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To some it’s garish, but others find them fun and attractive and interesting

The report says that business owners — many of them in the business improvement areas in the core areas — have installed them to attract customers, illuminate their signs and create a safer environment around their stores. But research as well as complaints to the city have “identified that the very opposite is happening.”

Photo by Nick Brancaccio / Windsor Star

Police say because of their excessive glare, these lights can greatly diminish the ability of officers or bystanders to see inside a store window to spot suspicious activity. The report also provided photos of area businesses that showed the ineffectiveness of LED lights. When it’s dark, their placement around a sign results in a glare outwards towards the street and an inability to read what the sign actually says. During the day, they do little to draw your eyes to the sign. A photo of a convenience store at night shows that LED strips lining a window limits visibility into the business.

The report says the consensus from BIA representatives is they dislike this “nuisance lighting” from an aesthetic and health and safety perspective, “but cited there is no mechanism to discourage them.”

Holt said he doesn’t want to make an aesthetic judgement, though he’s heard from plenty of people that the lights leave a lot to be desired. He said when it’s done excessively, with different colours and strobes and every single window lined, it can bother your eyes and distract you while driving.

He’s leaning towards prohibition, because regulation would greatly complicate the matter, requiring more enforcement staff and equipment to test luminosity, glare and other features.