In November of 2019, Los Angeles Chief Design Officer Christopher Hawthorne launched L.A. Lights The Way under the supervision of Mayor Eric Garcetti, an open competition to design and fabricate a new, improved, and multi-use standard LED powered street light to be installed and supplant the 220,000 existing less efficient high pressure sodium street lamps and the current single-function, utilitarian, LED-operated CD953 model streetlight that has been standardized throughout Los Angeles since 2009. According to Hawthorne, the L.A. Lights the Way initiative serves as an opportunity "to reconnect with the city's 'rich tradition' of streetlight modernization," a potential way to "mitigate the unequal distribution of the city's 'most beautiful' streetlights, which are currently concentrated in the wealthiest neighborhoods," and as an avenue through which to establish Smart City infrastructure throughout Los Angeles. Additionally, the timeliness of the design competition echoes the larger, city-wide efforts to refurbish and modernize the city’s public environment in preparation for the 2028 Olympic Games (though the L.A. Lights The Way initiative is not explicitly included in Garcetti's Twenty-eight by '28 transit infrastructure plan).