Killing the Cobras

Neighborhood friendly? It provides light and an endzone for street football, that's about as friendly as we need to get.

What does an "Olmsted approved" light look like?

LED it! There has to be grant monies out there, dozens of other cities are upgrading.

Well its about time.

With electricity costs as high as they are...this should be a no brainer common sense conclusion.

Although it would be typical of our idiotic politicians to screw it up yet again. They are probably looking for some way to get patronage and union contracts mixed in with a city contract for LED lighting.

I SECOND THE MOTION...WHAT DO OLMSTED APPROVED LIGHTS LOOK LIKE?

Finally..at long last. But they should start with the city's signature historic avenue--Delaware. It was depressing to host the National Trust Conference last October with those nasty cobras lining the stately street.

With out cobra who will GI Joe fight?

Every street in the city should be lit like Depew Ave.

That would be fantastic!

I've been trying to get the more decorative, more pedestrian friendly street lights in my neighborhood for a long time - some blocks have them, and some don't. Mine doesn't - so I have a giant cobra head street light right in front of my bedroom window. It's not that I mind the light that much (thank you black out curtains), but it doesn't really light the sidewalk, just the street (and my bedroom). They're made to be on the sides of highways, not in neighborhoods.

If the lights can be LEDs and Olmsted approved, that's even better!

Bring back gas lights like on Woodcrest in Kenmore between Colvin and Belmont

I wonder if there's any considering dark skies. No reason for street lighting to go upwards at all. I'd guess LED lamps would have downward-angled reflectors in order to maximize the luminosity, but I'm curious...

I agree we are in need of lighting upgrade and cobra heads are not very attractive. I however, do not agree, with the notion that every single light in the city should look the same! Neighborhoods have context, and should have furnishings (benches and lighting) that reflect that context. In the same manner as the Green Code, which has painstakingly identified place types throughout the city, furnishings and lighting should follow those place types as well. Context to a neighborhood is very important.

Note to Olmsted Conservancy: work on the street signs next. Many cities are switching to brown or black street signs. The blue street signs don't look so good with the Olmsted light posts.

"At this point National Grid does not offer LEDs,"

Because the save electricity, duh.

In China, street lights are lit entirely by solar energy, taking them totally off the grid. They are rather cool and modern looking, but they would pay for themselves even faster.

Have the street lights been replaced at the foot of Allen street and Main with the new fixtures? They are the 4-head style like at the center of the traffic circles on Richmond. I just noticed this the other day but couldn't tell if they were new or always there.

With out cobra who will GI Joe fight?

i dislike the cobraheads as much as the next guy, but i haven't been impressed with the replacement chosen for some places. the colonial-revival look doesn't belong in late victorian neighborhoods.

I would much rather have the high pressure sodium cobra streetlights than those poorly functional, quaint acorn lights. Main Street in University Heights is dark because of those foolish looking acorn streetlights and look how the incidence of violent crime increased in that area. Bring back the sodium vapor cobras to Main Street in University Heights. Enough of this idiotic faux quaint acorn lights and their dim lighting. Why does everything have to be quaint? There is nothing wrong with modern style streetlighting. This is the 21st century after all, not the early 20th century.

Not all cobras need replacing, just the ones in better neighborhoods. People in the rest of the city probably don't even notice the cobras nor care.