Seattle's New LED Streetlights are Unpleasant

Blinding blue light on the side of my house! What is Seattle thinking? It literally hurts to look out my window.

The older LED street lights on my street are acceptable - shielded with lower intensity - the latest unshielded, high intensity LED street lights should be replaced - they are not acceptable.

I am so upset right now, I just had to write. Have you seen what they have done to our neighborhood? Our street used to have such a warm evening ambience. You could even see stars on clear nights. There were street lights, of course, but they had a warm amber glow - high-pressure sodium lights. And, they were in fixtures that were "night-sky" friendly, i.e.: they directed the light downward and shielded obtrusive glare. Many could have lasted for years more before needing to be replaced. There was nothing wrong with them. What a waste! But over the last week, in the name of "safety" and "saving energy" - they took down all the working sodium fixtures and replaced them with blinding blue-spectrum, garishly bright, unshielded LED fixtures - which have transformed our lovely streets something akin to a used car lot, prison yard, or autopsy examination room. The night sky is totally obliterated. When I called the LED project manager with the City of Seattle to ask what can be done at this point, she told me, "You're not the only one." I was talking with a neighbor this evening. He just got home from work. He said, "Hey. What's with the lighting out here? What did they do? It's so bright! It looks like daylight. It's like being in a stadium. We could play football out here!" People sue when parks put in stadium lighting. Municipal codes require stadium lights to be turned off after certain hours. Now, the entire city of Seattle is illuminated all night long by stadium lighting.

Obnoxious, blinding lights, which are also light pollution impeding migratory birds' sense of direction. Please replace or shield them.

the lights around here are waaay too cold of a wavelength. We want to go back to warmer lights, LED or not!

Worst tragedy to ever happen in Washington. I used to tell folks how beautiful it was here.... lol.

LED lights also interfere with some cars’ camera-based functions.

The new lights on 80th in Greenwood are horribly bright, they light up our bedroom. We are blinded in the back yard as well.

We are beginning to see them in Houston, TX and also have a petition that is up to 271 signatures in a couple weeks, including from those living with a light at their house. The remedy gives the city more of everything they say they want in a light, better visibility and less energy use. Davis, CA pulled their white LEDs and saved 30% more on warm white at a more proper intensity for good night vision. The residents are MUCH happier.

The lights are super bright and mimic daylight

The street lights lining the street I must drive on to get to work in Bellevue have just been replaced by LED Lights. These lights are absolutely intolerable, I have had splitting headache for one hour now after a five minute drive through LED street light row. These lights are toxic. OMG. have we absolutely no concern for quality of life? We are dying as we are saving some energy. Why don’t we just turn the street lights off? That would save a good amount of energy.

The street light 10 feet directly outside of my 4th floor apartment window was previously a gentle amber while sufficiently lighting the street below. With the new lights I have to close my shades so as not to be blinded.

These lights are horrible!

too bright and too blue. shines through my windows

4015 Wallingford Ave. North

too intrusive.

WAY too bright, it's awful and unnecessary.

street light shines in our bedroom through 2 other rooms.

I like the idea of the LED lights, but I agree that they are too bright. I live on the 3rd floor of an apartment building and I now have a very bright blinding light that shines right into my living room. Ugh. The lights are poorly designed and should not shine so bright from the side. They are also way too intense and bright. They really are overly-lit. It has truly ruined the ambiance of my apartment! And I also wonder if anyone has studied the effects of these bright lights on our sleep patterns? We should not be exposed to such bright lights at night!

I walked out onto my deck tonight and was blinded by the new street lights. I can no longer enjoy my back yard at night! Please reduce lumens, or add cutoff shades to throw light down onto the street, not onto the neighboring yards.