To the editor,
I would like to respond to your paper's suggestion that anti-crime lighting be installed on the Common. First, we must demand that freedom to walk the streets be a basic right of citizenship. It is intolerable that a wealthy, stable city cannot summon the will to protect its people from a tiny minority of thugs. Then let's look at the relative costs of installing expensive sodium lighting, along with light pollution and energy waste. Compare this with the cost of having one police officer with a radio on foot or bike patrol around the Common during high-risk hours. An officer would soon become aware of who the thugs are and act as a deterrent, something no light or video camera can do. Too often, low-tech but labour-intensive solutions are overlooked for a quick fix.
By Peter Williams
