A letter from a Concerned Citizen

Dear Editor,

A lot has been written lately about Colorado Springs Utilities' plan
to install 8000 new streetlights, but nobody seems to be telling us
just where these lights will go, and why they are needed. CSU's
website doesn't include any plan for where these lights will be
installed, and I have to wonder if the utility has actually
considered whether all these lights are truly needed, and what the
impact of increasing the number of streetlights in town by 40% will
have on citizens. It seems that City Council and CSU simply assume
that everybody wants more streetlights and that it must be good thing
to have thousands more installed at once. Perhaps some of these are
truly needed, but 8000?

Unfortunately, most people - public officials included - labor under
the misconception that more lights will make things safer, but that's
not necessarily so. Well-designed outdoor lighting can indeed
enhance safety, but most lighting is so poorly conceived that it
actually increases the chance of crime and the risk of traffic
accidents. Poorly placed lights of the wrong design do several bad
things. They create deep shadows where bad guys can hide, or where
roadside wildlife may remain unseen until it's too late. Examples of
this problem exist all over town, and adding a few thousand new
lights will only increase, not decrease the problem.
Bright "security" lights on buildings and homes, shining in all
directions at once, hinder the ability of security and law
enforcement personnel to see what's going on in the shadows. Bad
commercial lighting reduces the ability of drivers to see entrances,
lane markings, and trafffic control devices, and can also cause
excessive glare off of wet or icy roads - just when they need it
least.

Unnecessary exterior lighting also reduces the quality of life that
we value here in Colorado. I certainly don't need or want a new
streetlight in front of my home, glaring all night into my window,
and I'm sure most of my neighbors don't either. Most of the
neighborhoods in town have homes so densely packed together that a
few porchlights can light the entire street effectively anyway.
Furthermore, I like seeing the night sky, as do thousands of other
residents (actually, who doesn't?), and increasing the skyglow from
unnecessary, unwanted streetlights just causes more of the night sky
to vanish from our lives while wasting loads of energy. Getting your
kid a telescope for Christmas? Well, plan on heading out of town if
you actually want to see much with it, thanks to decades of
misunderstanding about the effectiveness and proper design of outdoor
lighting. Need I mention the long-term cost of powering so much
lighting for little or no return value?

In many cases, no exterior lighting at all is actually safer and more
cost-effective. It sounds counterintuitive, but it's true, as school
districts around the country are finding out. In San Antonio,
Spokane, San Jose, and many other places, school districts have found
that keeping campuses dark after sundown lowered their vandalism rate
and the cost of the damage, in addition to the dramatic savings on
utility bills. It turns out that vandals and bad guys like to be
able to see what they're doing. At a dark school campus, crooks with
flashlights are immediately obvious, and the cops get them almost
every time before any damage can be done. When exterior lighting is
truly required, putting the light only where it is useful is always
more effective and always costs less than the time-honored, but
misguided approach of attempting to make the area visible from
orbit. Our perennially cash-strapped school districts should take
notice.

CSU and City Council need to see the light, but not the glare of 8000
new streetlights that we don't need and don't want. CSU's own
Envrionmental Policy Recommendations say that they will strive to be
efficient, protect wildlife, preserve the visual appeal of the
community - that includes the view at night, and consider the values
of citizens in the planning and operation of their facilities. Well,
now is the time to start following your own policy recommendations,
CSU. And City Council, you can help, too, by following Governor
Owens' lead when he signed a bill requiring new state-funded lighting
to minimize light pollution, use efficient "full cutoff" fixtures,
and only install outdoor lighting where no other solution will work.
Council should enact similar local ordinances that mandate the use of
efficient, full cutoff fixtures for new construction, and in doing so
become one of a growing number of communities that are a national
model for efficiency and conservation while simultaneously enhancing
safety and the quality of life. Better use of lighting and the
costly energy it requires is what is needed, not thousands of new
streetlights.

Sincerely,
Jon Kolb