September 2025: Quit Messing With My Meridian Flip!, Light Pollution News.

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This Episode:

Today, we have a lot of policy related activity. Smart policies are getting set up in Virginia, an amusement park that apparently flipped the bird to migrating birds, and reading the fine print in Pittsburgh’s new LED conversion.

Listen to all this and more as we have a new voice join us today – Mr. Steve Mariconda, and an old friend returns, that being Mr. Frank Turina!

You’ll definitely want to check out this one. A new Light Pollution News is coming up, next!

Host:

Guests:

Light Pollution News, September Highlights:

Light Pollution Filters & Eyewear

Kenko Tokina in Japan has introduced eyeglasses with light pollution filters, designed to help astronomy enthusiasts enjoy clearer nighttime skies. These innovative glasses may not be ideal for driving, but are transforming stargazing experiences.

Regional Lighting Ordinances & Legal Actions

• In Virginia, Rappahannock County expanded its outdoor lighting ordinance to include residential and county buildings, promoting dark sky preservation while pending final approval.
• Connecticut faces a legal challenge: The state is being sued by a coalition seeking compliance with laws mandating nonessential outdoor lighting be turned off at state-owned properties between 11pm and 6am.
• Pittsburgh enacted a dark sky ordinance requiring downward-facing, warm LED lights under 3000K, though exemptions exist for bridge lighting. Residents can petition for dimmer streetlights, but the process is challenging.

Controversial Lighting Projects

• Portland’s Oaks Amusement Park received approval for an amusement ride featuring upward-facing LED spotlights, despite concerns over migratory bird disruption. The park received exemptions from city lighting codes, prompting criticism from environmental groups.
• In Hollywood, Tesla’s new diner drew complaints for intense security lighting disturbing nearby residents, but giant exterior LED screens reportedly do not remain on overnight.

Solutions to Streetlight Issues

• Los Angeles is combating copper streetlight theft by installing over 1,100 solar-powered streetlights, with plans for 400 more. Despite price fluctuations in copper, solar solutions reduce vandalism and long-term maintenance costs.

Advances in Astrophotography Facilities

• Starfront Observatories in Central Texas operates the world’s largest remote observatory, housing over 450 telescopes in climate-controlled warehouses. Astronomers can rent setups for personal or sublet use, making professional astrophotography more accessible.

Global Efforts and Community Highlights

• Norfolk, Virginia, is now offering a 2700K LED streetlight option after community advocacy, though further improvements are ongoing.
• In Scotland, concerns mount as new wind turbines with aircraft lights are proposed near Galloway Forest Park, a certified Dark Sky area.
• In Changsha, China, a local shopkeeper known as the “street light auntie” provides safe, well-lit spaces for women and vulnerable individuals at night, exemplifying the positive social impact of mindful lighting.

Light Pollution News, September Read Along:

For any astronomy enthusiasts out there, I’m sure you’ve heard the term ‘light pollution filter.’ Well, what if you could buy eyeglasses with light pollution filters?! Your dream has come true!

The Japanese company, Kenko Tokina, offers…relatively…normal looking glasses. They come with a black frame and rectangular lenses that appear to protrude just far enough from the face to look suspicious. They might not be the best for driving – or maybe they’ll be great for it given today’s bright lights!

Let’s start this episode off with some hopeful news! Down in Virginia, the Rappahannock County Planning Commission has green lit a new expansion of their current outdoor lighting ordinance, now including residential and county structures. The previous ordinance only pertained to commercial activities.

The new proposed ordinance was passed in the Planning Commission on July 16^th and has headed to the County Commissioners for final approval. As of the time of this recording, no vote has been recorded yet. For those of you not aware of where Rappahannock County is, it sits south of Winchester, Virginia, between Front Royal, Culpeper, and Luray.

Since we’re here in the policy world, I would be remiss not to mention a piece in the New York Times. This was forwarded over by a friend of the show, astronomer Diane Turnshek.

Pittsburgh, PA, may be home to one of my favorite inventions of all time – that being fries atop your burger, also appears to be dipping its toes into actually behaving as a responsible nighttime citizen. I wouldn’t hold your breath, though. Buried in this Times article is a little, easy to pass over paragraph.

To recap, for you at home who may not recall, prior to their LED conversion, Pittsburgh passed a dark sky ordinance that required the use of downward facing LED lights, timers, dimmers, and motion sensors, along with a color temperature below 3000K.

The color the city selected for its lighting ended up being a warm 2700K. None of this applies to the decorative lighting of bridges, of which Pittsburgh has many, as they are managed by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, which apparently abides by its own set of rules.

Now, the paragraph I wanted to mention – which sits towards the end of the article, Jacob Williams, one of the press officers for Pittsburgh, passively mentions that residents could *petition* the city to dim the lights and request shielding. That, to me, sounds like the same old song and dance we hear from many other areas around the country. In fact, in Pittsburgh, in order to have your street lights dimmed, you need to have a consensus of the neighborhood, which feels like an impossible bar to overcome. It seems clear as day to me that the city, as with most municipal bodies that install street lighting, passes the onus of resolution to any issues on the recipient who had no voice in installation.

Also in the news, this comes to us from the Hartford Courant and Sean Krofssik. I highly recommend you take a look at this link when you have a chance.

Leo Smith, past guest and co-founder of the Coalition to Reduce Light Pollution in Connecticut, has sued the Connecticut Judicial Branch for ignoring a state statute that requires lighting located on state property to turn off nonessential outdoor lighting between 11pm through 6am daily.

Smith, apparently, has requested a sizable amount of information from the State, including a fixture by fixture audit of the Connecticut courthouses to ensure compliance. Leo started down this path a couple of years ago, when he first notified Laura Jovino, the facilities manager for the Connecticut Judicial System, that the decorative lighting was out of compliance with the law.

On March 10^th of this year, Smith then sent another inquiry to the Chief Court Administrator, Elizabeth Bozzuto. Nine days later, Bozzuto decided that being a law abiding judge was a bit too much and issued a directive that all exterior lights are essential despite the fact that decorative lighting served no “essential” purpose. Per Smith, this directive was issued 1.5 years after the law entered into effect.

The state intends to file a motion to dismiss. The hearing is slated for right around the time of this recording.

Over in Portland, Oregon, the Oaks Amusement Park decided to install a new 135.5 foot high ride that will shoot up eight LED spotlights into the night sky. Now, what makes this unique is that it’s set adjacent to Portland’s first migratory bird park – actually, the wildlife area almost surrounds the amusement park.

The city approved Oaks Amusement Park to build the ride, along with the LED spotlights set to illuminate the sky. The ride is slated to be operational through all of migration season. This spurred a coalition of non-profits to file an appeal. Included in this coalition were the Bird Alliance of Oregon, the Urban Greenspaces Institute, and the Friends of Oaks Bottom.

By Portland code, lighting must be aimed downward, shielded, and of a warm temperature. However, the Oaks Amusement Park filed to be exempt from this code. In an effort to throw a dog a bone, I guess, the Amusement Park has decided they won’t abide by anything else, but think warm colors will look nice come October.

I think past guest Nick Mesler said it best, as paraphrased – “the lights have no safety purpose and are purely aesthetic. Approving them would set a dangerous precedent that ‘recreational ambiance’ outweighs conservation.”

Per the arbiter, city hearings officer David Doughman, who denied the appeal by the environmental groups, said, “Oaks Park is required to minimize, not eliminate negative environmental impacts.”

Let’s round out our policy news with this one. It’s honestly not any better than the last few, but hey, it’ll make you smile at least.

Well, here’s a reason to maybe not do it. It comes to us via 404 Media. Everyone’s good buddy, good pal, Elon Musk and his Tesla team opened up a new diner in Hollywood. During construction, security lighting was purported to be aimed directly at the neighboring residences, with one lady, Kristin Rose, quoted as saying, “This light is flashing BRIGHT into our apartments…all night. Even with the blinds closed it feels like we’re at the world’s worst rave.” Through construction and once operational, as one would expect, the noise level caused annoyances for neighbors. If you haven’t yet seen pictures of this facility, in short, it’s a nighttime nightmare sporting two giant LED screens to show movies and a thick light ribbon circling the roof facade.

Now, that being said, I’m going to flip the script here. Yes, it’s a thing to beat up on Tesla as of late, but no, the screens don’t stay on all night. In fact, when you’re sitting there enjoying your Tesla burger that comes in a box resembling a cybertruck (or used to, apparently), and you happen to be relaxing in your charging car, you can dial in to listen to the audio for the two screens like an old time drive in theater. To me, it actually resembles something akin to the Jetsons – maybe a futuristic Sonic.

Staying in LA, what if tariffs could reduce street lighting copper thefts? According to Crosstown, broken streetlight complaints are down by practically half against 2024 numbers. The past three years, per Crosstown, look to be some of the highest incidences of vandalism in the last decade. That was until the 2024 Presidential election. And Crosstown wants to attribute this to tariffs, citing that the copper price recently dropped 22% in conjunction with a tariff announcement.

However, as is the case with streetlights, their assessment doesn’t look to hold up. Copper prices have hovered at or just below record high levels since March of this year. So, it looks like another street light myth may have been busted.

In response to the rampant copper theft, though, LA has a plan. Keep in mind that this theft takes place in either broad daylight or under the cover of a lit street lamp. LA is looking to the sun. Despite their higher price tag, the reduced cost of maintenance and repair has made solar streetlights a viable option.

According to Canary Media, LA has installed 1100 solar streetlight fixtures and plans to install 400 more in areas with the highest copper theft.

Some more hopeful news out of Virginia! You may recall a recent Why It’s So Bright at Night where I interviewed three of the members of the Norfolk based Citizens for Responsible Lighting. After sustained efforts, presentations, and community involvement, Dominion Energy will now be offering a 2700K option for the city of Norfolk.

The group feels that despite the recent nudge in the right direction, there’s much more left to do. For instance, one of the issues was the replacement of decorative fixtures that were converted to LEDs. To that end, they’re working with Dominion to improve the overall impact of their services.

And to close out our policy news this episode, concerns out of Scotland have arisen from a new wind power plant sitting just to the southeast of Galloway Forest Park, a park that obtained Dark Sky status all the way back in 2009! According to Wikipedia, it’s the largest forest in all of the UK. The park suffered a devastating fire back in 2021 that saw the demise of their 10 year old public observatory.

The company, Wind2, has proposed installing the Lairdmannoch Energy Park. The park, which also includes solar paneling, is slated to start off with nine wind turbines that will stand taller than the Empire State Building with red aircraft avoidance lights atop. Comments closed back on July 18^th and had to be made to the Scottish Government.

Switching gears…I know you at home probably think this. I know I find myself pondering this. Maybe some of you have experienced it. What would it be like to stargaze in Bortle 1 skies? Specifically, what would it be like to do deep sky astrophotography in perfectly dark skies?

An astrophotographer by the name of Bray Falls started the business Starfront Observatories. In short, it’s a roll-off roofed set of warehouses that just contain individual telescope setups. The setup is located in Central Texas, which boasts around 220 clear nights a year. It’s climate controlled, and allows for mount customization. Of course, you need to buy all of your gear first.

While the price point is pretty high – for instance, $99 a month to host a SeeStar telescope (which retails at around $500 USD) – to upwards of $800 for large setups, it didn’t stop this venture from taking off. Starfront Observatories is now the largest remote observatory. Only a year in, and the company has 11 warehouses housing over 450 telescopes, all remote, all controlled via an app.

And for you business minded individuals looking to crank out some serious dollars from those dark skies. According to Fast Company, Starfront’s business model looks to be primarily rental space with services. However, customers can sublet their equipment. The company is looking to capitalize on the less financially endowed, but no less curious market by offering package deals for full soup to nuts telescope and pier rentals. The business is a partnership between astrophotographer personality Bray Falls and space sector entrepreneur veterans Josh Kim, Dustin Gibson, and Nate Hanks.

Let’s close out this episode by looking at the healing power of light if done right. Over in Changsha, China, which is located in Hunan province, is a bodega shopkeeper named Sun Meihua. Located, I gather, in an alleyway, Meihua leaves a light on all night to help women and girls feel safe in the late hours.

The light looks like a fluorescent tube light angled down toward the front of her shop. She’s kept it up for over a decade. But it doesn’t just stop at the light. Meihua adjusted store hours to close at 2am and keeps an old dial phone on the premises for folks, typically elderly or young, who may not have a cellular service. For all of this, the 60 year old has garnered the nickname, “street light auntie,” from her community.