When quaintness attacks!: Washington Globes
I say get a ladder and a can of spray paint if you haven't been able to sleep because of the quaint globe street lights that add that historic feel, but pollute the night sky and creeps around your blinds keeping you awake. In today's Post there is an article about "Washington globe" lights and how they impact the quality of life of residents who can't sleep or see less of the night sky because of these street light fixtures.I tagged this under historic districts because along with brick walks these quaint looking lights follow. And sometimes they don't have to be in historic districts but they are there for the aesthetics. The high powered light bulb isn't historically accurate but there for street safety and though making the street safer by shining a penetrating light, that same light penetrates parts where it is unwelcomed.
When I bike into and back out of Georgetown, I pass by one of these so fashioned globe street lights and have noticed the house side of it blackened with what could be spray paint. In the day, it looks sort of vandalized and ratty, but I gather it does the job to abate the nighttime annoyance. The other side of the street is protected by thick leafy trees, so they don't have this problem.
Labels: historic districts, quality of life
posted by Mari @ 1.5.08
2 Comments:
For those of us who are tragically nyctophobes, the lights don't pose much of a problem. I could always fall asleep on the beach at noon with crashing waves thundering nearby.
It's the DC sirens that bother me. Why can't we have the same sirens they have in Chicago which do the trick w/o being so darn over the top.
— Ra
i spoke to someone at one of the 14th street streetscape meetings about the light pollution from the washington globes, and he said that there is a solution in the works now that will be applied to all washington globes in the future that will keep the light shining down where it is needed and belongs. in the meantime, spraypaint and ducttape away, i suppose.
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