Let there be light: Drive by councilmember brings back
tradition
SEBASTOPOL – After a few years in the dark, holiday lights will
return to downtown Sebastopol.
Public Works will deck the trees on three blocks of Main Street
– from McKinley Street south to just past GTO’s Seafood House –
with lights, sometime next week, according to Sebastopol City
Councilmember Kathleen Shaffer, who spearheaded the project.
The local Kiwanis Club wanted to put up the lights last year,
but for a variety of reasons it didn’t work out, Shaffer said.
Among other things, PG&E wanted the city to pay for the
electricity used by the lights, she said. As a result, to the
dismay of a lot of local businesses, the project was abandoned.
“So this year I thought, ‘Let’s see, what we can do?’ We needed
to work on it early, to make it happen,” Shaffer said.
She immediately talked to City Manager Jack Griffin and
recommended to him that they pursue the project. Then she made a
call to PG&E. A spokesman there said PG&E would supply the
electricity.
Meanwhile, the Downtown Association was in the process of
regrouping (and has since established an official board) and wanted
to use some of its funding to pay for the lights, Shaffer said.
“But it turned out they needed to take care of legal business
before they could access their funds. So that wasn’t going to work.
We were running out of time, so we asked the community to donate
the money,” she said. “I just started talking to local businesses
and we collected over $2,000 for the lights and extension cords. In
addition, there are some businesses that will let us plug into
their power, because there aren’t any light posts in their vicinity
that we can plug into.”
Also, Public Works talked to Sebastopol Hardware, which agreed
to sell the lights for the effort at a discounted price.
The lights will “enliven downtown,” Shaffer said. “We really
need people to come and stop and shop. As Teresa Ramondo of the
Chamber of Commerce says, ‘Think Sebastopol first. Come down and
shop, enjoy the lights, the decorations … ‘”
The Sebastopol Area Chamber of Commerce, at its expense, used to
adorn the trees with lights around the holidays, but ceased doing
so a few years ago.
Getting power was one issue, because not all of the adjacent
poles have outlets. In order to light as many trees as possible it
required connecting to some private buildings and running extension
cords from trees to buildings, which created some liability
concerns, City Manager Jack Griffin said, speaking on behalf of the
Chamber which referred questions from the press to him.
In addition, it’s difficult for nongovernmental entities to get
the required permits to work within the state right of way, Griffin
said, referring to the fact that Main Street is also Highway
116.
“The state right of way is the street surface and a portion of
the sidewalk. In order for someone to go in and say, block a lane
with a truck, they have to go to the state and provide all kinds of
information and insurance and local nonprofit groups aren’t likely
to be able to pull that off in a short period of time,” he said,
noting, the city, which has an ongoing relationship with the state,
will install the lights.
Griffin will be happy to see the lights up again, he said. “I
love having lights on the trees; it certainly adds to the ambiance
of the downtown.”
“It was definitely time to bring them back,” Shaffer said. “I
think they raise everyone’s spirits. Especially in an economy which
is trying to bounce back,” she said, adding, “We need some holiday
spirit downtown.”
