San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
‘Excess lights’ lead to complaints
A year ago, La Jolla Shores residents were upset about many streetlight outages, saying they created a danger for pedestrians.
With that situation looking up, La Jolla Shores Association board member Meinrat “Andi” Andreae now says some lights in The Shores are too bright and are causing light pollution.
He’s asking for action to reduce the brightness along The Shores boardwalk, where early last year residents expressed dissatisfaction that all the streetlights were out.
Those lights are back on, but light pollution from “unwanted, inappropriate or excessive artificial lighting” is a problem, Andreae said at the association’s March 8 meeting.
He pointed to “two dominant sources of excess lights” — one at each end of the beach.
The La Jolla Shores Hotel, he said, has three “very bright lights.”
“The glare is intense enough that after dark, you can actually not see the ground that’s in front of you,” Andreae said.
The other source, which he called “just as irritating,” is Scripps Pier.
The Scripps Institution of Oceanography, which operates the pier as a research facility, “really should be much more cognizant of light pollution and mitigate these lights by installing screens,” said Andreae, who is a researcher for the institute.
Andreae said light pollution is harmful because it obscures views of the night sky, can disrupt ecosystems and navigation of migrating birds and insects and have other negative effects.
Brittany Hook, a communications specialist for Scripps Oceanography, told the La Jolla Light, a publication of the U-T Community Press, that the institution hasn’t received any complaints about lighting on the pier.
“Nevertheless, we are mindful of potential sources of light pollution and strive to minimize impacts from legitimate lighting needs,” Hook said.
The La Jolla Shores Hotel declined to comment.
Andreae said there also is lesser light pollution from homes on El Paseo Grande facing the ocean.
“My suggestion would be that we communicate, especially to the two sources of light at each end of La Jolla Shores beach, that ... it would be desirable that their light sources be mitigated,” he said.
But Shores resident Kathleen Neil said she finds the lights to be beneficial.
“I do walk at night, and sometimes I’m alone and I usually carry (self-defense spray) with me,” she said. “For anyone who goes out there, it’s also nice to know that you can see when someone is approaching you.”
Neil said the lights at the hotel are on “when children are out there playing in the later afternoon and early darkness.”
Andreae countered that “lights should be where they’re needed. There’s actually a good amount of light along the boardwalk, which provides ... lighting in a less problematic way.”
Shores resident Mike Mccormack said the lights at the hotel and the pier could be “collared so the light is directed to the area of interest.”
The topic was for discussion only at the meeting and the board took no action.