Submitted By: lisaleestewart@comcast.net – Click to email about this post
Offensive Lighting:
Like many of you, we chose to retire here because of the healthy outdoors, to get away from crowds and traffic and bright lights, noise and pollution. We could walk everywhere, felt safe. We could sleep with our windows open, enjoying the fresh air and ocean noises. We could go to bed early and rise with the sunlight. We could sit in the dark out on our deck and enjoy the stars in the dark sky. It was peaceful and quiet. Our health improved as we settled into retirement and let go of the stress of working for the past 50 years. I used to think most people living in Manzanita felt the same about the peace and quiet and the dark night sky.
Unfortunately, the wonderful relaxing life style we believed in has been ruined by the uncaring attitude of people in power who fail to act and the selfishness of second home owners who care nothing about how they impact others who live here full time. The city refuses to step up because they don’t care. Oh, they enacted an ordinance to protect people from intrusive lighting from an STR but they didn’t bother to extend that protection to residents being assaulted by the exact same offensive and intrusive lighting from a second home owner. Why? It makes absolutely no sense and is discriminating against full time residents by denying us equal protection under the law. I was told by a city council member that the police were too busy to enforce anything so the city wouldn’t act to protect us. Wow. Apparently STRs are important to the city, but an individual homeowner’s right to the peaceful enjoyment of their own property is of no value to Manzanita and undeserving of any common decency or protection from harassment.
I want someone to explain to me the mentality of buying a second home in a very quiet, peaceful neighborhood and ignoring all that the neighborhood is and deciding it’s appropriate to turn the dark night off and put up and turn on all possible offensive lighting and keeping it all on 24 hours for days/weeks on end – even though you, the homeowner turning on those lights is not even present but at one of your other home(s). Why did you come here in the first place – to impose your lifestyle of offensive unnecessary lighting on the rest of us? Do you even notice what you are doing to others? Do you even care? Do you not notice that your lights are the only ones on all up and down the street all night? Of course you don’t because you aren’t even here to step outside and notice the impact of your selfish behavior on the night sky around you. Are you so unaware that it’s your lights that light up your neighbor’s property? Why do you need to do that? Open your eyes and think about how you would feel if this was being done to you and you were sick and wanting to sleep. Please. As you age you may notice that good sleep is often more difficult to obtain. Does it feel good to make sleep difficult for those around you?
How about the neighbor who spitefully directs their outdoor motion detector lights directly into our bedroom and living room windows, and positioned their motion sensitive lights to go off and on when we/dogs are walking in our own yard. I didn’t ask for them to light up my yard. Yet they do. Their motion detector lights light up our driveway (not theirs, ours) and the street in front of our home, not theirs, and all the way across the street to the house across from us. Why? The lights are triggered constantly by trees moving, wildlife, people walking out on the street or cars driving by. Why is it okay to ruin my right to sleep at night? Especially when they aren’t even here!! Please note: when they are here they turn off all the excessive outside party lighting (except the motion lights) so they can sleep!!! Go figure. Obviously they are entitled to sleep in the dark but we are not. Just to be clear: you are not providing me or anyone with “ambience” by means of your excessive lighting and if you aren’t here to enjoy your “ambience” then just turn it off and stop wasting electricity! It amazes and astounds me that many people visiting Manzanita do not actually respect others, do not care about dark skies, obviously do not value the environment, and are the biggest hypocrites about energy conservation and believe that electricity is power to be wasted. Apparently everyone (other than an STR) has the right to do whatever they want with their outdoor lighting 24 hours a day including pointing it directly into the privacy of our own homes, and to hell with the rest of us. What a pleasant world we live in now.
Like many of you, we chose to retire here because of the healthy outdoors, to get away from crowds and traffic and bright lights, noise and pollution. We could walk everywhere, felt safe. We could sleep with our windows open, enjoying the fresh air and ocean noises. We could go to bed early and rise with the sunlight. We could sit in the dark out on our deck and enjoy the stars in the dark sky. It was peaceful and quiet. Our health improved as we settled into retirement and let go of the stress of working for the past 50 years. I used to think most people living in Manzanita felt the same about the peace and quiet and the dark night sky.
Unfortunately, the wonderful relaxing life style we believed in has been ruined by the uncaring attitude of people in power who fail to act and the selfishness of second home owners who care nothing about how they impact others who live here full time. The city refuses to step up because they don’t care. Oh, they enacted an ordinance to protect people from intrusive lighting from an STR but they didn’t bother to extend that protection to residents being assaulted by the exact same offensive and intrusive lighting from a second home owner. Why? It makes absolutely no sense and is discriminating against full time residents by denying us equal protection under the law. I was told by a city council member that the police were too busy to enforce anything so the city wouldn’t act to protect us. Wow. Apparently STRs are important to the city, but an individual homeowner’s right to the peaceful enjoyment of their own property is of no value to Manzanita and undeserving of any common decency or protection from harassment.
I want someone to explain to me the mentality of buying a second home in a very quiet, peaceful neighborhood and ignoring all that the neighborhood is and deciding it’s appropriate to turn the dark night off and put up and turn on all possible offensive lighting and keeping it all on 24 hours for days/weeks on end – even though you, the homeowner turning on those lights is not even present but at one of your other home(s). Why did you come here in the first place – to impose your lifestyle of offensive unnecessary lighting on the rest of us? Do you even notice what you are doing to others? Do you even care? Do you not notice that your lights are the only ones on all up and down the street all night? Of course you don’t because you aren’t even here to step outside and notice the impact of your selfish behavior on the night sky around you. Are you so unaware that it’s your lights that light up your neighbor’s property? Why do you need to do that? Open your eyes and think about how you would feel if this was being done to you and you were sick and wanting to sleep. Please. As you age you may notice that good sleep is often more difficult to obtain. Does it feel good to make sleep difficult for those around you?
How about the neighbor who spitefully directs their outdoor motion detector lights directly into our bedroom and living room windows, and positioned their motion sensitive lights to go off and on when we/dogs are walking in our own yard. I didn’t ask for them to light up my yard. Yet they do. Their motion detector lights light up our driveway (not theirs, ours) and the street in front of our home, not theirs, and all the way across the street to the house across from us. Why? The lights are triggered constantly by trees moving, wildlife, people walking out on the street or cars driving by. Why is it okay to ruin my right to sleep at night? Especially when they aren’t even here!! Please note: when they are here they turn off all the excessive outside party lighting (except the motion lights) so they can sleep!!! Go figure. Obviously they are entitled to sleep in the dark but we are not. Just to be clear: you are not providing me or anyone with “ambience” by means of your excessive lighting and if you aren’t here to enjoy your “ambience” then just turn it off and stop wasting electricity! It amazes and astounds me that many people visiting Manzanita do not actually respect others, do not care about dark skies, obviously do not value the environment, and are the biggest hypocrites about energy conservation and believe that electricity is power to be wasted. Apparently everyone (other than an STR) has the right to do whatever they want with their outdoor lighting 24 hours a day including pointing it directly into the privacy of our own homes, and to hell with the rest of us. What a pleasant world we live in now.