chiptex
Joined May 4, 2008
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1 year agochiptex's comment on:
White Rock Lake lights update -- 2/24/09
PARD has no money and no plans to light any of the trail. Docks will get re-lit, some parking lots, most buildings - over a long time. Should be a big improvement. Most of the 200 acre park will be preserved as a nice dark sky oasis. Bring a flashlight.
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1 year agochiptex's comment on:
White Rock Lake lights update -- 2/24/09
One member of the Task Force has pushed for exactly what you suggest - LEDs near the trail like footlights - even tied to motion detectors - such that the trail is light up ahead of a walker/ jogger etc. (He is an ex TI engineer so go figure) Unfortunately, the staff do not think that far ahead. But when the cost of LEDs come down, etc. some sort of motion- detecting lighting could be considered.
We have pushed for motion detectors on all lights -but the problem is that it takes too long for the ballasts to warm up / lights to come on, so no can do, until a long life/ low cost lighting instant-on system is available.
Note that the Master Plan (which is not funded!) can anticipate the use of LED and motion detectors - when and if a project gets installed. And we will add that as a consideration - I suggested as much today and someone pointed out that if all the lights are on motion detectors - the park would "twinkle" at night like a Christmas tree. . ..
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1 year agochiptex's comment on:
White Rock Lake lights update -- 2/24/09
Good bike headlights cost - but are worth it if you ride a lot at night. And they certainly do light up the road. So a matter of how much you value your safety.
Lighting projects in the park are a matter of priorities. There are a dozen parking lots and buildings in the park that have really bad lighting. Plus the docks. So all of those lights have to be replaced, repaired or removed first. That has been agreed on.
All of those locations are wired, so one way to use "solar" would be for the City to buy wind-power as part of its energy mix. Will enquire about that.
Some of the members of the Task Force recommended using LED lighting - and the consultants rejected it out of hand as being too expensive for the applications - down lights in parking lots, etc. - with "full spectrum" low wattage lights.
This plan focuses on prioritizing lighting projects. There is not enough money left from the '06 bonds to re-do half the lights in the park (if that). So by the time the next bond package goes out ('10), the cost of LED and use of solar (wind) may be feasible.
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1 year agochiptex's comment on:
White Rock Lake lights update -- 2/24/09
Good point. All dock lights get replaced in the plan. Down-lights replace the floods (some of which don't work). A big improvement over the floods - less glare, white full spectrum lights similar to the ones on the Mockingbird pedestrian bridge.
Note that fishing is one of the few "defense of prosecution" exceptions to the midnight curfew - meaning you could fish past midnight. Ditto sailing at night - exempt from curfew- but don't tell !
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1 year agochiptex's comment on:
White Rock Lake lights update -- 2/24/09
The priority will be to repair, remove, replace lights in parking lots in the park. Should be an improvement.
Lighting 10 miles of un-patrolled trails is not going to happen in this park.
Get one of these - they work great -
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1 year agochiptex's comment on:
White Rock Lake lights update -- 2/24/09
The street lights on West Lawther are going to be removed. The money allocated and future bond money is going to be spent repairing, replacing, or removing the non-conforming lights in the parking lots - all the way around the lake. That's the consensus priority.
http://www.ladycdesign.com/Docs/WRL_O...
If you ride bike at night, get a light; it's the law. If you walk or jog, get a light; it's common sense.
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1 year agochiptex's comment on:
White Rock Lake lights update -- 2/24/09
Parks made a mistake putting the wrong lights in the wrong place on West Lawther. They have admitted it and are going to move them to a more appropriate location. Money allocated, they are gone.
Nothing "regressive" about all this - the trails have never been lit.
Most trail usage is daytime. At night bikes are required by law to carry lights. Walkers and joggers can do the same. Or, if they prefer, go to a lit trail - such as the Katy Trail, that is patrolled.
Problem with the White Rock trails is that they are rarely patrolled at night by the Bike Patrol, since the evening shift has to respond to 9-11 calls outside of the park - so it would be grossly irresponsible to give the "perception of safety" that lights give (per the consultants) - without the reality of bike patrols. No can do.
Details on all this here - http://www.ladycdesign.com/WRL
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1 year agochiptex's comment on:
White Rock Lake lights update -- 2/24/09
None of the West Lawther light poles are on city street right of way. They are on the shoreline trail and the parking lots.
City streets require a light at corners, so not applicable here, nor is that in the plan.
These shoreline lights were DOA at the public hearing. Parks Department has already agreed to remove them and use them elsewhere.
City code does not require parking lots to be lit - unless they serve a specific nighttime use - such at the Dog Park. Otherwise, not required.
The shoreline is intrinsically dark - it has never been lit up - the park is primarily a natural area. Not a Walmart parking lot.
Read the reports at this site for more details http://www.ladycdesign.com/WRL
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1 year agochiptex's comment on:
White Rock Lake lights update -- 2/24/09
Actually, the White Rock Lake Foundation never proposed 600+ light poles over 10 miles of trail. They proposed putting some lights on docks, some parking lots and some "dark places" on the trail (not sure what that means at night). As indicated on their website:
"Funds are needed to install lighting throughout White Rock Lake- in the parking lots, trail areas that may be less visible and dock and pier areas."
http://www.whiterocklakefoundation.or...
So the 10 mile light show must have been something the lighting consultants/ contractors dreamed up as their own "economic stimulus" project.
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1 year agochiptex's comment on:
Providing context for the White Rock Lake crime lights project
Updated Back Story -
http://lakewood-now.net/view/article/...
OK except that the White Rock Lake Foundation only proposed lights at docks and some parking lots. Not the whole shoreline, not all of West Lawther, etc.
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1 year agochiptex's comment on:
UPDATED: Plan for lighting Dallas' White Rock Lake flawed
10 + miles of trail lights = 600 light poles on the shoreline and nature trail. When all you need is a flashlight. . . .
10 parking lots @ 30 poles each = 300 light poles.
That's 900 new light poles in the park. On until midnight. So more like a WalMart parking lot actually.
Real crime stats, not just the anecdote du jour, show that crime in the park at night is negligible:
http://www.ladycdesign.com/WRL
The last plan draft got voted down by the Task Force - by all the stakeholders present.
So Parks is in the process of revising the plan to remove the West Lawther light poles, etc. as originally requested.
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1 year agochiptex's comment on:
UPDATED: Plan for lighting Dallas' White Rock Lake flawed
Update Jr. Parks presented draft plan that was voted down by the Task Force on February 12th. Voting against 600 new pole lights on the shoreline and nature trail were: White Rock Neighborhood Association Peninsula Neighborhood Association Greater Dallas Bikes Corinthian Sailing Club For the Love of the Lake See http://www.ladycdesign.com/WRL
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1 year agochiptex's comment on:
Providing context for the White Rock Lake crime lights project
Update - Majority of Task Force voted down plan to put 900 light poles around the shoreline at the last final Task Force meeting. Voting against: White Rock Neighborhood Association (W Lawther) Peninsula Neighborhood Association For the Love of the Lake Corinthian Sailing Club Greater Dallas Bike Club, Etc etc. For details - see http://www.ladycdesign.com/WRL
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1 year, 3 months agochiptex's comment on:
UPDATED: Plan for lighting Dallas' White Rock Lake flawed
Meeting has been canceled - consultants not ready
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1 year, 9 months agochiptex's comment on:
Dallas' Industrial Boulevard "vote" discounts Latinos' wishes
There already is a Cesar Chavez street in Dallas - it's the central roadway in the Farmer's Market - where it is more appropriate; since he was a champion to farm workers. So naming another street after him is a bit redundant at best - and - as some commentators have pointed out - shows a lack of imagination.
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1 year, 9 months agochiptex's comment on:
Providing context for the White Rock Lake crime lights project
They have started appointing members of the committee to redo the light plan. Heard from first appointee today.
The common sense approach would have started with the White Rock Lake Master Plan - which calls for no trail lighting at all
And very discrete lighting in the parking lots - as pointed out by the President of the Peninsula Neighborhood Association.
The Master Plan’s section on Lighting Design Guidelines states that “lighting should be carefully planned so that it appears to take a very minor role in the Park environment.”
Not, as Councilman Kadane pointed out, for a parking lot to be “lit up like a ball diamond”.
To accomplish this, the Master Plan requires the following:
- Fixtures should be shielded to minimize light pollution
- The number of fixtures should be minimal
- Use concealed light sources – including placement in trees
- Locate power supplies, ballasts, etc. underground
- Metal halide or mercury vapor bulbs
Lights for parking lots are required to be “down lights” whose “fixture should . . . minimize light pollution near residential areas.”
Simply put, the fixtures should not pollute horizontally – sideways – across the lake or into the neighborhoods.
And lights along the lakeside “should be located near existing or newly planted trees to minimize the fixture profile along the lake shore” .
None of these guidelines were observed by the Parks Department Architect. Or the salesman that sold him the wrong fixtures.
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1 year, 10 months agochiptex's comment on:
Providing context for the White Rock Lake crime lights project
If there are any doubts about how this $500K lighting scam was sold to the gullible and those that afraid of the dark - read the report in Unfair Park -
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1 year, 10 months agochiptex's comment on:
Providing context for the White Rock Lake crime lights project
White Rock "Lights Fantastic" was funded by funny money - part found money, part money TBD.
Part of the buy was taken from funds allocated to the spillway repair. The money for the trail lights is supposed to come from bond funds that are authorized but not sold yet - until 2009.
To learn more, contact Councilman Kadane - and ask to see the proposed new lighting plan and funding - sheffield.kadane@dallascityhall.com
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1 year, 10 months agochiptex's comment on:
Providing context for the White Rock Lake crime lights project
For a good report on the meeting - http://www.dallas.org/node/423
Of the 100 people, overwhelming disapproval of the plan - for a dozen good reasons.
Lights were turned on the Fisher Road lot across the lake - and they looked like a cheap motel.
DPD admitted that more lights won't reduce crime - since most crime is BMV - during the day, as noted in earlier posts. No increased security.
Parks admitted that there is no ordinance to require the lights - no written policy, nada
And after hemming and hawing, Parks admitted that there is no funding for trail lights, just parking lots.
So Councilman Kadane agreed to revise the whole plan - and either greatly reduce number of lights per parking lot (no trail lights) or eliminate them as unnecessary for security and just so much pollution
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1 year, 10 months agochiptex's comment on:
Providing context for the White Rock Lake crime lights project
David Watt must have missed the meeting
The trail lights were dropped - no funding
Bring a flashlight or headlight if you run at night
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1 year, 10 months agochiptex's comment on:
Providing context for the White Rock Lake crime lights project
The lakeshore lighting plan will do nothing to prevent BMV during the day. Which is when BMV happens.
Parks could take the $500K for the lights and buy security cameras = which would be a deterrent.
Instead, they picked the worst light fixtures possible.
The lights the Park Department plans to install on the parking lots are "acorn" style street lamps = which are intended to shine light horizontally up a street from a corner
Not directly down onto a parking lot
In fact, since the bulb sits on top of the pole, the one place the light will not shine directly is down
Onto the parking lot
Instead - they would shine out over the water and across the park.
Creating the maximum amount of light pollution - for the least good.
Park Department could not have picked a worse fixture to install on parking lots next to a shoreline.
Or found a worse way to blow $500K for "security"
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1 year, 10 months agochiptex's comment on:
White Rock Crime Lights meeting
The lighting contractor will turn on the lights on the lot south of Fisher Road on W. Lawther Drive - so that we can see what they will look like at night. If you can't make the meeting, contact Councilman Kadane and let him know what you think about putting 150 street lights around the lake front.
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1 year, 10 months agochiptex's comment on:
White Rock Lake
White Rock Crime Lights Project =
Some years ago, White Rock Lake Foundation (WRLF) proposed putting street lights around the lakefront.
Obviously the park requires some lighting - at the entrance to parking lots, etc.
The City did not want to pay for the project - neither the light poles nor the cost of the utilities.
So WRLF took it upon themselves to raise the money themselves - as quoted in the Advocate, February 2005 =
http://www.advocatemag.com/uploads/pd...
WRLF was unable to raise private funds for its project.
The WRLF website shows a rendering of street lights along the lake - during the day.
http://www.whiterocklakefoundation.or...
So WRLF got Parks to find money in the spillway repair project and got an earmark in a bond issue.
As reported in the Dallas Observer on May 1st
http://news.dallasobserver.com/2008-0...
Hossley Lighting Associates, a lighting vendor, was brought in as a "consultant" by WRLF and Parks http://www.hlalighting.com/
The lake shore lighting plan was done by Hossley, WRLF, Parks (Willis Winters), and a DPD patrol officer.
Only Hossley knew anything about lighting - the WRLF are laymen, Willis Winters is an architect, and the DPD officer was a beat cop.
Parks rubber stamped the final plan - with no input from the neighbors or neighborhoods.
And the contractor started putting in the street lights in parking lots on W Lawther - until the neighbors started to complain.
Councilman Kadane called a halt to the project, and a called a meeting for May 22 at 7:30 at Winfrey Point
The City's cover story on this project is the need for "more security".
But from a security standpoint, the need for this much lakeside lighting has never been demonstrated.
Most crime in the park is burglary of motor vehicles (BMV) - during the day - approximately 8 BMVs per year on W Lawther
Lighting lake front lots won't prevent that. They will just enable burglars to see into parked cars - and burglarize them at night.
Lakeside lighting will attract more people to the park after the midnight curfew.
So on balance, over-lighting the lake shore could make crime go up in the park - not down.
Security cameras would be a better deterrent - they work day and night.
The real crime here is the number of lights proposed around the lake = a $500,000 contract to spoil the lakeside views every night for everyone.
If you cannot attend the meeting on the 22nd, tell Councilman Kadane what you think about lighting up the lake shore at night:
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1 year, 10 months agochiptex's comment on:
White Rock Coffee
(This comment was removed by the site staff.) -
1 year, 10 months agochiptex's comment on:
White Rock Lake Park
CRIME LIGHT MEETING AT WINFREY POINT
The installation of lakeside light poles has been suspended
A public meeting is called for May 22 7:30 PM at Winfrey Point
Neighbors can voice their opinions about this plan
The City will attempt to justify the lights based on “security ”
There is no justification to over-light the lakeside lots
The most common park crime is burglary of motor vehicles (BMV)
Most BMV occurs during the day – when burglars can see
Over-lighting facilitates night BMV. Burglars can’t see into a dark car
There’s no evidence of significant night crime on the lakeside
There’s no justification to light the lakeshore for “security”
Crime lights will attract people to the park after the midnight curfew
Security cameras are a more effective deterrent – day and night
Over-lighting damage the lake’s natural beauty every night
Come to the meeting on May 22 at Winfrey Point at 7:30
Please ask our Councilman to not ruin the lakeside views at night
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