New LED Lights Have Started To Appear In Greater Flatbush

We received an interesting email from a reader late last night. Something was keeping this resident awake.

The reader reported that the City recently replaced the streetlights on East 17th Street (between Newkirk and Ditmas Avenue) with new LED lights. According to Community Board 14, new LED lights are gradually being installed throughout greater Flatbush.

In late 2013, the Bloomberg administration announced that all 250,000 standard street light fixtures in New York City would be replaced with energy-efficient, light-emitting diodes (LED) by 2017.

The new lights, the New York Times reported last year, could save the City as much as $14 million annually in energy and maintenance costs.

Switching to LED lights also fits into the City’s plan to slash greenhouse gas emissions from government operations almost a third by next year — 2017.

So what’s it like to live next to these new lamps? As we reported last fall, some residents in Windsor Terrace and Kensington have found them hard to bear.

Our reader on East 17th lamented the removal of the old sodium-vapor lamps which had a “beautiful yellow/orange-ish hue,” and their replacement with the new “ugly, ‘hospital-like,’ spooky white LED lights.”

The reader continued:

“I get the idea behind the city’s money-saving strategy and all that wonderful stuff, but they are plain horrible. Instead of a soft, cozy and easy on the eye enveloping light, they are more akin to flashlights, lighting the area directly below them and leaving very little lighting outside its “working range,” alternating ‘hot spots’ with dark ones. Doesn’t it make the streets a bit LESS safe?”

As the Times notes, the LED lights do have a real physical impact:

“The problems with LEDs are hardly imagined, lighting experts said.

“People are right to complain about what we call ‘light trespass,’ ” said Paul Marantz, a lighting designer who has illuminated such landmarks as Studio 54, Grand Central Terminal and ground zero’s annual Tribute in Light. “Even though the yellow light of the sodium lamps didn’t render colors well, there was a warmth about them that’s missing from the new lights. And because of the way the LEDs are designed, it’s a much more directed light, with more glare.”

In some instances, the City has tried to adjust the angle of an LED lamp when light is shining directly into someone’s home. The City is also looking at screens and filters as possible long-term solutions to glare.

A spokeswoman for Community Board 14 told us that residents should call 311 if they are having issues with the new LED street lights.

What do you think about the new lights? Do they make the streets safer? Less safe? Do they alter neighborhood character? Are they keeping you up at night?