Nights Getting Brighter for Residents on Circle Drive

“If take your car and stop it in the middle of the street and turn you lights off, You will not be able to see 5 feet in front of you. It is complete darkness,” explained Frank Vaccaro of Circle Drive in Rumson.

Darkness is what brought the neighbors of Circle Drive to the borough council meeting on June 28, 2011. Residents wrote a letter to the council and petitioned for lights to be installed on their street.

Vaccaro measured the street and discovered that there is a total of 2486 feet without a single light.

This is a major concern for residents who like to jog in the early morning, walk to the yacht club in the evenings, or even drive down the street when there is brush out in the street. Not only is Circle Drive dark, says neighbors, but it is also a very narrow, crescent shaped street located directly off of River Road leaving them a target for crimes like the recent .

Carlyn Studenko is a mother of two very young children who says she is often scared in her own home. “My cars have been broken into twice,” explained Studenko. “Now, I get scared when I am home at night washing my dishes looking out my window into complete darkness.”

Residents hope that lights on the street will not only make things clearer for pedestrians and drivers, but also a deterrent for criminals.

Being a family neighborhood, residents say their first concern is safety. “When we first moved here, we didn’t even have keys to our home. Now, we have alarms on our doors, windows, on everything. The times have changed,” explained Harriet A. Howard.  “For the past 3 years or so we have been having little incidents like break-ins and home burglaries on our street. This year, what was different was that the police were very concerned, so we knew we had to do something.”

That is when residents banned together and decided to bring their concerns to the council.

The borough council immediately took action when they first heard about the concerns from residents and police a month or so ago.

“When I received the letter, I shared it with the council and they went out drove the drive. So everyone has been out to see it,” said Tom Rogers, borough administrator.

After seeing how dark the street was, the council decided to put in an order with Jersey Central Power & Light Company to come out and install goose-neck energy efficient lamps on the existing telephone poles on street. There will be three lamps, one on each side of the drive and one at the top of the circle.

“I expect the lights to be installed in the very near future,” said Rogers.

The mayor said they will start with installing 3 lights on the street and then re-evaluate and add more if necessary.

Frank Vacarro was very thankful that the council took action right away to help light up the street. “The council has acted swiftly and said they will re-investigate after the 3 lights have been installed and add more if necessary and I think that is very fair and proper,” said Vaccaro.