My OperaStreet Lights
Monday, May 5, 2008 6:33:48 PM
I've learned that simple things rarely are. Maybe it began back in Foggy Bottom, probably in the late 70's. There was a street light at the corner of Twenty-Fourth and I Streets. It had recently been changed from mercury vapor to argon, or something. John Wilson was the Ward 2 City Councilman.
There was a Foggy Bottom meeting, in St. Paul's Episcopalean church's upstairs meeting room, as usual. The street lamp came up. The meeting stopped, and the chairman had a hard time getting it back on track.
Simply put, everyone had something to say, and they were going to say it. (Mary Healy is no longer with us, but she was a force.) The new version of light bulb (if that's really what they are) was beguiling the trees into blooming too early/late, destroying sleep, ugly, unaesthetic, making the streets less/more safe, confusing the song brids so that they sang all night long and why wasn't someone paying attention to the trouble the change would cause.
I forget whether the the change happened at the request of someone or some group, or simply the District doing what cities do: update things as a course of normal maintenance.
Ever since that time, I've been careful in meetings to try to spot "street lamp issues" in public meetings. If I can spot them, I can handle them. It's when they sneak up on you (i.e., you weren't thinking ahead) they can almost kill a meeting.
So it with great trepidation that I approach the subject of street lamps. But it seems to be in the air. For example, Mari of InShaw has When quaintness attacks!: Washington Globes. The Washington Post has even written an article on street lights in, of all places, Georgetown.
And it has been broached at recent Blagden Alley and Naylor Court Association meetings. The point there being a question of safety. The trees along Tenth Street, for example, are shorter than the "cobra" lights, so at night much of the street llight light doesn't make it past Summer's leaves to the street. So the streets are unnecessariy dark, and thus, it's a public safety issue.
There is discussion of replacing the cobra lights with something short enough to put its light on target. That is, the sidewalk. Of course, the lights should be attractive as well as functional. Quaint, perhaps.
And, as usual, that are problems. Whereas the cobra lights distrub some folks sleep and not others because of height, different people would have problems with the shorter lights. (Although, Mark Bjorge of the Mayor's Office says that instead of duct tape to shut off light in a certain direction, there are actually inserts that can do the ame thing and still not be obtrusive.) And there is a question having the same design on the entire neighborhood or just hoping each half-block might have some consistency.
It turns out that street lights, when googled, have generated a much discussion, and oftem more heat than light.
There was a Foggy Bottom meeting, in St. Paul's Episcopalean church's upstairs meeting room, as usual. The street lamp came up. The meeting stopped, and the chairman had a hard time getting it back on track.
Simply put, everyone had something to say, and they were going to say it. (Mary Healy is no longer with us, but she was a force.) The new version of light bulb (if that's really what they are) was beguiling the trees into blooming too early/late, destroying sleep, ugly, unaesthetic, making the streets less/more safe, confusing the song brids so that they sang all night long and why wasn't someone paying attention to the trouble the change would cause.
I forget whether the the change happened at the request of someone or some group, or simply the District doing what cities do: update things as a course of normal maintenance.
Ever since that time, I've been careful in meetings to try to spot "street lamp issues" in public meetings. If I can spot them, I can handle them. It's when they sneak up on you (i.e., you weren't thinking ahead) they can almost kill a meeting.
So it with great trepidation that I approach the subject of street lamps. But it seems to be in the air. For example, Mari of InShaw has When quaintness attacks!: Washington Globes. The Washington Post has even written an article on street lights in, of all places, Georgetown.And it has been broached at recent Blagden Alley and Naylor Court Association meetings. The point there being a question of safety. The trees along Tenth Street, for example, are shorter than the "cobra" lights, so at night much of the street llight light doesn't make it past Summer's leaves to the street. So the streets are unnecessariy dark, and thus, it's a public safety issue.
There is discussion of replacing the cobra lights with something short enough to put its light on target. That is, the sidewalk. Of course, the lights should be attractive as well as functional. Quaint, perhaps.
And, as usual, that are problems. Whereas the cobra lights distrub some folks sleep and not others because of height, different people would have problems with the shorter lights. (Although, Mark Bjorge of the Mayor's Office says that instead of duct tape to shut off light in a certain direction, there are actually inserts that can do the ame thing and still not be obtrusive.) And there is a question having the same design on the entire neighborhood or just hoping each half-block might have some consistency.
It turns out that street lights, when googled, have generated a much discussion, and oftem more heat than light.
- Street lamps in New York.
- The usual Wikipedia entry.
- The historical article, showing erudition.
- And a reference to The Old Lamplighter. (Bet you hadn't thought about The Browns in a while.
