Light up Lansing

Local Voices

Virginia Ulaszek

With daylight getting scarce, we Lansing residents really need to light up our properties. Though I usually try to walk my dog Lucy while it’s still daylight, occasionally I have to walk her at night — down main streets like Burnham Avenue and Ridge Road. I am shocked at how many residents have light fixtures on their front porches but don’t turn them on at night.

There are photoelectric LED bulbs (dusk to dawn) that screw into a standard light socket (see photo). These light bulbs turn on only when it’s dark outside — all automatically. You don’t even have to remember to turn on your outside light because you just leave the inside switch in the “on” position all the time, but the bulb itself doesn’t turn on until it’s dark outside. What could be simpler?

Ideally, the Village should also add streetlights to all the side streets in Lansing. There should be one streetlight at both ends of a block, as well as one streetlight in the middle of the block. My husband John and I have made that suggestion to the Village administration every year since we moved into Lansing (in 1976), but no additional streetlights have ever been added to Lansing side streets.

Criminals just love the dark. Light up Lansing and we may see a reduction in crime. We’re pretty sure Lansing residents would be happy about that.

Ginny and John Ulaszek

Local Voices is our version of “Letters to the Editor.” The opinions posted here are those of the writers, and posting them does not indicate endorsement by The Lansing Journal. We welcome input from fellow residents who have thoughtful things to say about topics that are important to our community. Send your submissions to The Lansing Journal with “Voices” in the subject line.