Could Someone Help Me Understand This Letter ?

[greystone08(returns)]

Hey everyone, as some of you know, i had written two letters to Mayor White in May, one in regard to improving the Houston Night Skyline and the other one in regard to litter and trash in road medians.

I actually got a response back from the Houston night skyline letter. The letter basically was requesting Mayor White to encourage the building owners of the various buildings to better light themselves at night and to move away from the outdated, dull white christmas light scheme that currently surrounds the rooftops on many of Houston's buildings. I also mentioned that downtown is what most visitors see and the lighting downtown should give a better overall impression of the city than what it does. I used alot of what i have heard visitors say and also suggestions from a few of you members on this board. With the letter, i included a copy of Large TX's petition he had started. The Mayor had written me saying that he forwarded my letter to the president of Central Houston.

I received this letter back from Central Houston yesterday:

Dear Gray,

Mayor White forwarded a copy of your letter to him concerning the decorative lighting atop the downtown buildings. We are appreciative of your interest in our city and the significance of the downtown skyline.

We discussed your concerns at a meeting of downtown building managers a couple of days ago. There was a consensus among those present, that the white perimeter lighting should remain illuminated throughout the year with special festive colors added during the holidays or other special occasions. All were in agreement that there has been some uncertainty about the informal lighting policy; i.e. lights on or off. With this discussion prompted by your letter, we think that you will see more uniformity. With respect to the more sophisticated architectural lighting, the decision to add such a feature belongs to the individual building owners and management. Obviously, installation and operating costs are a concern.

Thanks again for your interest. As you can see, it does make a difference.

Sincerely,

Bob Eury/ President of Central Houston

I was hoping someone could help me understand what exactly was meant by uniformity? I'm trying to understand what the overall agreement was leaning to. Any assistance would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks,

grey

[RedScare]

There has, from time to time, been calls to dim the decorative lights to conserve energy. There have also been debates about what kind of nighttime lighting is acceptable. Recall the Continental Airlines hologram debates. The discussion may have involved debate about whether this was still in effect. Uniformity simply means that the building owners will try to coordinate various light schemes so they compliment, rather than compete. Obviously, holiday/special occasion lighting, such as when the Astros win the World Series would be coordinated, as well.

The last part was a caveat, saying that Central Houston can only suggest, the building owners have final say what lights go on their buildings.

All in all, very encouraging.

[C2H]

Good work on the initiative greystone? Where have you been? You left for a while, are you back?

I hope that meeting meant that your letter was inspiring enough to bring about some change.i was confused on that uniformity issue as well. Does that mean that they are going to try to change the current lighting or turn off the christmas lighting? Redscare kind of spread some light a little bit for me. Thanks Redscare

[The Great Hizzy!]

Obviously, holiday/special occasion lighting, such as when the Astros win the World Series

Don't toy with my sensibilities, RS.

[RedScare]

I wondered how long it would be before someone responded to that.

[editor]

While the night lights are nice, there should be some sort of standard to make them more environmentally-friendly. Houston seems to have an inordinate amount of light pollution for a city its size. Ask anyone who goes to the monthly free-to-the-public astronomy meetings in Clear Lake where NASA sets up telescopes for Regular Joe's to look through.

Not much has to be done -- just use lights that shed light down and to the sides, not up. I've been in cities many times the size of Houston where far more stars are visible. I don't necessarily blame the downtown skyscrapers. I think the biggest offenders are billboard companies. How hard is it to have the lights shine down instead of up?

[dbigtex56]

  Houston seems to have an inordinate amount of light pollution for a city its size. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Which is why we couldn't enjoy the annual meteor shower last night.

[gnu]

Light pollution?

Two biggest offenders..Gallery Furniture..and his copycat Hilton Furniture.

give me a magnifying glass and I could kill an ant in their parking lot at 3 am.

[C2H]

i've noticed that the downtown skyscrapers have not added the usual special festive colors in lieu of the Astros going to the World Series. They have the Astros Star on the side of the Exxon Mobil building but the lights on top don't have the special colors this year. Last year, the special colors were added and the Astros didn't even make it as far as they have made it this year.

Greystone's letter was an attempt to have the special colors or more creative lights added to the buildings on a more permanent basis, not just on special events. I know because we were talking about this through PMs. Reading the response back from Robert Eury, does it sound like they may have misinterpreted his letter to mean " Don't even add the special festive colors during special events?"

I didn't really take Robert Eury's letter as any indicator that they were really going to try to change from the white christmas lighting or even at least use the special festive colors more on a permanent basis.

Edited October 24, 2005 by C2H

[C2H]

Anyone have an idea ^^^?

Edited October 24, 2005 by C2H

[sevfiv]

i thought i saw a lame star on that building! someone forgot to leave their lights on at the top when i saw it, though!

as for eury's letter, i think redscare mentioned that it was ultimately up to the businesses in the buildings to make those lighting decisions...so i guess we can see where they stand...

Edited October 24, 2005 by sevfiv

[editor]

In Chicago all the buildings are celebrating the Sox in the World Series by turning all their lights black at night!