lights

Lately there's been a big stink about putting in street lights along a stretch of the southwest commuter path to help make the path a little safer.  I commute on this path every day and completely understand both sides of the argument.  Some nights a nice dark quiet ride home is perfect, other nights I almost get hit by half a dozen bikes. But while I find the anti-light faction in this argument profoundly annoying and self righteous (Seriously you guys, tone it down. You're really starting to make me want to go out and cut those damn owls out of their homes myself.)  The whole idea of spending $250,000 to install some lights that don't really need to be there just seems like a total waste. You could give the first 2000 people on the trail at dusk $125 voucher for lights at a local bike shop and not only would it improve safety on the path, it would improve safety everywhere, invest in the local economy, and the idiots who whine and put up signs about light pollution while living IN THE MIDDLE OF A CITY stay happy.  My beef isn't about encroachment on the environment (again you live in a city, kind of hard to turn the clock back on that one) or about any of the other stupid arguments made that just upset and alienate people like myself that are pro-cycling and pro-environment, it's just about the fact that it is a very poorly thought out solution to a relatively simple problem.  When it come's down to do nothing and have people be pissy and get into a few accidents and not spend anything vs. spend a ton of cash, piss off a ton of people, and still not nessearily cut down on accidents the choice seems pretty clear.