I live in a town, but just a few houses away from a city. For years, my town has supposedly been working to come up with new lights that would not only lower our lighting bills, but would conform to the fact that we are a town.

Finally, just a couple weeks ago, the company the town had been conferring with for so long gave me my new light. The result? It looks no different from the city’s next door. This was disturbing, especially as that night, when a friend came to visit, the first words I heard was, “It looks like daylight here.” Also, a neighbor two streets away hadn’t known the lights were being changed, but did mention she wondered why her second-floor bedroom was so bright the night before.

Changing the lighting in my town was the main focus of my joining its Conservation Commission. My first month, I had a meeting with the then town administrator and planner, both of whom assured me they would keep me advised as to what would happen. That was my only conversation with the administrator, and the town planner spent the next several years (until he left for a position elsewhere) putting me off.

New persons are now in both positions, and neither wants to discuss the new lights. These LEDs are identical to what are visible in every city in the state, not surprisingly, as the installer is PRISM, a company that seems to have lighting contracts for every part of the state, and assumes every area desires the same product. The lights are very bright – despite the “assurance” that they can be dimmed – and, although they are supposed to be full cutoff, their brilliance spills out in all directions.

I’m not sure whether other places in the state are having their lights changed at this time, but, if so, are they the same as can be seen in local cities? Aren’t there health issues with these lights? And, are they once again being a hindrance as to our sky observing? Rhode Island is fast becoming a place where the sky is disappearing with overlighting everywhere. Skyscrapers, Inc., has been talking for awhile about having a lighting committee. It seems this is the time we should seriously look into putting one together.