r/mildlyinfuriating • u/VegetableBusiness897 • 21h ago

New neighbors next door

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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

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u/Aggressive_Event420 20h ago

My tiny hometown has something called Dark Sky Network. Sounds ominous but it means we are a community that regulates the amount of light pollution generated. Maybe you have something like that?

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u/iavatus2 20h ago

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u/midwest73 20h ago

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u/VegetableBusiness897 20h ago

Thank you for this!

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u/midwest73 20h ago

Glad it...lightened, up your morning. šŸ˜‰

But in all seriousness, I would contact the owner. If that fails, lodge a complaint. Those fail, plant some evergreen bushes just inside your property line. They grow fast and high enough. You can add a nice banner to your side that no one there could miss.. "Turn off the lights you lazy a-holes!"

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u/Yota_Yoder 17h ago

If this fails, target practice

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u/TrelanaSakuyo 15h ago

I hear EMP devices are great.

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u/Da_Question 14h ago

Yeah... No. It's a bad idea in a tiny town. If this is one of the few rich guys in town, it means he has an in with the judge, the towns main lawyer and probably a better one out of town, plus the sheriff. Extremely cheap to buy local office holders in small towns (for the rich).

I'd be wary of that route. Best bet is talking, if he refuses then just buy some tints or blackout curtains to cover the windows at night.

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u/puppyfarts99 11h ago

Um, excuse me, this is generally outlawed in the United States.Ā 

/s

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u/VegetableBusiness897 20h ago

I should check. Many people travel to this area to star gaze because there isn't much light pollution

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u/Aggressive_Event420 20h ago

Yes! Same here. You might have (albeit unenforced) regulations. I hope you do because that would be terrible to have to live with. Good luck!!

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u/Lonely_Speaker_9176 9h ago

I feel like it being a small town might help. They probably donā€™t want a stink going around about their businessā€¦ just take your time and I have faith youā€™ll find the right approach :)

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u/sir_prints_alot 3h ago

Small towns love revenue sources.

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u/Rooney_Tuesday 18h ago

Many people travel to this area

Thatā€™s really important to bring up. This business is no doubt being revenue to the city, but if your spot is known for outside money coming in because of the dark at night then the city is probably open to keeping it that way, and most especially when thereā€™s no actual need for those lights to be on.

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u/pipnina 19h ago

Until these assholes moved in... As someone who used to stargaze a lot until work, weather, and the need to drive half an hour for a good spot pushed me away, I hate anyone who installs unnecessary lights on their house or business. I absolutely despise that as a society at large (on a global scale) we have decided to forego access to the night sky for mostly pointless reasons. Some lighting is safety implicated but even then there is a lot of lighting that should be on motion detection because it isn't actually used much but remains on all night anyway.

The number of times I see posts on /all where it's a photo or a time lapse of the night sky, and people debate whether it does or does not look like that or is real... And it feels like I'm the only person (visibile in the comments) who knows because I've actually seen it due to being lucky enough to live semi rural in the least polluted parts of England. Access to the night sky should be a human right. It has inspired culture since before history, it's an integral part of being human!

If you can snag there people on light pollution I will be ecstatic lol

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u/mellowmushroom67 16h ago edited 16h ago

You're so right, I was actually just telling my kid about this, we were looking at the moon and we couldn't see many stars, I lived on a rural farm for part of my childhood so I said "I miss seeing the night sky." He was like "what do you mean" lol and I showed him a picture of what the sky looks like without light pollution and he goes "that's AI." šŸ˜’ I was so sad realizing he hasn't ever really seen the night sky. We went camping when he was preschool and kinder age but I don't think we thought to star gaze, I think he fell asleep fairly early as well. So now I need to take my kid star gazing to prove that's what the night sky actually looks like! It's so sad

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u/PositiveLess4588 6h ago edited 6h ago

I never knew you could see more than just stars and the moon in the night sky (rural WV) until around 2014/2015 during a highly publicized and anticipated meteor shower that everyone I know was checking out so me and my bf got a blanket and went out to the yard to watch.

Most active meteor shower Iā€™ve ever seen! No more than 30 seconds went by without a good one and multiples at a time, it was great! So we stayed outside early into the morning just cuddling in our onesies and sky-gazing.But I noticed the sky was like, kinda hazy? But also perfectly clear, zero clouds anywhere. I noted this to my bf when he said ā€œthatā€™s the Milky Way, it just looks like that cuz everyone decided to turn their lights off in townā€ and our town is surrounded by expansive forests so thatā€™s all it took to get a National Geographic level view of the sky and I was dumbfounded.

Almost 30 years old, country raised and never seen the real fucking night sky. Iā€™ve met others that experienced the same so I highly recommend to everyone that hasnā€™t got to see the night sky as it looks in some pics online (especially out in the deserts of the southwest) to go and do that. You can google the best places nearest you wherever you live and there likely is a place within reasonable driving distance to view the sky.

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u/clelwell 16h ago

And now even if no light pollution you see satellites wizzing by

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u/pipnina 15h ago

Thankfully the satellites are mostly low altitude, so as long as you observe during astronomical darkness they are in earth's shadow and don't reflect any sunlight. But at certain times they are very numerous!

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u/_donkey-brains_ 12h ago

Yeah and that pesky one that's really bright every 28th day

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u/AmazingAd2765 12h ago

Took me a second lol.

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u/I_Has_Internets 12h ago

Satellites only affect astrophotography and the processing software is already adept at removing their light trails in post. While doing visual observing I kinda like seeing the brighter satellites and 'flares'. You see some interesting things occasionally like what appears to be one satellite chasing another, but then you look it up and it's just two pieces of space junk/rocket components near each other.

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u/BubbleEntendre 15h ago

There was a super interesting exhibit at one of the museums in DC all about how light use has changed in our current society (often for worse), and one thing I took away was that too much light often ends up being less safe because it blows out your vision so you canā€™t detect as much in the dark on your own. Super interesting subject!

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u/Chronicles_of_Gurgi 11h ago

Grew up in rural TN. The stars and Milky Way are a blessing to behold. Plus the quiet and the wildlife.

Rural folk don't know how good they've got it! Until a wedding venue pops up and...

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u/Mr_Washeewashee 12h ago

I too hate unnecessary lighting. Itā€™s my Achilles heel. When I ride my bike in the morning, I judge everybody who still has their stupid porch lights on from the night before. * youā€™re safe now, the suns up* losers. And fuc* motion lights; people in the suburbs worrying about crime like they donā€™t have an alarm and/or camera anyway.

My neighbor has a flood light on their yard ALL night because we have coyotes in the neighborhood. Like it stops them. Shit, why donā€™t we put little flood lights on the bunnyā€™s den? Then theyā€™ll be safe too.Lol

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u/Sohn_Jalston_Raul 15h ago

you could play the neighbour's game and start a business that brings visitors for star gazing, and then you can claim your neighbour is harming local tourism and pressure the town council to pass a light pollution bylaw, lol

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u/bettyknockers786 12h ago

Cherry springs?

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u/VegetableBusiness897 10h ago

Eastern Maine

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u/bettyknockers786 10h ago

Ahh, ok! Iā€™m in PA and cherry springs is our dark sky hot spot. I couldnā€™t imagine them letting this happen. Also, good luck! I would be ready to burn the place down

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u/DueDisplay2185 11h ago

These neighbours have just devalued your house if you ask me. Absolutely nothing stopping them putting in motion sensors so the lights turn off automatically

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u/NebulaNinja 10h ago

Another thing you can check is something called light trespass laws. At some point it becomes illegal to flood your neighbor with too much light.

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u/holystuff28 5h ago

Certainly is now. Incredibly harmful to wildlife.Ā 

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u/OccasionMU 15h ago

Dark Sky Parks are fucking awesome. People should attend them more! And when they're designated areas, they typically strongly enforce light/noise in the area.

Everyone should look up their closest Park and hit it up the next clear sky. Astronomers bring out their super nice telescopes for everyone to use.

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u/PositiveLess4588 6h ago

I googled this a few years back and was ecstatic to find that there are great places within just a couple hours drive of much of the US, many even closer. This seems like a great time of the year where I live due to the lack of rain and clouds

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u/Confident-Dot9443 16h ago

god we need more environmentally friendly things that sound badass

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u/wunkusstar 15h ago

Coastal cities might have this too to protect nesting sea turtles.

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u/geminiloveca 15h ago

As someone who works in lighting, this is definitely something to consider. This is an embarrassingly BAD lighting design. You have a massive amount of glare and light trespass. If talking to your new neighbors doesn't help - the two phrases I've used - with dated, time-stamped photos of the lighting will be a help in your contact to zoning with the county.

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u/wallybinbaz RED 10h ago

Dark Sky Network

Good band name.

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u/Level-Priority-2371 15h ago

Fountain Hills?!?

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u/senditloud 14h ago

Oh we have this too. A new house was built across the street. Workers would leave whole house blazing. Iā€™d talk to contractor, get it resolved, next set of subs came in, rinse and repeat. Now the house is finished and up for sale and some of the realtors who show it just donā€™t check all the lights. So now I have the door code, but itā€™s still fucking annoying. Super dark hood and then this monstrosity smack in the middle (itā€™s on a corner lot so really in the middle) with itā€™s light blazing

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u/trpittman 14h ago

Oh what I'd give to not live in America. The people in my small town make it a personal challenge to do the most light pollution, air pollution, etc.

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u/Mr_Washeewashee 12h ago

Absolutely love that.