‘Blinding’ new streetlights a concern

Deborah Crane —

I wrote this to Councillor Pam McConnell with a concern that many of us are having with the new street lights that have recently been installed:

While we realize the importance of safety in our community and how serious this matter is, we also have to take into consideration the comfort of members of our community.

The new street lights take away from this as they are too bright for our small streets. They seem to be industrial lights not residential and interfere with the comfort and sleep of many. I live on Scadding and many people are not happy with their patios being lit up all night. We really do not need patio lights anymore nor do we have any privacy while using our patios.

The new lights shine in through our windows and light up our bedrooms. A simple solution would be to get black-out blinds, however not everyone can afford to go and buy them for all their windows. Needless to say it is taking away any comfort and privacy of our patios which we are paying a great amount to have.

Another concern is the new street lights light up the basketball court, which means people can play basketball all night. I have heard the kids mention this already and will see this as a problem next summer. We already have many members who complain about the noise from people playing basketball at night and this is going to only encourage them to play during the night-time hours. Please consider this and understand that these lights are simply too bright for the small streets.  Thank you.