CDFA Michigan Financing Roundtable Webcast: Lighting the Way to Redevelopment – Financing Strategies for Streetlights

If you can’t turn on the lights, how does anyone know you’re open for business? Michigan is facing a critical economic development issue: streetlights all across the state aren’t working. In fact, only 35,000 of Detroit’s 80,000+ streetlights are operable, and this trend is spreading. In Highland Park, the city is installing new solar streetlights after a utility company removed the old ones last year. While this issue strikes at the heart of basic local government and infrastructure policy, it’s also a development finance concern. How do you finance redevelopment and improvements like streetlights when you have declining local government revenues?

During this CDFA Michigan Financing Roundtable webcast, we discussed the variety of financing tools available to support streetlights and other streetscape improvements, from TIF to special improvement districts and other public-private partnership solutions. Our expert panel included Julie Metty Bennett from Michigan Saves, Susan Pollay from the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority, John Kamins from Foster, Swift, Collins & Smith, PC, and Bennett Johnson III from GSI Network, discussing how local governments and businesses can work together to develop financing strategies that keep the lights on. Also discussed was the potential for public lighting authorities in Michigan to issue bonds to support new streetlights.

To view the audio webcast, click on the image above.

To view the presentation (without audio), click here.

Annual Roundtable Sponsors The CDFA Michigan Financing Roundtable is supported by the following Annual Roundtable Sponsors.

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