Fundraiser Nets $7,000 For Pound Ridge Street Light Project

POUND RIDGE, N.Y. – The Pound Ridge Partnership, in conjunction with the Pound Ridge Business Association, held a fund-raiser Wednesday and collected $7,000 that will help implement a plan for replacing street lights along Westchester Avenue in the Scotts Corners business district.

From left, Maggie Nader of the Pound Ridge Business Association, and Terry Pike and Susan Grissom of the Pound Ridge Partnership, address the crowd at the streetlight fund-raiser at the Bedford Post Inn.
Photo Credit: *Bob Dumas*

The crowd checks out the silent auction during the fund-raiser for Green Streets at the Bedford Post Inn.
Photo Credit: *Bob Dumas*

by Bob Dumas

01/25/2013 12:01 a.m.

The fund-raiser at the Bedford Post Inn restaurant was attended by more than 70 people.

“This event was originally for just 42 people, but we have 70 here tonight. You’ve just blown us away,” said Ali Boak, co-founder of the Pound Ridge Partnership, during her address to the gathering.

Boak noted that the effort, known as the “Green Streets Streetlight Project,” is the first major collaboration between the Partnership and the Business Association.

“I don’t think this is something we could get done without working hand in hand,” she said.

Terry Pike, a Partnership member and chair of the Green Streets Committee, said new lighting is necessary for the business district because the old lamps are deteriorating.

“The conduits are really, really old,” she said. “We’ve been meeting with NYSEG to discuss the problem.”

Pike said her committee has selected Louis Fusco, a local landscape architect to lead the project. She said the money raised from Wednesday’s event will be put primarily toward consulting fees. The actually cost of the street lights and their installation is still not known.

“Right now we are looking at 13 poles for just [the north side of] Westchester Avenue,” Pike said, noting the project could eventually spread further east. “We are not there yet to estimate the cost.”

The committee has narrowed down the potential designs for the street lights to eight and passed around drawings during the fundraiser to illicit feedback.

“These will be energy-efficient LED lights,” Pike said. “They will also create less light pollution and will be less intrusive to the people who live in the area.”

Besides dinner at the Bedford Post Inn, the fund-raiser also featured a silent auction with prizes donated by local businesses and artists.

While the Partnership and Business Association will continue to raise funds for the project, Pike noted that they’ll also look for creative ways to find money, such as groups, businesses and individuals sponsoring light poles, which would be noted with a small plaque.

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