The Orem High School girl's description of her ideal city was simple: She wanted, she said, a well-lighted city so she could feel safe taking a walk at night on the streets in her neighborhood.
Many of her Orem neighbors feel the same way. On average, the city's Public Works Department receives five to six calls a month from residents who want street lights to brighten their neighborhoods.What the callers learn is Orem has a laissez-faire attitude regarding street lights in residential areas. The issue pops up perennially during budget sessions. This year, as in the past, the City Council is unlikely to alter the policy.
"The city tries to make sure that the major intersections are all lit," said City Manager Daryl Berlin. "We pay for that. The minor intersections at collector streets - we are in the process of putting lights at those, although it's slow. Interior residential streets, unless there's some particular traffic safety problem, we don't install them."
It's a matter of money and priorities. But the city's policy comes as a surprise to residents who think that, among other services, their tax dollars should cover the cost of lights on city streets in residential areas.
Charles M. Ball is one such resident.
"We tried to make them realize that with the amount of taxes generated by (our) new complex, it was nothing to put a new street light up," Ball said.
Ball is the vice president of the Cornerstone condominium association, a 34-unit complex located in northeast Orem. Some months ago the association petitioned the City Council for a street light at the intersection of 290 N. 400 East.
Many residents of the Cornerstone complex are senior citizens who have poor eyesight. In the dark, they have a difficult time spotting passing cars and an even tougher time locating the street when returning to the complex, he said.
"We felt like for safety purposes and security, having such a dark area leaves you wide open to other problems," Ball said.
That's true, said Orem Det. Gerald Nielsen, spokesman for the Public Safety Department.
"I believe, based on my experience and training, that a good lighting system is the best and cheapest crime prevention tool we can use," Nielsen said. Orem's dark residential areas allow burglars and vandals to prowl "pretty well undetected."
Safety brought resident John D. Lee, 55 W. 750 North, to the council last fall with petitions signed by residents of his neighborhood who wanted a street light or two. The area's been hard hit by vandalism and burglaries.
"In order to make it a safer neighborhood, we need street lights," Lee told the council.
The City Council declined to act on either Lee or the association's request; it added the association's intersection to a list of streets awaiting lights as money is available.
But getting on the list is no indication that a little light will soon be shed in a particular area of the city. There are 46 intersections on the list and hundreds more that need lights, said Steve Weber, maintenance division manager. The department expects to get funding for half its priority list in the fiscal 1994 budget.
The Cornerstone association decided the problem couldn't wait and took matters into its own hands.
The association contracted with Utah Power for five street lights - four for the complex's interior streets and one to light the intersection at 400 North. Each resident pays about $2 monthly to cover power costs, Ball said.
For now, that is what Orem expects residents to do: take care of their own street light problems. Residents can petition the city to set up a special services lighting district or, like Cornerstone residents, contract on their own with Utah Power for lights.
Orem Mayor Stella Welsh agrees that the city's lack of lights is a safety and travel problem.
"I've heard it for a lot of years that we need more lights," Welsh said. But "it's a fairly expensive thing to do to light a whole city.
"My No. 1 priority right now is State Street. When we get that done, then we can look at sidewalks and street lights," she said.
And like any story, this one has another side: people who like Orem as dark as possible.
"They like being able to look out and see the stars," Weber said.
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Special improvement districts
Orem residents can petition the city to create a special lighting improvement district. The district must encompass an area of at least two square blocks and be supported by a majority of the residents, who agree to pay additional property taxes to pay for the lights. Residents in a such districts typically pay $30 to $35 annually in additional taxes. There currently are eight lighting districts in Orem.
It's sometimes difficult to get the broad base support required to create a lighting district, according to Steve Weber, Orem's maintenance division manager. Some people are all for street lights - until they find out the best place for a light is in their front yard.
Residents also can contract with Utah Power to put up lights on streets in private developments or, with city permission, on city streets. Residents pay the electric costs.
Utah Power also has a residential security light program. The company will install a decorative yard light in front of a home; the cost of the light is repaid through the homeowner's monthly power bill.
There's one other way residents can light up their neighborhoods: turn on porch lights.
"If all the neighbors left porch lights on, it would help," said Gerald Nielsen, spokesman for the Orem Public Safety Department.