Gathered around a lectern that resembled an oversized electrical outlet, the members of the University City Lighting Consortium prepared to celebrate creating a brighter, safer Philadelphia.
"Let this be a neighborhood where the streets have no closing time," Penn President Amy Gutmann said.
Over 300 new streetlights and 340 supplemental floodlights have been installed on local streets and sidewalks.
The event, held on the front lawn of the Penn's Facilities and Real Estate Services on Chestnut near the Schuylkill, marked the completion of the first phase of the Lighting Consortium's lighting and safety initiative.
The multi-million-dollar effort, a cooperative effort between Penn, Drexel University, the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia and the Science Center, is an attempt to address the safety and comfort issues of workers and pedestrians on West Philadelphia's streets.
Gutmann was introduced as the person who spearheaded the effort.
According to Lewis Wendell, executive director of the University City District, the program will provide "an increase in pedestrian-friendly lighting and an improvement in street lighting."
Among the members present at the streetlight unveiling were Congressman Chaka Fattah, University of the Sciences President Philip Gerbino, PECO Vice President for Customer and Marketing Services Frank Jiruska and Vice President of Public Safety at Penn Maureen Rush.
Financial backing for this initiative was granted largely by PECO and the city's Streets Department.
Rush said that although the effort is based on making all of Philadelphia a safer environment, much focus has been and will continue to be placed on making Penn the "safest campus possible."
Rush added that $1 million in additional funds have been allocated toward campus lighting.
"This is only the beginning," Rush said. "We still have a lot more we'd like to do."
Where future lights and wall packs - lights placed on buildings to illuminate the surrounding sidewalk - will be placed on Spruce and Walnut streets is still being determined.
Fattah said the initiative came as the result of significant collaboration and would make Philadelphia a safer city.
"Rather than curse the darkness, let us light it up," Fattah said.
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