Hi Tweets:
Migratory birds need your help!!

Here is the latest... a proposed light beam shooting out of the Space
Needle into the sky for 70 nights a year! Nocturnal migrating birds
often get confused and disorriented by artificial light, and are often
attracted to lighted structures. This lighting could result in massive
mortalities of songbirds.

Read Saturday's article in the P.I. for more (pasted below). If you
want to ACT, PLEASE CALL, EMAIL, or FAX the Landmarks Preservation Board
by TUESDAY AFTERNOON, 11/29:
Coordinator of Landmarks Preservation Board--Beth Chave
Phone: (206) 684-0380
FAX: (206) 233-5142
EMAIL: beth.chave at ci.seattle.wa.us

THANKS! -Lauren Braden, Seattle Audubon Society (206) 523-8243 x14

http://www.seattle-pi.com/pi/local/beam27.shtml

P.I. ARTICLE:
A beaming Needle? Some are frowning
Plan goes to landmarks board next week

Saturday, November 27, 1999

By PHUONG LE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

A plan to project a beam of light from the top of Seattle's most
recognizable landmark is generating as much apprehension as glowing
reviews.

Managers of the Space Needle, the city's 605-foot icon of the 1962
World's Fair, want to beam a ray "toward the heavens," and they want the
lights on for New Year's Eve and other celebrations.

But not everyone wants to throw the switch. Some like the night sky just
the way it is: dark. They hope to make their case to the Seattle
Landmarks Preservation Board, which takes up the issue Wednesday.

The Space Needle Corp., owned by the Howard S. Wright family, is seeking
approval from the board to add the light and install a new lighting
system on the structure.

The board must approve any permanent changes to the structure, which was
named an official Seattle landmark in April.

"We're really excited about it," said Dean Nelson, chief executive
officer of the Space Needle Corp., which manages the structure. "We
think it's a really fun opportunity.

"What purpose is the beam going to serve?" asked Karl Schroeder,
president of the Seattle Astronomical Society, a group dedicated to
educating the public about the cosmos.

"Why not turn off the lights in Seattle (to celebrate)?"

Schroeder complained of possible "light pollution," which he said would
interfere with the ability to enjoy the night sky.

The light beam would concentrate the power of three spotlights into a
fixed ray aimed straight into the sky.

Officials estimated that they would turn on the beam about 70 times a
year to celebrate special occasions such as New Year's Eve, the opening
days of sport seasons and Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Nelson hopes the beam will be ready to shine by New Year's Eve so it can
be part of the city's millennium celebration. He said it would fit
nicely with Mayor Paul Schell's plans to illuminate the 12th Avenue and
Aurora bridges around New Year's Eve.

Some critics of the plan say they don't mind more light being shone on
an event here or there.

But Hal Green, an attorney and amateur astronomer, has criticized the
value of giving a private entity control over when and how often the
beam would be used.

"It's not light, it is glare," said Green. ". . . This beacon is pure
glare. Its purpose is to shine into the sky and light up the sky."

Green said he doesn't want Seattle to become Las Vegas, where neon
lights and beams are a given element of the city's flamboyant landscape.

"I view Seattle as having a different consciousness from Las Vegas," he
said.

Nelson called the beam "not an unusual amount of light," and added that
light emanating from Safeco Field far exceeds what his company plans.

Green and others say they weren't given adequate notice that the
preservation board planned to review the Space Needle's application.

"This is a major change to the Seattle skyline," Green said.

He claimed that scheduling the meeting during the World Trade
Organization's meetings next week was "designed to minimize public
input."

Yesterday was a city holiday and preservation board officials could not
be reached for comment.

"We take the Space Needle's status very seriously and our focus is on
sustaining the image that has already been created by it," said Nelson.

The beam is part of a $20 million effort that includes renovating the
Needle's observation desk and restaurant.

Workers are improving the Needle's overall lighting by replacing the
1962 lighting system in the legs and parts of the top with an enhanced
system that will give the Needle a more well-defined look, Nelson said.



------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------


P-I reporter Phuong Le can be reached at 206-903-0728 or
phuongle at seattle-pi.com



WTO activists take control of vacant building
Two churches play host to tent cities

Expect a week of worst traffic

Getting There: Track chaos this week by phone, Web

Castro decides against WTO visit

Police sweep convention center

Some Alaska cities fed up with cruise ships

Redmond teen center a hot spot of friction

Air crash kills Portland restaurant founder, 3 sons

Downtown's 'Professor' keeps his anonymity, even in death

Phone problems stir concerns

Balmy weather eases flood problems

Cleanup of buried Hanford waste studied

Northwest Briefing







------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------
Home | Search | Site Guide | About the P-I | Circulation | Contact Us |
Job Openings
Send comments to newmedia at seattle-pi.com
? 1999 Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
All rights reserved.




Lauren Braden
Advocate for Wildlife Habitat
Seattle Audubon Society
8050 35th Ave NE
Seattle, WA 98115
PHONE: 206 523-8243 x14
FAX: 206 528-7779
laurenb at seattleaudubon.org
www.seattleaudubon.org