Lights Leave Residents Seeing Red
Every night, as Andrew Garsten looks out from his hillside home in Echo Park, he sees red -- big, red, flashing lights.
The lights, which were installed in June on four of six radio towers owned by Miami-based Radio Unica, have caused an uproar, not just in Echo Park, where they are anchored at North Alvarado and Aaron streets, but in neighboring Angelino Heights and Silver Lake.
Frustrated residents contend that the tops of the towers are about the same level as many hillside homes, causing the lights to flash directly into windows. They have set up an e-mail address to post updates and have collected about 120 signatures on a petition "to stop the light pollution."
"It's flash on, flash off. It can drive you crazy, particularly if you have windows that face in that direction," said Echo Park resident Judy Raskin, who has draped pillowcases on windows to mask the dusk-till-dawn glare.
"A lot of people don't know what to do or what to make of it -- kind of like the governor's election," Garsten said. "They're confused and think maybe it's part of an emergency situation."
Although L.A. officials have received a number of calls, the city has no jurisdiction in the matter.
In fact, the situation has hit home for Councilman Eric Garcetti, who can see the lights from his Echo Park home.
"These lights have resulted in countless complaints to my office and to the offices of other city and federal elected officials in the area," wrote Garcetti in a letter to federal officials, seeking a review to "determine what can be done to return peace to this neighborhood."
Bill Jenkins, general manager of KBLA Radio Unica, said he also received about half a dozen calls since the lights were activated and immediately began working with federal officials to find an acceptable compromise.
"We recognize it's an imposition and inconvenience, mostly for the small number of people" at the top of the hill, Jenkins said.
KBLA purchased the 205-foot towers, which were erected in the 1960s, five years ago and upgraded the facility. The Spanish-language station then applied for a new license from the Federal Communications Commission.
The agency had the station obtain a determination from the Federal Aviation Administration that the towers did not pose a hazard to aircraft, said agency spokesman Donn Walker.
