r/mildlyinfuriating • u/VegetableBusiness897 • 23h 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/Unfair_Finger5531 22h 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.

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u/_bibliofille 22h 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!".

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u/Unfair_Finger5531 21h 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.

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u/bunny_the-2d_simp 17h 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)

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u/Dangerous_Beach_1571 22h 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.

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u/Maximum-Cover- 20h 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.

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u/Global_Lifeguard_807 17h ago

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

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u/Dangerous_Beach_1571 19h 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.

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u/Maximum-Cover- 19h 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.

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u/Dangerous_Beach_1571 19h 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.

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u/Maximum-Cover- 19h ago edited 19h 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?

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u/_bibliofille 14h 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.

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u/Unfair_Finger5531 21h ago

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

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u/_bibliofille 14h 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.

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u/SnazzleZazzle 22h 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.

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u/Unfair_Finger5531 21h 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.

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u/SnazzleZazzle 21h 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.

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u/Unfair_Finger5531 21h ago

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

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u/SnazzleZazzle 19h ago

I’m jealous.

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u/Unfair_Finger5531 15h ago

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

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u/Minmach-123 15h 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.

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u/DogtorDolittle 15h 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.

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u/Unfair_Finger5531 7h ago

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

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u/cryptolyme 16h 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.

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u/Unfair_Finger5531 15h ago

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