In 2011, Chattanooga City Council members were subjected to strenuous sales pressure by the lighting company Green Global Lighting (GGL) and the city of Chattanooga’s Director of the Office of Sustainability. They worked in tandem to convince the City Council to approve a purchase for replacement of all city street lights with “smart” lights. Doing so would require replacement of over 26,000 lights at a total cost of over $23 million. The Green Global Lights were touted as an energy-efficient major crime fighting tool, an innovation better than any street light on the market.
Read the Op-Ed piece by former Council member Deborah Scott.