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by pneumic 942 days ago
Seeking advice on how to lobby my city to disable a streetlight. We are on a rural road next to conservation land, and it blasts our house with light through the night, distracting our son with autism. Considering getting an instrument to measure the light's intensity and gathering data. Any tips on how to lobby a city government with such an unusual request would be greatly appreciated.
4 comments

Just shoot it. It'll never get noticed.
I'm not going to advocate for illegal activities but unfortunately this is the most practical solution in most of the US.

That said, do NOT shoot anything with a real firearm. Even small caliber bullets travel for miles. Walking out at 2am with a red ryder BB gun and plinking it would work just fine.

A bb gun might not do the trick but a pellet gun would. I mean, hypothetically...
> Even small caliber bullets travel for miles

only if you miss

You’ll shoot your eye out.
You can usually ask the utility to add a light shield. Just about every model can take one to reduce glaring sideways light.
They may also be willing to put it on a timer.

Or, depending how rural it is and how daring you are, you could put it on a timer yourself.

Do all that but have you considered good blinds and maybe even a sleeping mask? I'm on your side but good tools to have for anyone, particularly with or without such a condition. The sleeping mask Tim Ferriss recommends is amazing, I hate sleeping without it
Also make sure he makes his phone/screen orange-tinted at night and let him pick out an album or book he loves and teach him to listen to it every night. Slow down the speed as far as he'll tolerate and set a sleep-timer for like 1.5h to fade it out. Also, turn down the volume just so he can barely hear it and has to strain a bit to hear it.
Nothing much to add but you have three options as suggested by others:-

1.) the subservient: Get a good sleeping mask and blinds for your son 2.) the cooperative: work with the utility to put on a light shield 3.) the libertarian: shoot it

Human nature, encompassed in one thread. Beautiful, I love this site.