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and maps are still available from the front desk at City Hall or Centennial Commons. The website www.lionsbirthdaybash.org provides photos and locations of all the lions along with information on the artist. University City Summer Band concerts The start on Tuesday, June 23 at 7:00 PM in the Market in the Loop Plaza. Performances are every Tuesday through July 28. Some seating available or bring your lawn chairs. Concert Series in Heman Park The annual Starlight has begun. Lawn chairs and picnics are welcome. The free concerts are every Monday at 7:30 PM through July 27. Come out and enjoy some great entertainment. As we have noted before, because University City has more than 35,000 persons living within its borders, we are eligible for economic stimulus funding for energy efficiency and conservation measures. Under the program, the City is entitled to $149,600 from Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant the (modeled after the CDBG). There are three main objective laid out by the grant materials: energy savings, cost savings/job creation/job retention and longevity. The grant requires that dollars spent should have a long-term impact on both energy and fiscal savings. To maximize every dollar for long-term energy and cost savings, and based on Council’s direction to reduce Public Works operating expenses staff is moving forward with a program to address Ameren owned street lighting. Of the $857,600 budgeted for electricity usage by the City, $640,000 or (74%) is for Ameren-owned street lighting. While the city has 171,000 square feet of facilities that should be assessed with energy audits, to immediately reduce energy usage, green house gas emissions and save/create jobs with economic stimulus funding, addressing the street lighting is our first priority, especially given the allocation amount of $149,600. There are 4751 Ameren-owned streetlights within our boundary (5.9 square miles). Compared to other surrounding municipalities, and by our own standards, University City has an excessive number of streetlights, unusual even for an inner ring urban suburb. Ballwin- 2437 lights 8.94 square miles Richmond Hts - 883 lights 2.28 square miles St. Ann-1114 lights 3.15 square miles Maplewood- 940 lights 1.56 square miles Kirkwood- 378 lights 9.18 square miles Creve Coeur-1162 lights 10.26 square miles Maryland Heights-1897 lights 23.53 square We have two major arterials around 2.5 miles in length. Olive being predominately commercial also has additional lighting on private parking lots. While it would be the City's preference to have its entire street lighting stock retrofitted for energy efficiency, two factors make that impossible at this time: (1) Policy: currently, we pay a flat rate by pole and fixture type that includes energy usage and a maintenance fee. The bulk of the charge is for the maintenance. (2) Cost: none of the lights are metered individually and therefore conversion to energy efficient fixtures/bulbs is unlikely to reveal energy savings or financial savings to the City unless nearly all are retrofitted and rates are changed to reflect less maintenance. Therefore, whether a light runs all day and night or not at all the billing remains the same based on Ameren’s policy. Therefore, retrofitting the lights does benefit the City or Ameren financially at this time. We are