On Monday night, the Smart City Board refined slides for an upcoming city council meeting, explored the idea of collaboration with the Dallas Innovation Alliance and addressed its plans for smart street lighting in the city.
The board focused on a particular slide about the creation of a special commission to work with the Dallas Innovation Alliance, adding clarity to small words to emphasize the actionability of its proposals. The meeting with the city council will not give it as much time as it wants to present its ideas, so the board plans to hand out pamphlets that list its ideas and recommendations in addition to its presentation.
“The council needs to understand what our technology ideas are and the possible benefits,” board member Kanishka Chaudari said. “That’s why we need the pamphlets. In a separate session, we can go in depth about each idea.”
In an effort to economize control of street lighting, especially along Denton Tap Road, the board proposed switching to LED lights that can be easily programmable when connected to main power controllers. After seeing the variety of types of street lights in the city and the cost benefits of switching to LED lights, the board concluded that it was the best option. Given that many cities have already implemented smart street lighting, the board is confident this idea is achievable.
“There is so much data about projects like this that we could publicly display to gain awareness for smart lighting,” board member Joe Mecca said. “The good thing is that this idea is noticeable, and the citizens can see its effects right away.”
During an open discussion, the board debated ways to analyze its success in making Coppell a “smarter” city. Some members proposed comparing Coppell to other cities, but others added that access to resources could skew the benchmark for comparison. Some members suggested creating a progress model of completed goals and pending tasks.
The board concluded it needs to set up goals for Coppell based on what “smarter” cities have been doing. In the next meeting, the board hopes to have a discussion on bringing more awareness to smart water management in Coppell.
Follow Deepali Kanchanavally (@deepali0914) and @CHSCampusNews on X.
