Housing Authority Director is Hopeful HOPE VI Street Lights Will Be Up by Spring

As seen in the Niagara Gazette…

By Mark Scheer, Niagara Gazette

NIAGARA FALLS — The head of the Niagara Falls Housing Authority is hopeful new street lights will be installed at a high-profile North End housing development by spring.

NFHA Executive Director Stephanie Cowart said she’s expecting street lights to be installed in front of rental units tied to the first phase of the authority’s HOPE VI housing development in about two months.

The lack of lighting has become a source of concern for officials from the authority and the city as well as residents living in new income-eligible housing units that were built off Center Avenue as part of the first phase of the federally subsidized HOPE VI project.

Cowart said she spoke to City Engineer Jeffrey Skurka and was told that the lighting effort is progressing.

“We are moving along with the street lighting,” Cowart told members of the authority’s board of commissioners.

The authority oversaw the development of more than 100 new income-eligible housing units along Beech, Center and Garden avenues as part of the first phase of the federally subsidized HOPE VI project.

The initial round of construction wrapped up last October. A second phase, which will result in the replacement of outdated housing structures at Center Court with new units, started earlier this year.

Although Phase I plans called for the installation of street lighting, but the lighting work has not yet been completed, leaving the North End’s newest neighborhood very much in the dark during the evening hours.

Mayor Paul Dyster said the city’s engineering department has been working with National Grid on the project and he’s confident residents will soon see installation activity at the old site of Center Court.

“We’ve asked National Grid to get at that as quickly as possible,” Dyster said.