If the DCC installs new street lights as per their street light trial, it would be an unmitigated disaster for Dunedin.
When looking across South Dunedin, the streets with the new test lights are like a virtual black hole in the city. Thousands of Dunedin homes have fantastic night views across the city and harbour, which would be totally destroyed if it was replaced with empty blackness.
Millions and millions of dollars have been spent by Dunedin home owners, to design their houses, windows and decks to maximize their amazing views. And millions more has been spent in premiums to buy houses that have great views. A substantial part of that would be money thrown down the drain when it comes to those night views.
So what is the purpose of the council destroying so much value in people’s homes? It’s so occasionally – very occasionally – the stars might look a little bit brighter. However except for a day or two every month, the moon gives off “light pollution”, so star gazing is not very good when the moon is out. And on the few remaining days it’s often cloudy or raining. Lets face it - we are a coastal city so there’s often moisture in the air, and star gazing will never ever be even fractionally as good as the dry air at higher inland locations. The DCC could spend millions and millions of our rates money on curtailing light pollution, and the view of stars from the city STILL wouldn’t be as good as driving just 5 minutes out of town. Nor would it ever be as good as the 99% of the South Island that isn’t covered by towns and cities. If you are going to make a dark sky reserve, of the thousands of locations across the South Island, the very, very worst place you could ever choose to try to do that, is in a city.
Meanwhile to get slightly brighter stars on rare occasions, the city will be turned into a black hole and destroy the stunning night views that tens of thousands of people enjoy every night. Ironically the article about the street light trial, was in the very same issue of Otago Daily Times that had Dunedin’s win as the most beautiful city in New Zealand – illustrated with a stunning night picture of Dunedin, that would be destroyed if the council’s street light plan goes ahead.
Even the council itself repeatedly uses multiple images of the lights of Dunedin at night to promote the city, yet these iconic night views are what they are looking to destroy.
When friends and family from up north come to diner, they are blown away by the stunning night views across the city from the hill suburbs. The idea that the council wants to spend millions of our ratepayers dollars to deliberately destroy this nothing short of intentional vandalism. And if you consider the value of people’s properties that it also destroys, perhaps it’s more akin to criminal vandalism.
By all means, the council should install new LED streetlights that save on power, but the shades that turn the city into a black hole, would be a disaster for the city. To destroy one of Dunedin’s best attractions – the lights of our amazing cityscape that we get every night - to get an occasional chance to see stars just a little bit brighter, seems absurd beyond belief.
Council’s online submissions about whether or not we want to destroy our stunning night-time cityscapes, closed on Dec 1.
- David Wall
