Historical-looking lights coming to Marquette Park Pavilion

The recently vandalized Marquette Park Recreation Pavilion will get more than $200,000 in custom made lights, harkening back to the nearly 90-year-old building's original grandeur.

A newly installed security systems should protect them, said planning director Christopher Meyers.

The Board of Public Works and Safety Wednesday approved a $208,000 contract to Winona Lighting for the special lights. They include glass globes, instead of acrylics, and brass and copper lanterns, which are much harder to steal and exchange for cash, Meyers said.

"They're such specialized items, that if any one steals them and tries to hawk them, then it's like a piece of art," he said, adding it would not be hard to track them down or find the thieves.

In photos of the pavilion dating back decades, the glass fixtures adorn the entrances and others hang across the second floor ballroom. They were tall, regal ornaments with design elements that support the architecture of the building opened in 1924.

Getting historical replicas of exterior and interior lighting was a selling point in the Regional Development Authority's $28 million grant for the Marquette Park Lakefront East renovation, Meyers said.

Great Lakes Electrical and Mechanical originally was awarded the lighting contract, but when officials learned GLEM could not install the replicated lights, about $140,000 was deducted from their contract and applied to the historically accurate fixtures.

The pavilion was vandalized and copper, tools and other goods stolen last week. Meyers said Gary police are actively investigating the case. A fire also was started in the main entrance to the building, with soot and ash covering all the floors.

Meyers said he will meet with the project's insurance company later this week.

While conduit for an alarm system had already been run through the structure, project officials had not yet installed any warning systems. As of Wednesday, Meyers still insisted it was the responsibility of contractors to secure their building materials and tools, but last week's break-in, the third of the year at the pavilion, expedited security steps like an alarm system with motion sensors that will alert Gary police and other parties.

Solar power is being used at oil wells to power drilling operations these days. Apparently, it is also being used at nuclear power plants, ironically.

"In an order valued at nearly $400,000 USD, a large US power utility in the Southwestern United States has selected the EverGEN 1530 solar LED outdoor lighting system for the second installment in a perimeter fence security lighting project," Carmanah, the developer of the solar LED outdoor lighting system reports.

As noted in the title, the reason for going solar is "to increase the security… by providing backup safety lighting in the unlikely event of power failure, allowing the facility to maintain critical security functions that are mandated by Homeland Security"

As noted above, this is the second installment. The two together total an investment of $1.5 million in solar lighting.