Sandy Springs officials gathered at the Abernathy Arts Center on Thursday to celebrate the installation of 133 pedestrian lights on both sides of Johnson Ferry Road between the Chattahoochee River and Brandon Mill Road.
The 2023 capital project was championed by local neighborhoods, according to District 3 City Council representative Melissa Mular.
The HOAs reached out to me, and I worked with them to help coach them on how to approach the mayor and council because I’m only one of six [council members],” she said.
The project was put on the budget the city’s projects a year later, Mular said, noting its passage was one of her first successes.
The city paid Georgia Power Co. $845,625 for installation and will pay $4,756 monthly for the lights.
“Staff’s been really great and working with the neighborhoods and working through the challenges that we’ve had with the shale and placement of the lights. And here we are, so I feel pretty good,” she said at the ribbon cutting.
Mayor Rusty Paul said the project was symbolic about what is important about Sandy Springs, which is its neighborhoods and trying to make them better and more enjoyable.
“When we started the city we talked about how we’re going to take the money that we had always paid into Fulton County and use it to reinvest in our own community. And so that’s what we’ve done,” he said.