Hi David,
One of the best things you can emphasize is the cost savings of proper lighting. Many people do not understand the importance of saving our night time heritage but they do understand saving $ through less taxes to keep a municpality going!
Good work!
Stacy
Just give me a dark, clear, steady starry sky and no one gets hurt.
----Original Message Follows----
From: David Windstrom
Reply-To: The Astronomy Connection
To: sf-bay-tac@No-Spam
Subject: [TAC] Light Pollution in Santa Rosa
Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 19:21:11 -0700
While I was at the Shingletown Star Party, one of the guys involved in the light pollution information booth gave me a fact sheet about light pollution, designed to be given to city managers, and asked if I would be willing to give it to mine. I said yes, even though I felt rather pessimistic about its impact.
Santa Rosa has terrible light pollution, and the city is not known for its intelligent planning, with regard to the growth that has taken place here in the last ten years. Nevertheless, I sent the fact sheet to our city manager, Jeff Kolin, with a cover letter explaining who I was and why I was sending it.
I thought it would be interesting to share his reply. Although I'm not holding my breath about any actual impact, I was impressed by the speedy reply, and the interest expressed. Here it is:
"THANK YOU FOR YOUR CORRESPONDENCE OF JULY 19TH REGARDING LIGHT POLLUTION IN OUR CITY. I FOUND THE ARTICLE YOU INCLUDED WITH YOUR LETTER TO BE VERY INTERESTING. I'VE FORWARDED YOUR LETTER AND ARTICLE TO OUR DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS FOR FUTURE LIGHTING CONSIDERATION.
"THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST AND COMMUNICATION ON THIS INTERESTING AND IMPORTANT ISSUE."
SINCERELY,
JEFF KOLIN
CITY MANAGER"
The letter was CC'd to the Director of Public Works.
--
David Windstrom
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