To the Editor: Star Parties affected by unshielded lights

I appreciate the article about the Star Parties being hosted by the Astronomical Society at Paramount Park.

Ever since the park was redeveloped with a restroom however, the main feature that makes the location useful to that Astronomical Society has been impacted.

The "night sky" is seriously affected by annoyingly bright, unshielded light from the restroom and also parking lot lighting has seriously damaged that wonderful "darkness" which used to be available.

I've asked City staff over the years if those lights could be turned off for those star gazing events, but thus far, I don't think they've ever arranged to have them turned off for these events.

Can't the City help with this one small educational event by turning off those lights for a few hours, on a few dates out of the year? It doesn't seem like that difficult a task.

Dark Skies are a unique urban resource.

Janet Way
Shoreline


Photo from the Smithsonian collection