In response to Rafa Stump’s impassioned plea to blanket rural Sussex County in artificial lighting: no, thank you.
While I sympathize with anyone who’s had a near miss with wildlife or struggles to navigate the roads at night, I must point out that choosing to live in a rural community comes with a different set of values — and yes, responsibilities — than living in a densely developed suburb.
The argument that our roads are somehow less safe because they aren’t lined with buzzing lights like those in Passaic or Morris County ignores a fundamental truth: Sussex County is not Passaic or Morris County — and most of us are profoundly thankful for that. We are not trying to replicate urban sprawl here. If anything, we are trying to preserve what little rural character still exists in this county.
Many of us chose Sussex County because of its peace, its open skies, and its freedom from the constant glare of modern overdevelopment. The darkness here (what little is left here) is a natural feature, not a flaw to be corrected. It is not the job of taxpayers to subsidize comfort for drivers who are unable or unwilling to adapt to rural conditions. Our roads aren’t dangerous. They’re only treacherous to those who fail to respect them. If you struggle to drive at night, the solution is better headlights, slower speeds, or different travel times.
The suggestion that solar LED lights are somehow free of impact or expense is laughable. Someone installs them. Someone maintains them. And someone — namely, the residents you’re lecturing — pays for them. We’re not interested in funding a misguided attempt to urbanize the countryside for those who miss their cul-de-sacs. Lastly, your claim that we pay the highest taxes in the state is simply false.
This isn’t a matter of “public safety.” It’s a matter of preserving the rural quality of life that distinguishes Sussex County from the overlit suburbs people purportedly move here to escape.
To Rafa and others who long for streetlight-saturated roads, perhaps the solution lies not in transforming Sussex County into the next overdeveloped corridor — but in returning to the counties that already provide that environment in abundance.
Calvin Piorkowski
Hampton Township