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THAT WE ALL HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR.IF YOU'VE LIVED IN THIS AREA, LIKE MANY OF THE GOOD WEGMAN CITIZENS HERE HAD TO ENDURE DRIVING DOWN THIS STRETCH OF ROAD, UH, WITHOUT HAVING ANY LIGHTS.
AND SO NOW HERE WE ARE HAVING INVESTED $1.5 MILLION TO PUT SOLAR LIGHTS HERE.
SO WHEREAS ANYONE WHO'S DRIVING DOWN THIS BOULEVARD AT NIGHT WILL BE ABLE TO SEE BETTER THAN THEY'VE EVER BEEN ABLE TO SEE.
WE WILL INSTALL 185 LIGHTS AND THESE SOLAR LIGHTS ARE THE ACTUAL ELIXIR FOR THE PROBLEMS THAT WE'VE HAD HERE.
IN TERMS OF OUR INABILITY TO SEE, PUTTING SOLAR LIGHTS ON A ROADWAY IS NOT THE SAME AS PUTTING SOLAR LIGHTS IN A PARKING LOT.
HERE WE'RE REQUIRED TO HAVE A MINIMUM AMOUNT OF LIGHT FROM DUSK ALL THE WAY THROUGH DAWN.
IT CANNOT GO OFF, IT CANNOT DIMM.
IT HAS TO STAY, STAY AT A CERTAIN LEVEL.
THROUGHOUT THAT ENTIRE TIMEFRAME, IT WAS VERY DIFFICULT TO FIND A SOLAR LIGHT THAT WOULD MEET THAT CRITERIA.
AFTER ABOUT A YEAR OF TESTING, WE WERE FINALLY ABLE TO FIND A LIGHT THAT WE BELIEVE WILL WORK.
THIS IS THE FIRST PROJECT OF ITS KIND IN JEFFERSON PARISH, AND IT'S ALSO THE FIRST PROJECT OF ITS KIND, UH, THROUGHOUT MOST OF THE UNITED STATES HERE, WE HAD NO ELECTRICAL INFRASTRUCTURE TO RUN LIGHTS.
185 LIGHTS FROM US, 90 ALL THE WAY TO SOUTH COUNTER.
IT WASN'T PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE WITH THE ENERGY GRID AVAILABLE.
SO SOLAR WAS BASICALLY OUR ONLY OPTION.
SO WE WERE KIND OF WAITING FOR TECHNOLOGY TO MEET UP WITH OUR NEEDS.
YOU CAN SEE THINGS ARE STARTING TO GET REAL AND THINGS ARE STARTING TO HAPPEN HERE.
IT'S JUST TAKING A WHILE UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF COUNCILMAN LEE.
UM, YOU KNOW, REALLY GOOD THINGS HAVE HAPPENED IN THIS COMMUNITY AND WILL CONTINUE TO HAPPEN.
AND I LIKE THE ATTITUDE OF WHEN THERE'S NOT A WAY PEOPLE SAY, THERE'S NOT A WAY.
YOU FIND A WAY AND YOU GET IT DONE.
THERE'S NO ELECTRICITY, THERE'S NO INFRASTRUCTURE RIGHT HERE.
YOU MAKE LIGHT, YOU CREATE LIGHT.
I JUST WANNA SAY THAT THIS IS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE THIS IN OUR COMMUNITY.
THERE WEREN'T ANY LIGHTS AND IT WAS A HAZARD AND, YOU KNOW, A LOT OF LADIES WERE SCARED AT NIGHT, BUT, YOU KNOW, IT'S JUST GREAT TO SEE THIS COMING TO FRUITION.
LET'S, UH, LET'S GO THROW SOME DIRT.