Darker Nights as Some Cities Turn Off the Lights

[salvorhardin]

This is nothing new, given the perilous financial status of so many of our cities, and I know light pollution is a serious problem, but is this any solution?

"Here in Highland Park, that had been true for a while. Over a matter of years, the city accumulated a debt of about $4 million to DTE Energy, the utility company. The city was paying less than half of its $60,000 monthly bill for an antiquated lighting system that was costly to maintain. So the company and city struck a deal. The company could turn off and take away 1,300 of the city’s lights, add 200 lights in strategic locations, and the debt would be forgiven, said Scott Simons, a spokesman for DTE."
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/30/us/cities-cost-cuttings-leave-residents-in-the-dark.html?pagewanted=all

Note that earlier in the article it's mention that the city is now operating with only 500 out of its original total of 1,600 streetlights -- 31%!

Wouldn't the saner, safer, shrewder, smarter solution be for the city to float a bond to upgrade their streetlight system to be more energy efficient, and perhaps adaptive (i.e. lights that come on only we needed, or can be varied in brightness)? Oh, I know, that would require raising taxes, and we can't have that -- not even when it's a matter of safety.