A Brighter, Safer La

A Brighter, Safer L.A.

Today, residents of Los Angeles benefit from a variety of perks that come with life in such a

unique and vibrant city; a prominent arts and music scene, a melting­pot culture, world­famous

weather, a slowly recovering economy, a rising real estate market, and the tenth consecutive year

in which crime rates have significantly decreased. Angelinos have weathered many hardships

over the last 25 years and many long­term residents seem truly satisfied with the direction the

city has been headed since breaking away from the tumultuous and crime­filled early 90’s.

However, despite recent developments that have placed L.A. firmly on the right track of

bettering the lives of its residents, there’s still room for improvement. City officials interested in

making L.A. a safer place to live needn’t look further than at, literally, the shadowy parts of

town. Simply lighting up the poorly lit areas of the city would further reduce crime, provide safer

living conditions, and promote general well­being for L.A residents.

A major issue affecting the lives of residents is that many of L.A.’s city parks and the hillside

neighborhoods that surround them, are dimly lit and dangerous. Because of this, residents

structure their daily routines around the realities of a living in a dark neighborhood and stay

indoors at night. Nighttime jogs are impeded by the threat of shadowy streets that don’t offer the

protection that a well­lit area provides. In areas around city parks, walking the dog at night is

often avoided at all costs due to increased coyote activity and a growing number of incidents

involving pet death. A diminished sense of safety ultimately leads to to a decreased level of

satisfaction of residents and stunts the cities best efforts to restore and grow it’s public safety

objectives and strengthen the local home market.

An effective solution to tackling the issue of poorly lit neighborhoods and city parks is to simply

let there be...