This is one of those stories that gives me faith in city government. Yes, I fully understand this will not keep people from having to live on the streets or ensure that every kid graduates from high school, but it’s a moment where a need for modernization and efficiency bumped into a bit of creativity and enthusiasm. And it’s been a lot of fun for the rest of us ever since.

The folks at the city’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services — DCAS — manage the city’s 55 buildings, along with a big list of other tasks, like hiring city employees, ordering supplies for city agencies and implementing conservation programs in city facilities. It’s that last one that got them to examine the efficiencies in their own building, 1 Centre, the David Dinkins Municipal Building.

“We were looking at the lighting in the tower, and it wasn’t very aesthetic and it was very very inefficient — high pressure, 400-watt sodium vapor lamps,” Danny Donovan told me. He’s the agency’s director of energy management. “Picture the Batman spotlight. We had 72 lamps like that to replace with LEDS, but LEDs can’t throw off light for much distance. And we still needed to do something more efficient.”

Donovan brought in a team of lighting experts to do a design, but the cost of implementing it was too high. So they approached their own electricians with what would be a complicated job. And that’s really what made it happen. “It made it doable once we had their buy in, since it brought the cost down to the same as replacement.” The electricians would get the glory of knowing they illuminated the downtown skyline.

The result: 271 new fixtures that reduced greenhouse gas emissions by seven tons. What cost $9000 a year before now costs $1300. The first unveiling was July 4, 2019, and no one outside of DCAS knew it was going to happen.

There’s now a set calendar (see below) that includes Pride, federal holidays and religious holidays; all the sports teams colors preprogrammed in case something good happens (there was a Mets joke in there that I refuse to repeat); Valentine’s Day, complete with a pulsing heart; and remember, this is coming from a Donovan, St. Patrick’s Day. “I am so happy.”