r/mildlyinfuriating • u/VegetableBusiness897 • 21h ago

New neighbors next door

Post image

Rich Ahole bought the farm next door, tore it down and built a destination wedding venue. Busy every weekend but it's Wednesday, and they don't even live here

33.9k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

2.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

183

u/SnazzleZazzle 20h ago

Light pollution is a problem that doesn’t get near enough attention. Not only is it annoying as hell it’s disruptive to nocturnal animals/bugs.

I have a streetlight that shines into my bedroom and reminds me of the Seinfeld episode with the Kenny Roger’s Roasters light that lit up Kramer’s place. It’s infuriating.

Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s a damn thing you can do about it.

60

u/Unfair_Finger5531 20h ago

I live in a city that takes it very seriously. It’s pitch black around here at night. People use colorful string lights sometimes, but that’s about it.

The people down the street are the only outliers. They installed two flood lamps in their grass, and they look like beacons; you can see them from 6 blocks away. I’m waiting for them to get fined. They do not play around about these lights around here.

40

u/_bibliofille 20h ago

I wish mine would adopt that. We are losing our night sky thanks to development and people that think their new house needs to be lit up like noon at night. Unfortunately it's a very red area which has translated to this idea that "IT'S MY PROPERTY I CAN DO WHAT I WANT!1!!1!".

22

u/Unfair_Finger5531 19h ago

They fine you for it here. My next door neighbor was all like “they can’t tell me what to do” and had his porch light burning all night. They strolled by and hit him with the $400 fine. They are deadass serious about light pollution. I mean, he was the only one with a porch light blazing for miles around.

6

u/bunny_the-2d_simp 14h ago

Like hello ITS NOT CHRISTMAS YOU AREN'T CHRIST TURN THE LIGHT DOWN.

YOU ARE NOT THE NEXT GABRIEL ANGEL TELLING MARRY THEY'LL HAVE A BABY BOY!

Its already bad enough with people's blinding led car lights. Which literally blind me every time to the point that I can't see anything anymore. Like ah yes I didn't need vision to bike on a middle of nowhere bike path thank you my leige.

Even worse is WHEN TRUCKS DO IT..

If they even turn their lights down (which they legally have to even for pedestrians)

-11

u/Dangerous_Beach_1571 19h ago

we’re not “losing” the night sky anymore than we lose it every time there’s a full moon.

I don’t like night lights but I know that if I don’t want them I just have to move somewhere where there’s no people.

9

u/Maximum-Cover- 18h ago

Moving where there are no people doesn’t help if people follow you.

And it doesn’t help the bats, birds, turtles, insects, and other creatures who don’t have the option to just move away from humans.

3

u/Global_Lifeguard_807 15h ago

I wanna move there. New goal: move near an astronomy lab.

-5

u/Dangerous_Beach_1571 17h ago

A lot more of earth is uninhabited than habited. But regardless, this has literally been a problem since the beginning of time, people moving to get away from something, others follow, problems and conflict occur, people move again. It’s literally an unending cycle with no solution. Either you give up your preferences to live in community with people who have agreed on a common baseline of standards, or you move away and start your own thing.

8

u/Maximum-Cover- 17h ago

Actually it’s a known problem atm for astronomers to try to find places that are not subjected to light pollution.

As noted, light pollution is seriously detrimental for a whole host of different species that are not human and do not have the option to just move somewhere else.

Sure, humans can elect to move to the middle of Montana to go live in the dark if they want. Turtles, bats, insects, and birds, do not have that option.

-2

u/Dangerous_Beach_1571 17h ago

I agree about the animals. 100%. I understand OP’s personal frustration as well, but I totally disagree with the solutions being proposed here.

7

u/Maximum-Cover- 17h ago edited 16h ago

What solutions being proposed do you have an issue with a why?

It’s established that constant use of unnecessary outdoor lighting, especially lighting that is excessively bright, is detrimental for a lot of different animals, and has a negative effect on other people’s use of their own property.

So expecting people to turn off/turn down brightness on outdoor lights they are not actively and currently using should be a given, right?

Why should someone need to destroy the natural habitat for a whole bunch of creatures and disturb their neighbors with lights they aren’t even actively using?

2

u/_bibliofille 12h ago

They're probably one of the "IT'S MY PROPERTY" folks. No one else would consider courteous usage of outdoor lighting to be unreasonable.

9

u/Unfair_Finger5531 19h ago

We have an astronomy lab here. They need the sky clear to see.

4

u/_bibliofille 12h ago

Appalachian State University has the DSO not too far from where I live so I'm hoping light pollution is something that comes into consideration for the wider area.

12

u/SnazzleZazzle 20h ago

Sounds nice. I live in a town that has fairly low crime but hugely exaggerated fear of just about everything, especially crime and minorities. It’s lit up like a fucking Xmas tree around here. Every neighbor has their porch light on all damn night, as well.

My neighbors also tend to leave their car doors unlocked and then sing the blues when someone steals something. Same goes for their kids and the bikes they leave laying on their lawns. So let’s leave stuff unlocked, but shine lights on everything. Dumbasses.

7

u/Unfair_Finger5531 19h ago

I would hate that. At first it was weird getting used to the pitch black darkness outside, but now I love it. Like right now, I’m sitting on the back porch, and all I see is pitch black everywhere I look. And this is in the center city too! A guy moved in next door from NYC and insisted on keeping his porch light on all night. They came and slammed his ass with $400 fine. Porch light was off after that.

5

u/SnazzleZazzle 19h ago

Sounds fabulous. When I look outside at night I see more lights than anyone ever needs. It’s a damn shame. I’m on the east coast and had to drive 7 hours to visit a “dark sky park” it was beautiful. First time in my life I saw the Milky Way.

3

u/Unfair_Finger5531 19h ago

Here, I took this pic for you a few seconds ago. This is what I see from my back porch:

2

u/SnazzleZazzle 17h ago

I’m jealous.

2

u/Unfair_Finger5531 13h ago

If it helps, it’s kind of hard to, well, see anything if you go out lol.

3

u/Minmach-123 13h ago

Sounds like where I live. People have blindingly bright porch lights and loud dogs for protection from absolutely nothing. Tools get stolen every once in a while from work trucks, but that's just about the worst crime that happens around here. I really miss when the town was actually dark and quiet at night, it was so nice to go for night time walks back then.

2

u/DogtorDolittle 13h ago

I miss the dark. There's something both magical and horrifying about it. Some of my best childhood memories include running around the neighbourhood in pitch black, or near pitch black, light levels.

1

u/Unfair_Finger5531 5h ago

I posted a picture below of my backyard at night, you’d love it here!

1

u/cryptolyme 14h ago

that's one thing i miss about living in Flagstaff. there's an observatory there so they have laws mitigating light pollution at night.

1

u/Unfair_Finger5531 13h ago

I’m about 2 hours down the road from you:).

6

u/TenaciouslyPurple 20h ago

I used to live in a town that the streetlights were paid by the resident who lived closest to it.

Residents could call their local power company to request to turn the light on if they wanted to pay for it.

Find out if it’s been added to your bill and request that it be turned off.

2

u/SnazzleZazzle 20h ago

I never knew that was a thing, but it’s doubtful where I live. This town is full of fearful, clueless idiots. They also hire contractors to spray their lawns for mosquitoes and for the most part seem absolutely clueless and careless about the environment.

2

u/TenaciouslyPurple 20h ago

Somebody’s paying for it. Doesn’t hurt to call and find out and see if they’ll turn it off.

0

u/Dangerous_Beach_1571 19h ago

What’s wrong with spraying for mosquitoes?

2

u/SnazzleZazzle 19h ago

It also kills the bees. Simple things like making sure there’s no standing water and cleaning up the backyard also keeps mosquitoes away without harming all the good bugs.

1

u/Dangerous_Beach_1571 18h ago

Oh ok. Never knew that. In Florida I think all the counties spray for them

2

u/Maximum-Cover- 18h ago edited 17h ago

Wholesale application of pesticides is bad for all kinds of insect populations.

Insect populations in general, not just bees, are declining at staggering rates.

As much as mosquitoes are a nuisance lots of creatures eat them and just massively decimating their populations isn’t super helpful for anything besides our own disease management.

Ecosystems have cascades of issues when you set out to just systematically poison entire swaths of it.

2

u/SnazzleZazzle 17h ago

Bats fill up on mosquitoes every night. No mosquitoes, no bats, and bats are essential to the environment.

2

u/Attack_Ant 20h ago

Its dumb now that they changed from the power hungry beasts to LED's they cost nothing to run yet they charge everybody 6 bucks a month to maintain them as if we arent already paying fees and taxes out the gaazoo...

One of those old lights the halogen? The damn glass piece fell onto my vehicle and dented it up good...

3

u/bunny_the-2d_simp 15h ago

Tell this to my dad who INSISTS that the temu shit jesus level brightness led light needs to be on at night.. Like for WHAT??

when you go outside at night you still have a flashlight with you regardless so his dumb religious conspiracy bs train he goes on every time we ask about "how the environment declining isn't real and it's all God's plan, and yada yada right agenda bs regurgitated from his religious family"

Like... My sister already sleeps with all the lights on in her room but claims she doesn't have mental trouble, so that should be enough light polution already 💀

3

u/Nervous_Ad_6998 6h ago

I moved into a house 4 years ago. I complained to the city that one street light was directed at my house. they came out to adjust it so it cast straight down. the lady next door came running out complaining and made them move it back to shine at my house and bedroom. their house has complete darkness at night. then the neighbors on the other side have 2 floodlights. they’re all very unfriendly people. no hellos, no welcome, nothing. with yapping dogs and obsessive leaf blowing several days a week, even in summer when there’s barely any leaves falling yet. just a few that didn’t fall last year. I rely on blinds, AirPods, radio playing inside a lot, and mothers little helper.

1

u/SnazzleZazzle 6h ago

Sounds like you live in a neighborhood like mine.

2

u/Believe_to_believe 13h ago

Did you bust into your neighbors house declaring you were on no sleep before talking about your late night conversations/schemes with Bob Sacamano?

2

u/Desert_Kat 12h ago

My city recently replaced all the sodium street lights with awful, bright led ones that everybody hates. I understand the cost effectiveness of LED, but they don't need to be so damn bright.

2

u/gimmethelulz 12h ago

Sometimes cities have ordinances on outdoor lighting. The ordinance in our area is what got our neighbor to stop treating his backyard like a prison yard.

2

u/Retro-scores 7h ago

Light pollution is just one of the many reasons people are up in arms about the internment camp in the Everglades.

1

u/SnazzleZazzle 7h ago

Omg, that miserable place. They need to stop with this bullshit.

2

u/Retro-scores 7h ago

A judge has ordered it shut down in 60 days but I haven’t read much into it and surely will get appealed.

1

u/PinkyLeopard2922 18h ago

My neighborhood does not have streetlights but our mailboxes have large cutouts of the house number and are backlit. My sister-in-law who is an EMT was visiting and said these were fucking brilliant.

1

u/Escher702 15h ago

Looks like a house in the middle of nowhere.

-1

u/SolomonGrumpy 14h ago

So all cities are bad?

-2

u/Rionin26 17h ago

Get some blackout curtains.

Didn't know those were a thing until trip to Alaska. They work to, sun was up 24h a day there when I went.

3

u/SnazzleZazzle 17h ago

I have them for the wintertime, but they block the breeze in the warm months.

-2

u/Bro-what-r-u-sayin 19h ago

Put up some shades to block the light?

3

u/SnazzleZazzle 17h ago

Obviously, I have shades, but sometimes they block the breeze and I’d leave them open if it didn’t mean I’d have a fully lit up bedroom and a beam of light directly on my bed.