Credit Sarah Cwiek / Michigan Radio
Highland Park now has 18 streetlights powered by the sun. That’s thanks to a community solar group called Soulardarity.
Soulardarity has been installing solar street lights across Highland Park since 2012. That was soon after DTE repossessed all the city’s conventional streetlights over unpaid bills.
Shemekia Nichols is Soulardarity’s executive director. She says the new streetlights provide more than just light.
“They have Wi-Fi access that's open to the community. So all you need to do is just pull up to one of our lights. You will see the guest sign in and then you have Internet access, which is very important to Highland Park,” she says.