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Morriss: Washington Street Period Lighting Poles Initiative will be Revisited

July 20th, 2021 by WCBC Radio

Back in 2019, members of the Washington Street Association said they were optimistic a long-standing plan to install period lighting poles along the historic street would eventually become a reality. However with the project stalled by the Coronavirus pandemic- and with one of the individuals who had spearheaded the project recently leaving Cumberland- there is now some concern as to whether the effort will continue. The  project, as designed, would provide lighting fixtures appropriate for the 1900 time period, which matches many of the historic houses and buildings in on Washington Street. Ben Wolters, who had been a key  member of the association's lighting committee,  has now moved from the city. Wolters' first success with the lighting project came in 2015 when he secured $93,000 in grant money- and shortly afterward the city took over the grant funding and began basic groundwork. Those funds were used to install conduits and other underground infrastructure along the street to prepare connections for the period lighting poles and the LED lights. During a recent appearance on WCBC’s “Dave Norman Show," Mayor Ray Morriss said that while the project may have moved to the backburner, it is not dead…