Some would argue San Francisco has an image problem. But could bringing back the famous LED light sculpture on the Bay Bridge help?
The failing lights have been turned off since March. There has been an effort to raise millions to bring them back brighter than before.
Organizers who want to bring back the lights say, without question, they would contribute to the city’s vibrancy.
They added that they just need to close a 20% gap to start cutting checks to begin the process of bringing the lights back.
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Some San Francisco residents say they also want to see the return of the lights on the Bay Bridge.
“I used to think about the Bay Bridge when it was prettier with more lights and stuff. But now, yeah, it’s kind of nice, but I still wish the lights would come back,” said San Francisco resident Apoorva Singh.
According to Ben Davis with Illuminate, he needs about $2 million left to bring back the lights. He’s helping to lead an effort to bring the lights back brighter and longer-lasting than before.
“We’ve been raising on an average about $1 million a month since we started with nothing at the start of this year,” he said. “And we’re now at over $8.5 million raised.”
Davis has a timeline of when he wants to finally have the funding: before the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC summit, on Nov. 14, where world leaders will convene in San Francisco.
“We would love to raise the money for this before APEC, but there’s no way this project would come live again before APEC. In fact, it’ll take anywhere between eight months to a year to bring the Bay Lights back,” he said.
With the perceived image issues of some about the city, Davis thinks the lights will help.
“We’ll bring joy to more than 20 million people annually in San Francisco for the next decade and will be shown as a symbol of San Francisco’s vitality and energy moving forward,” he said.
But others are less enthusiastic with that.
"I think it’ll definitely brighten up the wall and make it prettier. But I feel like it’s not going to do anything about the unsafe part, and that is something that the city needs to do something about. The authorities need to do something about that,” Singh said.
