A lawyer who won a unanimous Supreme Court ruling that banned gays and lesbians from marching in the South Boston St. Patrick's Day parade, defended a Woburn minister's right to whip his son with a leather belt and sued the town of Lexington for refusing to display a Nativity scene on its public green has a new, if less controversial cause. He wants to turn the street lights back on in Andover.
Chester Darling, a retired civil rights litigator, has penned a warrant article for spring Town Meeting to reverse selectmen's August decision to shut off 626 street lights.
Darling's article would provide money to light the street lights once more, correcting a situation he says is dangerous, and opens the town to possible lawsuits.
"There are people that will put up with things, but I'm not one of them," said the Mayflower Road resident. "It's annoying that selectmen arbitrarily shut them off."
Darling's article is one of four private warrant articles submitted by last week's deadline for Annual Town Meeting, set for the last week in April.
If approved by Town Meeting voters, the warrant article would transfer up to $55,650 from free cash to the town's street light expenditure account and "take every affirmative act to ensure that the restoration of the street lights shall be permanent." The $55,650 sum includes $15,650 to turn the lights back on and $40,000 to replenish the budget for the continuing operating expenses - figures based off public works estimates, said Darling.
Selectmen voted Aug. 17 to adopt the DPW suggestion to shut off 626 lights on more than 175 streets in Andover, saving an estimated $4,000 each month in utility costs.
The 626 lights, roughly one-third the street lights in town, were determined to be unnecessary for safety by the Andover police.
Darling feels the opposite, that reduced visibility creates a danger to public safety, a hazardous situation for motorists, pedestrians and school children and increased opportunity for crime. The town could be sued, he argued, in the case that reduced visibility contributed to a traffic accident.
"It's a very dangerous situation," said Darling. "We don't really have adequate lighting to begin with on some town roads that are thickly settled."
Darling says he knows there is support for his warrant article as he collected 19 signatures in one day to file his paperwork with the town clerk. He received phone calls from residents in support of his view after a letter he wrote on the issue ran in the Nov. 11 Andover Townsman, he said.
Town Meeting is scheduled for April 28 and 29 at 7 p.m. at the Collins Field House at Andover High School, and May 3 and 4 if needed in the Collins Center for the Performing Arts at Andover High School.
