Cut 'em off

A city in southern California is turning off the street lights to save money. Other towns should follow suit. Automobiles have, for years, had these things on the front of them which are known as headlights. They work amazingly well at lighting the area directly in the path of the operational automobile. They cost basically nothing to operate. They are the sole source of light at night on most roads throughout the country. Yet, cities insist on burning street lights at all hours of the night when there are very few cars on the roads.

A generation of children has grown up without knowing what the night sky looks like. A good start in most places would be to turn street lights off no later than midnight. If there is a compelling safety reason to have them on for shift workers (which I doubt), you could leave them off from midnight until 6 a.m.