Author: Chuck Lohre

There have been many Facebook posts and comments lately about Clifton gaslights. As President of Clifton Town Meeting (CTM), I’d like to clarify a point of confusion. There never was a decision by CTM to retrofit the gaslights with LED’s. A rough draft of the Clifton Plan was released that listed all the recommendations made by Clifton Plan subcommittees even though none of these recommendations have yet been approved. One of the Clifton Plan subcommittees recommended retrofitting the gaslights with LED’s. Many subsequent posts and comments on this and other Facebook pages responded correctly that much more community engagement is needed before making this kind of decision. These posts and comments were absolutely correct.
In Monday’s CTM Board meeting at the Clifton Recreation Center at 7pm, CTM will discuss a motion regarding a highly democratic community engagement process for deciding what to recommend for the final Clifton Plan. The key points of the motion are:
• The first 2026 published version of the Clifton Plan should NOT include any statement whether to retrofit the gaslights with LED’s. Instead, it should include a recommended process for community engagement that is likely to take many months or even more than a year. No recommendation regarding retrofitting the gaslights would be made until this community engagement is complete. Once the engagement is complete, the Clifton Plan would be revised based on that recommendation.
• The key elements of the process would be to have the city install 1 prototype LED light in an existing gaslight so that people could look at it and decide whether it is close enough to the warmth and character of the existing gaslights to serve as an acceptable long term retrofit. If you look at the picture in this post, it shows an existing gaslight on the left and an LED designed to mimic the gaslight on the right. Nobody in Clifton has ever seen a gaslight with these kinds of LED’s so nobody really knows whether the LED might look almost as good. Once the pilot is installed, there would be a professionally designed survey to see if people would support a retrofit due to the environmental benefits of the retrofit. CTM would abide by the results of the survey when it comes to revising the Clifton Plan.
Please feel free to attend the CTM Board Meeting, December 1st, at the Clifton Recreation Center. We will have at least 40 minutes for this topic. We will follow the normal process: read the motion, second the motion, board discussion, audience comments, and vote on motion. Audience comments are limited to 2 minutes. The President calls on the audience members. Ideally, no more than 1 comment per audience member. As an option, you can fill out this form to speak but we will also call on people who have not filled out the form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc_VVPFSsJZcTA-hpyzsfyQGJBuKuhBmSekdZg59O5jwP-yTw/viewform

Gérald Checco, CTM Plan Chair
November 19, 2025

Thank you for your patience with this lengthy update—complex topics require detailed responses.

As chair of the Plan Committee for Clifton Town Meeting (CTM,) I’d like to clarify some inaccuracies and misinformation that have been circulating on social media.
• There is no active project to replace the gaslights.
The recommendation is to install 1-2 prototypes, reversible, and get more community input. See below to understand the Plan process.
• The present draft is a compilation of ideas gathered during various Plan meetings.
Ideas in the draft come from committee meetings, public engagement, responses of surveys, coordination with other stakeholders.
• The assessment and review phase of the draft Plan has not started.
The main goal of the draft is to have a document that people can react to. Many items will be amended, some eliminated and some added.
• More community engagement is needed and will take place.
All items in the draft, in all topics require further discussion

The Process
Our planning process has been highly transparent and inclusive, beginning 10 months ago and involving 29 community meetings (three per month), reaching out to 626 residents. Announcements of meetings have been made broadly, using our mailing system and on social media.
The Plan has been shaped by several subcommittees focusing on Environment, Development, Transportation, Community, and History. Each group has contributed considerable effort. Progress updates have consistently appeared at every board meeting agenda since the project started, accompanied by regular articles in the Clifton Chronicle, all providing opportunities for public input and questions regarding the Plan.
Each committee operated independently and offered various suggestions that were added to the suggestions gathered at public meetings and responses from individuals. City Planning staff also connected with organizations such as the Business Association, churches, schools, CCAC, and multiple city departments (i.e. CTM is not the only participant.)

Where are we in the process?
We are now finalizing the public input for the draft document. What we have now is only the public input, discussion with other stakeholders and the committees’ work. Once complete, the Plan will undergo review, amendment, and approval. It is expected that CTM will opine officially on the Plan in March, but timelines have slipped before to allow more community input. Then the Planning Commission and City Council will vote on adopting the Plan. It’s crucial for everyone involved or interested to thoroughly examine every aspect, ask tough questions, and suggest improvements.
The Plan gives us a platform to explore difficult topics, and no idea was ignored.
• Portal for the Plan
• Engagement Boards
• Draft Plan Goals and Objectives

The Environmental Committee and the environmental input received
The Environment Committee presented their observations and concerns, emphasizing climate resilience and neighborhood-specific solutions. They recommended a range of initiatives involving urban forestry, hillside management, transportation improvements, and sustainable development.
The concept is to retrofit the gaslights, not eliminating them but only changing the mantle, which has already changed several times over the years, because of the type of gas used and the development of mantle technology. This concept originated not only within the committee but also through broader community engagement, including at CTM board meetings and other forums. This topic is currently under review in several historic cities, Boston being a notable example, as advances in technology now allow for comprehensive evaluation of possible solutions. The 1200 gaslights in Cincinnati contribute a significant amount of CO2 and methane emissions, presenting an issue that warrants thorough analysis.
CTM leadership proposes the installation of a select number of retrofitted, easily reversible gaslights and recommends their evaluation through scientific surveys. Forming opinions without tangible case studies or examples is counterproductive to informed decision-making.
Conclusion
As chair of the Clifton Plan, I would like to commend the many many volunteers who have participated and the extraordinary job that City Planner Gibbs has done to lead us through this effort. The concerns of people about the gaslights provide a great opportunity for more engagement, on all items in the Plan. City staff will now lead us through the review and finalization process.

Link to this page as a PDF.