. Metro’s track record in the Skinker-DeBaliviere Neighborhood is replete with actions and inactions that have caused serious consequences for the neighborhood and for the business community on Delmar.
This most recent error in judgment will result in orange safety cones on the new sidewalks throughout the summer. Members of the Delmar Commercial Committee, working with the Special Business District, will be requesting an immediate meeting with Schmidt to define the quality of the replacement fixture before it is ordered, as well as the timeline.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, Summer 2004.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times2004_06.pdf, printed page(s) 4; PDF page(s) 4.
