EDMONTON – The Light the Bridge initiative won’t be using any public money to outfit Edmonton’s High Level Bridge with thousands of programmable LED lights.
When the Light the Bridge campaign was launched, it was pitched as a completely community-driven initiative with no need for taxpayer dollars.
On Monday, a city report suggested city council use some funding reserves to backstop the Light the Bridge project by $250,000 – essentially providing a bridge loan so that the order for the lights could be placed.
However, that recommendation has now been pulled off the table.
“There was lots of talk about the city backstop,” said Dave Mowat, president and CEO of ATB and one of the project leaders, on Wednesday. “There was really never any requirement for the city’s money, but what we had to do was talk to the supplier. And we weren’t quite there, we thought we’d only have $2.1 million and now we have $2.3, which gives us better negotiating power.”
“The good news is, they weren’t looking for city cash, they don’t need city cash. The Light the Bridge project can go ahead about 90 per cent as is, and they’ve still got time to raise more money and get it to 100 per cent.” said Mayor Don Iveson, who added he will be buying a few more bulbs to give as Christmas gifts.
READ MORE: Light the Bridge campaign gets green light from committee
Organizers will order $2.3 million worth of lights, with the option of buying an additional $200,000 worth later on.
“The key thing we were trying to do is get the price, we had a great price and we wanted to put in the order,” Mowat explained. “Essentially they’re saying they’ll hold the price on that small amount of the bulbs for three months. So then you don’t need any backstop from the city.”
According to Light the Bridge officials, fundraising has been going very well recently. They say Tuesday was the best fundraising day ever, with 188 donations worth $15,600.
“Sometimes the stars and the moons have to align and Edmonton’s a real generous place. And so, that combination of people coming together and many, many people being interested, I think, have really made it go,” Mowat said.
“This is going to be a big piece of public art that we kind of all own together. It’s going to be a signature element in our River Valley, it’s going to be a postcard piece. And to know that our community can come together for those kinds of interesting projects, without necessarily having to always put government money into it… I think it just goes to show that Edmontonians will rally behind a neat idea,” Iveson added.
READ MORE: Light the Bridge project reaches halfway mark
So far, $2.31 million has been raised.
In addition, thanks to lighting efficiencies found by EPCOR, the overall cost of the project has been reduced to $2.5 million from $3 million.
Light the Bridge is still on schedule to be lit by Canada Day.
Comments