Martin Luther King Jr. Park is making some changes to increase safety.

New lighting will be added for safety around the Martin Luther King Jr. statue, which will also be used for artistic purposes, similar to the way City Hall’s dome is often lit to support different causes.

"The lighting scheme will play into that, so that this is a walkable park area, even after it gets into the twilight theme. Even when the sun goes down, there would be security, but also a feeling and a sense of enjoying all of what the park has to offer," Bradford Watts of Buffalo said.

The lighting work has a budget of about $1 million.

Construction is set to begin next spring and be finished by the fall of next year.