In the words of the immortal Don Meredith, "Turn out the lights, the party's over."

A year older than you Ted, but I won't call you Sunny as we need to keep this in the dark. Good to see you still retain your common sense and humer. Lighting has really evolved from the 100 watt porch lite to hellawful rays that compete with the sun. I really don't see how a person can keep his lights confined to a square foot area . So in light of all this some sort of  law that protects us from getting a blast of our neighbors side light 'super power beam ' in our face in the middle of midnight dreams is necessary  A difficult one to deal with and  it is why we need to select our powers to be carefully. Neighborhood block meetings to get to know each other and iron out problems is a good way to start on the road to a multitude of solutions. God bless you Ted. Been here since 52, the year of the big one. Travel the World many times, but still call Bakersfield home.

http://www.darksky.org/mc/p... All you need to know~ off to the side is "approved fixtures" and on the top "best Choice Lighting". Turn the light on those silly worries and lets get our dark skies going! I can remember seeing the milky way from the valley floor,those days are probably long gone,but anything will help.

Sage, you have my vote.

I have talked with some people & they still did not understand as to how to keep light on your own property..?? I was trying to think of the BEST example... Probably as good as any is a stage production.. You sit on YOUR property, {the seating area}, and watch the show,  on [THEIR property]... You see NO DIRECT LIGHTS, only the "results" of many super bright spot lights, & you are nice & comfy out in the DARK... This is the exact same principle to use at every HOME, BUSINESS & BALL PARK, etc, etc. All the light is directed down (not to sky) & just to the very edges of the stage hehe  {your property}  SIMPLE ! and an easy fix...

PS: I really believe if every home used YELLOW BUG lights, they would have much less problems with flying BUGS... YES?

Ted

I thought it was about reducing the amount of light that the county and city currently uses.  Where it is safe naturally.  

In addition to private citizens  voluntarily reducing their wattage.

Hellooooooooooo AudreyB

NO, NO it is not about using less, it is about controling what you do use...(where the light shines) and by doing this, you CAN use less because you will not need as much light to do a better job of lighting your own property.. the trick is to keep your  neighbors in the dark, so to speak.  SEE this is what I am talking about, so many people have missed the main point of this WHOLE new concept, light control is what this is ALL about... not really about conservation, although that will happen naturally if this is done correctly...  YES?

DON'T TREAD/SHINE ON ME!

If we want dark skies, what do we do with all the decorative solar lights in gardens and along walkways.  They produce a lot of light.

Solar lights do not SHINE up towards the SKY, if you were up in a plane, you may only see what a solar light shines ON, not the light itself, no DIRECT light RAYS..that is what pollutes our SKYS... not reflected light, why are the people in the dark, so to speak at a stage proformance when it is soo bright on stage, same thing, no pollution...

NightWise.org

http://krvr.org/index.php?o...

check out these links for further information.

This is perfect for explaining how to fix this problem... Thanks for sending in this site notatroll ..  http://www.nightwise.org/

a little of the how to fix page...

Aim adjustable lights downward so they are level with the horizon. Purchase dark-sky friendly fixtures that have the light bulb tucked into the luminaire housing, not exposed to the eye.  Install only light fixtures that are fully shielded.  Install security lights with motion detectors for greater security.  With lighted signs, request lighter text and logos/graphics against a dark, opaque background.

For security reasons, night vision cameras work much better in some cases than lighting up the whole entire place. There are also lighting engineers that can help someone with problems in lighting, but there is a cost but may be worth it if it fits the need. In most cases we can educate ourselves. I personnely use a night camera along with a sensor for security and find that low wattage dark colored lights in the garden have a nice effect on the trees and plants.

A must read page...this is sooooo right on, why is all this info not in the Bako paper???   go to this page and read it all... SOLUTIONS

http://www.nightwise.org/so...

Well you ( eebeegrad ) are missing it also, you wrote..   a nice effect on the trees... well to light your trees, you must be pointing your lights towards the SKY!!  Just what this is all about stopping, lighting up both the SKY and others property... A person can install covers to all there intrusive lights themselves for little cost, and/or even paint out the glass in front  of & to the sides of many light fixtures, go see at night from off your property and see if you can see any direct lights, that simple, now if Frogs had wings, we could check from the sky...hehe

I just pray that somehow they pass this, and make the biggest offenders (school playing fields, Race tracks, all & all types of super bright lit areas)  fix shields to their lighting, so it stays on their own property only... That will make driving much safer and back yards more comfortable and private...

Thanks Ted for a great BLOG on Kern County's Dark Sky and the soon to be brought forward Kern County Dark Sky Ordinance.

I spoke before the Board of Supervisors on 7-29-08 when they voted UNANIMOUSLY to direct Ted Jame, the Kern County Planning Director to "CONDUCT PUBLIC WORKSHOPS & RETURN IN FEBRU ARY 2009 WITH A DRAFT ORDINANCE FOR BOARD  CONSIDERATION."

I live up in the Kern River Valley, but go to B'field often (Kaiser, Costco, Target, 99¢ ONLY , Trader Joe's, Pyrennees Café, Fox Theatre, etc.).

I run the website www.KRVR.org for Kern River Valley Revitalization where we have a DARK SKY PAGE - a compendium of Dark Sky info.

There are STAR PARTIES to drive out and really see the stars with friendly experts.

http://krvr.org/index.php?o...

I submitted a 'Community Voices' piece to the Californian on DARK SKY, hopefully they'll print it soon.

If anyone wants to be on a DARK SKY IN KERN COUNTY e-mail list, e-mail me @ eworinkrv@mchsi.com