Duquesne Light is offering to improve lighting at Allegheny Commons Park in Pittsburgh’s North Side at no cost to the city.
Legislation in front of Pittsburgh City Council would authorize the utility to install a new power source that would ensure the lights at the park work better, according to Councilman Bobby Wilson, D-North Side. The proposal received preliminary approval Wednesday.
Electricity powering the lights now comes from the nearby National Aviary, but is unreliable, Wilson said.
“It was never put in correctly. It would short out every time it would rain,” Wilson said.
Duquesne Light would install the proposed wires and equipment underground, Wilson said.
The proposal comes after Duquesne Light in March announced it was donating $1 million to a Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy-led project to revitalize the park’s North Promenade.
That project will reconstruct a 15-foot-wide central promenade along North Avenue, realign the system of connecting pathways and plant more than 100 trees at the park. It also will include new lighting, additional benches and new pedestrian crossings at Federal and Arch streets.
Dating to 1789, Allegheny Commons is Pittsburgh’s oldest park.
