Iowa City Downtown District spurs initiative to increase lighting, safety downtown

Iowa City citizens can expect to see more glimmer and sparkle in downtown nightlife, thanks to an initiative by the Iowa City Downtown District (ICDD) to improve lighting in the overlooked nooks and crannies of the downtown area. The initiative, called Protective Environments, is a partnership between ICDD, the University of Iowa (UI) Alcohol Reduction Plan (RVAP) and the city of Iowa City. In 2022, ICDD and UI co-sponsored a lighting project installing new canopy lighting in the Ped Mall alley leading to South Linn Street, in an effort to boost safety in dark, secluded areas. The project began taking shape two years ago when David Kieft, UI business manager and director of University Real Estate, Planning & Development, suggested performing a night audit to identify areas of concern. Iowa City is home to many university students, who are heavily engaged in the nightlife scene. “Our downtown is a major marketing piece for prospective students and residents alike,” said Joe Reilly, ICDD’s Nighttime Mayor. “The more we can create spaces for students that are safer through lighting and design, the better.” Students and citizens alike often use the alleyways to get to and from other businesses, which is not an issue during the day, but poses safety concerns at night. “Our goals as an organization – and what the nighttime Mayor position was about – (is) cultivating, sustaining and promoting arts and culture by making (downtown Iowa City) clean, safe and vibrant,” said Mr. Reilly, speaking of the organization’s decision to partner with the UI. The goal of the initiative “is to find spaces that are public facing that might be a small area of our downtown, but they're contributing to the overall perception of our nightlife,” he said.

In Nov. 2022, a group of ICDD staff and University stakeholders from student wellness and fraternity and sorority life conducted a night audit of the downtown area, to identify areas accessible by the public that were dark and in need of lighting improvements. Over multiple evenings, the group traversed the streets and alleys on foot, collecting photos of problem areas and plotting them on Google maps. Over 50 areas of concern were documented. After mapping areas of concern, ICDD used public safety data and a foot traffic program to record foot traffic and crime in the areas from 7 p.m. - 4 a.m, reaching out to affected businesses to encourage them to be proactive in making changes and improvements to increase safety – whether that’s replacing broken or dead light bulbs, or keeping business lights on at night to discourage vandalism. Aside from lighting, the group concluded that it was best to close nooks and alcoves that serve no required purpose and add secure doors that can still function when leaving the property – instances when employees leave the building to take out garbage, for example. Once the areas of concern are discovered, ICDD reaches out to individual business owners to alert them of the issues, and offer assistance in brainstorming ideas to correct the issue. “Our goal of this program is to identify businesses and property owners that want to partner with us to either fix their lighting and contribute to the public space and nightlife, or to restrict areas that don't need to be accessed,” said Mr. Reilly. Currently, the initiative is on a three-year track to improving the downtown district. Mr. Reilly said the estimate is two-to-three projects per year, depending on the scale. Funding for Protective Environments is provided by UI and their harm reduction funds and alcohol sales from the stadiums. Businesses and organizations interested in partnering with the ICDD on the initiative can contact Joe Reilly at nightmayor@downtowniowacity.com.