89A in West Sedona, a highway without high ground

Unfortunately, for the “light ray naysayers,” it requires me to shed some light on the issue. On the other hand, I feel comfortable using only ambient light so nobody needs to get upset about brightness. And isn’t that just it? There is no brightness. Instead, there is this irony of no one coming to a mutual agreement. There’s not only no light on the highway thus far, there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. As a matter of fact, the mere mention of lights has cast a dark cloud over the community, especially when certain Sedona City Council members treat ADOT, the owners of the highway who are going above and beyond to work with the city (need I mention the number of proposed plans again?), with disrespect. [see Sedona City Council transcripts]

But let’s avoid the politics. Politicking gets people in trouble. Finger pointing that could lead to eyes being poked, which causes me to see bright flashes of light … which NOBODY wants. Politicking gives people egos large enough to cast an eclipse (See what I did here? Referring to light, sun, blocked out). I’m going to skip the “facts.” Facts and truth are subjective. Your truth is different than mine. Facts are whoever has the microphone, pulpit or soap box. That said, I’ll avoid my own facts and stick to strict opinion.

Here are my thoughts to consider:

1.  Sedona is a community with a large percentage of seniors. Seniors have a more difficult time driving at night. Lights are good as they help light up dark places. Well-lit places prevent the elderly from running anyone over. I probably didn’t need that last sentence.

2.  Since Sedona is a community with a large percentage of seniors, shouldn’t we take into consideration that these people are usually in bed by 6:30 p.m. Should it matter what goes on when it’s dark and they’re asleep? I understand they probably don’t want to see what I’m doing when they’re asleep, but I don’t plan on doing it under a streetlight. I’m surprised some people are willing to protest outside City Hall during City Council meetings—it’s past their bedtime.

4.  On Highway 89A, there are intersections that have crosswalks and others that don’t. One that doesn’t exist yet citizens attempt to make—like the illegal bike trails the Forest Service battle—is the sprint from the Martini Bar to Olde Sedona Bar & Grille. That scares the $#!% out of me. Add a few drinks to the livelier crowd and that sprint is more of a stumble through oncoming traffic from both ways. You’ve seen the video game “Frogger”? Yeah, well it’s in front of New Frontiers! My thought: why not place lights that are motion activated?

5.  Last thought. Let’s build pedestrian bridges every couple blocks. I know it defeats the purpose of having red rocks for scenery, but at least it prevents a blood red highway. Of course, this is one of those thoughts (like tunnels) that won’t fly, which makes the public rethink the first three.

On a positive note, if Sedona Police Department were to do a massive ticketing of the people who jaywalk, maybe we could straighten out some economic issues. Maybe we could raise enough money to build an amphitheatre … oh, wait.

Archimedes was later able to apply his discovery of volume to find out the density of objects. I don’t think anyone needs science to measure how dense this debate over lights has become.