Letter
Dear Mr. Tangherlini:
The Commission reviewed the draft guideline policy for the District of Columbia’s city wide streetlight plan and was pleased that the city is developing these guidelines for the future installation, maintenance and implementation of its street lighting plan. As you may know, the Commission, since its earliest days, has been greatly concerned with the city’s lighting. In fact, the original Washington and Twin Twenty street light fixtures were designed by former members of our Commission. Our concerns with the draft guideline policy will require additional analysis and study to fully understand its scope and the changes these new guidelines will have on the appearance of the city. We hope there will be some flexibility in the specifications to address contextual issues regarding the color of the pole, the cadence of the spacing of the poles, the height of the poles, and the color of the light on the city’s special streets and in its historic and residential areas. In this regard, the designation of which streets are “special” will also need to be closely scrutinized.
During the presentation, an example of the proposed new prismatic globe to be used on the standard Washington and Twin Twenty pole fixtures was shown to the members. They were concerned with the quality and spread of the light that it will produce and requested to see an installation of several examples on a street before commenting on it. Please coordinate with the staff to arrange this site inspection. We look forward to working with you and your staff as these guidelines and policies develop. As always, the staff is available to assist you and your staff before the next submission.
Sincerely,
/s/Frederick J. Lindstrom
Acting Secretary
Mr. Dan Tangherlini
Director, District Department of Transportation
2000 14th Street, NW, 7th Floor
Washington, DC 20009
cc: Colleen Smith Hawkinson, DDOT