Letters: KC readers discuss LED streetlights, Jackson County jail and Michael Collins

Not too bright

Kansas City officials are evaluating bids for updating street lighting with light-emitting diode luminaires. Generally, LEDs are a vast improvement over the current sodium lights, but not all LEDs are equal.

Kansas City’s focus on a high-intensity, high-glare system does not adequately take into consideration impacts on human health, safety and the environment. City management is testing only of fixtures that give off light at the color temperature of 4,000 Kelvin. Some major streets have already been converted to this lighting.

Unlike many other cities, Kansas City’s street light design criteria set illumination values higher than the national standard. That excessive brightness would make the glare from 4,000-K lights even more intolerable for traffic safety. Residents might need to install blackout shades, which can reduce neighborhood awareness. Less efficient, higher-intensity LEDs with higher color temperatures cause more glare and wash out the night sky.

The negative health impacts of blue 4,000-K light on humans is well documented. Blue light at night disrupts circadian rhythms and sleep patterns of humans and all living beings. Kansas City is located on the Mississippi flyway used by migratory birds, which would see increased disruption from increased sky glow.

Kansas City deserves better.

- Don Wallace, Kansas City

New jail risks

Sunday’s front-page story, “New jail would displace dozens from homes,” on the proposed site of a new Jackson County jail, rightly tells the stories of the lives that would be disrupted and the difficulty of moving for those affected. Their plight needs to be addressed whether the jail is built on the site or not.

More attention should be given to the wisdom of building a single-level jail in a floodplain. Would building on this site be a good investment of our tax money? Would the plans include contingencies for the safety of the staff and prisoners in the event of a flood?

I think the public deserves better information on the possibility of flooding in light of changing rain patterns because of climate change and how flood-control efforts on the Missouri River might affect the flow of the Blue River during heavy rain.

- Jeffery C. Humfeld, Kansas City

Stellar insight

I was disappointed in The Star’s obituary marking the passing of astronaut Michael Collins. (May 2, 21A, “Final chapters”)

In his book, “Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut’s Journeys,” published in 1974, he described his space experiences. His observations are to be treasured. He later became head of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum and penned other books.

Here is his description of our planet: “If I could use only one word to describe the Earth as seen from the moon, I would ignore both its size and color and search for a more elemental quality, that of fragility. The earth appears ‘fragile,’ above all else. … and that leads inexorably to an examination of its surface. There we find things are very fragile indeed. Is the sea water clean enough to pour over your head, or is there a glaze of oil on its surface. Is the sky blue and the cloud white, or are both obscured by yellow-brown air-borne filth? Is the riverbank a delight or an obscenity? The difference between a blue-and-white planet and a black-and-brown one is delicate indeed.”

Forty-seven years after his description of our planet, we might add our own questions and concerns about our fragile planet Earth.

- Karen I. Johnson, Westwood