On Sunday mornings, I often watch the CBS news magazine, “Sunday Morning.” Usually the show does gushing puff pieces for celebrities and the filthy rich. I zip through those to get to the occasional nugget that might be waiting.
A recent Sunday’s nugget was about the problem of nighttime outdoor lights. It told of an enlightened community down Texas way that passed what could be called a Nighttime Preservation Act. Goal? To let humankind see the stars again. Their new rule dictated all outdoor lights be contained in some sort of shield and that said shield direct the light downward, not to the side and certainly not upward. Further, the light source, the bulb, shall not be visible to anyone who’s not standing on the property. I didn’t entirely catch the part about enforcement but I think it included fines and civil penalties.
Even further, this act has been made part of the building code.
Oh joy, oh bliss.
I’m told Snohomish County already has some sort of law on this subject, but it is never enforced. Well, why isn’t it? How many people move to Snohomish County from the garish wasteland of King County only to be confronted by boorish neighbors who put 100-watt lightbulbs beside the garage doors and on the front and back porches? Plus, as is too often the case, these mutts have a motion-sensitive floodlight switching itself on and off throughout the night. And then there are all the advertizing signs and streetlights. Gas stations offend as well.
Well I say enough. If we do indeed have a law against nuisance lights, it needs to be enforced and improved. If we don’t have one, our County Council needs to provide one.
Of course there are the naysayers who believe things are fine the way they are and us effete elitists should go soak out heads. Well, lets look at their objections and our rejoinders.
“I want to show off my house.” Yeah? Well we already know what it looks like. We see it every day.
“Bright porch lights keep stalkers and burglars away.” Maybe, and maybe not. Perhaps all that bright porch lights do is reveal to stalkers and burglars the locations of trip hazards and blackberry vines.
“Businesses need to advertise.” To a degree they do, but the size and luminosity of outdoor signs must be regulated to the benefit of the public. Moreover, these signs must not disturb the long-suffering neighbors so they can enjoy a beer out on a dark and quiet back yard.
“But we need streetlights to see where we’re going.” For pedestrians, use a flashlight. For drivers, that’s why cars have headlights.
“Car dealers need to display their inventories.” They can, they just have to keep the light shining on their own property, not the neighbors’.
“But I like to whine about everything that controls anything, just for the sake of whining.” Yes, we know you do, but sometimes, buddy, you’ve just got to go with the flow.
When I was a kid long ago in a faraway place, nighttime was magic. Fireflies, crickets, owls and stars. Red ones, blue ones, faint ones, brighter ones and the Milky Way. The moon was super, too. I believe all these spectacles of nature should be — no, need to be — enjoyed once again.
I know this light control issue, being one of esthetics, does not rise to the immediacy of school funding or jails but I’d like our candidates address this issue nevertheless. Snohomish County doesn’t have to lit up like the Las Vegas strip.
Tom LaBelle is a resident of Snohomish.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
