After meeting with the zoning administrator for College Township, the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) president hopes poor lighting in Parking Lot 83N will be corrected by next fall.

Rubina Javeri and a university representative met with administrator Ron Taverno about a month ago to discuss replacing the yellow lights in Lot 83N, located behind East Halls near the Flower Gardens Field, Taverno said.

The lighting in Lot 83N, a remote section of campus reserved for student parking, is dim and does not wash over the entire parking lot, said Doug Holmes, assistant director of the parking office.

Holmes began looking into lighting in Lot 83N about three years ago.

If a crime occurred in Lot 83N, it would be difficult for witnesses to identify the perpetrators or their vehicle, he added.

"They [the lights] do not give correct color rendition," Holmes said.

While most people assume increased lighting will decrease crime, recent studies have revealed the opposite, said Paul Ruskin, spokesman for OPP.

"Strong lighting can create deep shadows, and the deep shadows can sometimes work against it," Ruskin said.

A report issued by the National Institute of Justice to the U.S. Congress in 1997 states the effectiveness of lighting in deterring crime is unknown.

Taverno asked Javeri and the representative to draft a proposal describing the changes to be made to the parking lot's lighting.

"I said if they had a plan on my desk, I would review it, but the plan never came," Taverno said. "I'm kind of sad that the university hasn't come back with a plan," Taverno added.

Parts of Lot 83N lie within State College Borough and College Township. College Township has jurisdiction over issues of lighting, Taverno said.

The meeting was called to bring the poor lighting to the township's attention, Javeri said.

During the meeting, they discussed whether installing new lighting would make it necessary to install traffic islands containing grass and trees, Taverno said. A national ordinance calls for such additions when major changes are made to parking lots, he said.

The islands absorb runoff saturated with asphalt that might make its way into rivers and streams, he added.

"We're trying to be sensitive to the needs of the environment and the community," he said.

However, such additions would increase costs, said Holmes.

"As I understand it, the costs would balloon considerably if we had to do more than replace the lights," Holmes said.

Installing traffic islands will also limit the amount of parking spaces available in Lot 83N, USG Vice President Kris Ankarlo said.

Penn State can avoid installing additional structures by making corrections to the nine existing light posts by installing brighter bulbs and lowering the height of the posts, Taverno said.

But it may not be possible to make minor corrections to the existing posts, Holmes said.

"The lighting fixtures are old," he said. "We can't get replacement parts for them."