GUEST COLUMNIST: UC Brite program has done a lot

Esaul Sanchez, Guest Columnist Esaul Sanchez, Guest ColumnistIn a recent editorial, The Daily Pennsylvanian criticized Penn's UC Brite initiative because only two blocks have been fitted with increased outdoor lighting. And contrary to the impression given by the editorial, the University administration has done a great deal to encourage landlords and neighbors to participate. And they in turn have responded enthusiastically. The DP's previous articles and headlines about UC Brite had been slightly inaccurate, but the editorial was filled with factual errors. For example: · The residents do not elect a block captain to deal with UC Brite: they have had them for years. They contact us or we contact them and we start working as soon as possible in getting the order done. · As stated before, UC Brite has already taken a very active role in getting West Philadelphia residents to participate. We have been meeting and talking with community associations, block captains, individuals and new participants. · We have encountered no resistance and even active cooperation from the major landlords in the area. · We are already working together with University City Associates to make specific outdoor lighting improvements to their properties in the 16 blocks we have audited. · We are already procuring money beyond the original $25,000. Great progress has been done in this area. · The people working on this project are literally working day and night to get this project done. You can see them on the streets of Penn at night with flashlights in hand checking blocks and houses, and talking with neighbors. From these interactions, action plans are drafted, new installations are designed and costs are estimated. As can be seen from all these facts, UC Brite is a labor intensive project that requires the coordination of many independent components. Never in recent memory have the University, landlords, neighbors and private enterprise come together to work on a project as they have in UC Brite. All of these dissimilar groups are already working hard towards improving outdoor lighting in our neighborhood. A project with the magnitude and diversity of UC Brite will not be done in a few days. It takes time because: · Participation of home owners is voluntary. · People have very busy schedules. Most neighbors work during the day, come home to prepare dinner and then take their free time to contact other neighbors to get them involved in the program. · Neighbors have valid questions that require finding additional information from us or the technicians. · Electricians must visit each block and make cost estimates, and that information has to be transmitted to the participants. Neighbors then must decide what is it exactly that they want done in their properties, not what the University or anyone else wants. · We are dealing with different visions of what better lighting means for the neighbors of each specific block visited by UC Brite. · Money must be collected from the participants (UC Brite already has the money to reimburse participants, so this is not the toughest bottleneck). · UC Brite and electricians must get permits from the city. · Access for the electricians to the houses has to be coordinated. · Many of the jobs have to be inspected to make sure the electrical work is up to city code. None of these steps are capricious. They take time because they are done democratically, with people acting with our encouragement but on their own will. It takes time to do it right. Your editorial was unfair to the residents and neighbors who are working diligently to make it happen, and to the landlords that are cooperating in the effort. Like all first-time endeavors, this is also a learning process for all of us. Unforeseen obstacles and situations constantly emerge. Yet UC Brite is happening, and at a very fast pace, given the nature of what it is trying to accomplish and the limitations of what it cannot do. We invite the DP editorial board to talk directly with us and take a closer look at what is going on. They might wake up to a pleasant surprise.