Steve Charloff: Historic neighborhoods in the dark

Regarding the Feb. 25 news article “Historic neighborhoods reject LED streetlights”: Residents of Raleigh’s historic districts and the Historic Development Committee have rejected LED streetlights because the lights are too bright, the wrong color and the fixtures “look too high-tech to be in a historic district.”

But where’s the consistency? Horseless carriages routinely travel on these (gasp!) paved streets. Most of these homes have even taken the radical step toward modernity by installing indoor plumbing.

As the Society for the Preservation of Historic Oakwood said, “If you want to be known as a world-class city, you have to do the little things that make a difference.”

We can only assume the next step is for these residents, based on the age of their homes, to remove electricity, telephones, air conditioning, Wi-Fi, etc.

After all, it’s the small sacrifices in the name of authenticity that will truly establish Raleigh’s reputation as world-class.

This story was originally published February 25, 2016 at 12:34 PM with the headline "Steve Charloff: Historic neighborhoods in the dark."