Mitchell Park West Neighbors

We are continuing to explore the lighting issue at the basketball court in Mitchell Park.  If you are interested in voicing your opinion, please come to the MPWNA general meeting on April 25 or post a comment here.  The City is interested in working with the neighbors to find the best solution.  We have yet to hear from the people who play on the court, and would very much like to have their input as well. 

Marcia

OK, I'll get the ball rolling here with my perspective on this. 

My back yard at night has been ruined  by the new lights.

I have a problem the implication that there is somehow an equivalency between what what the people who play on the court gained and what I have lost.  Prior to the installation of the new lights, the ball players had a perfectly functional basketball court.  After the installation of the lights, I lost the use of my back yard at night.

I'm going to paraphrase some opinions I've gathered from convesations and emails with my neighbors on 10th Street.  These are the folks most directly impacted by the new lights:

Most of the time I have noticed someone will turn on the lights, play for half an hour and leave. I now have that light shining across the park into your my yard until 10:30 pm each day and every day of the week.

I have noticed almost every Friday night no one used the court from 7pm to 10:30pm although someone turned on the lights.

Most nights there are a few players using the court and often no one plays after about 9 pm.

How do you measure someone benefiting coming over and playing basketball for an hour (which they could do before all this light) and the park being excessively lighted? They may only play one day a week for that hour, yet we have that excessive light every night.

The statement has been made that families can come and enjoy the well lighted court together. What I have observed is there are often parents and small children playing before dark and minimally using the court and lights after dark because they go home for dinner, etc by dark thus no need for the light.

The pickup basketball culture is usually young guys meeting at the basketball court and getting a game going. These pickup games usually dominate the courts and  do not allow for families with their kids to enjoy playing.

Some folks have said they have walked through the park at night and think the lights are fine. Unfortunately they then return to their homes away from the park and do not really know the experience of seeing the lighting at the basketball every night.

Points made to Mark Richwine and Sam Thompson by the communication comittee:

The following problems have been created for our neighborhood by this new lighting system:

•    Light trespass into surrounding park spaces, neighborhood streets and residential properties.

•    Increased lighting contrast ratios in park spaces and in spaces surrounding the park. This makes it harder to see in areas beyond the basketball court, reducing security and quality of experience in these spaces.

•    Increased stress and diminished quality of life for longtime, valued residents of our neighborhood.

•    Possible reduction of property values for properties near the park.

•    The possible creation of a regional amenity that results in more intensive use in a small scale park.

•     Wasteful use of electrical power. Once the court lights are turned on, they stay on until the park closes, whether there are players on the court or not. Some people have been observed turning on the court lights to sit at the nearby table and read. Others have been observed turning on the court lights to play soccer on the nearby soccer field.

My final point:

2 years ago I had a single light from the old basketball lighting setup that was shining toward my property.  I asked them to shade it so I wouldn't see the fixture. A simple, inexpensive request that would have solved my problem and had NO negative impact on the b-ball players. The city failed to correct that problem as they said they would. They actually made the problem worse by installing the new lights.

Thanks for reading,

Bruce

I agree with Bruce. The lighting in the park is designed for a much larger, sports-facility-oriented park and does not fit the small-scale environment of this small, neighborhood park.

The lighting scheme in place is over-engineered and environmentally speaking, wasteful and light-polluting.

Tempe, in it's grand desire to remake itself into a world-class city, has missed yet another opportunity to present itself as a progressive, forward-thinking and sustainable community by following the example of parks in Europe, for example, where the lighting is human-scale and unobtrusive, yet provides safety and security.

Scott Seibel

Bruce, You pretty much covered it. 

I must admit living just next to the park and first seeing the new lights a few weeks I was at first somewhat indifferent to the new lights acknowledging that I live next to a park and there are going to be circumstances and activities that come with living next to a park. I have since come to believe there is a limit and balance as to what you should expect to tolerate in any situation. 

Since learning of Bruce's concerns I have grown to take a different perspective on how bright and excessive and wasteful the new basketball court lights are. Yes, some agree the new lights are very good light for those playing basketball 1 or 2 nights per week. However, the larger question is are the new lights appropriate for Mitchell Park. 

I have attempted to educate myself on "light pollution" and "light trespass" since we have been talking about this issue. I would encourage anyone concerned about our environment to visit the "international Dark Sky Organization" at darksky.org and you will find a lot of interesting information on how we have polluted our planet and skies with excessive light.    Interesting enough next week is "International Dark Sky week" form April 20 thru April 26. I would suggest that if anyone seriously looks at some of the information on this site it just might give us a different perspective on how we are lighting our basketball court as well as other areas of our neighborhood. 

I have other thoughts on the basketball court lights but enough for now. 

By the way, I have been documenting the use of the court each night and last night, Friday night, the lights were on 7-10:30 pm and no one played basketball all night. 

I look forward to the differing views on this issue and I am hopeful the neighborhood will find a reasonable solution.  

Mac