Many months ago, I called my city to request a lamp shield or wattage reduction on a very bright and obtrusive LED street lamp across the street from my house. After many phone calls to the city and then the power company, this finally happened, and the difference is amazing. The light was so bright, I could easily see color in grass and foliage in my front yard and read small type on printed materials like star maps. My main argument to the city and power company was not to practice astronomy but lack of sleep because the light spilled into my bedroom. They agreed with me on this and did not try to argue.
Now, my front yard which is where I often set up a telescope, is substantially darker and more importantly the blinding spot light effect is gone which greatly helps my ability to adapt to the darkness. The pool of light now isolated mostly to the street is also considerably dimmer, so they may have installed a shield and a lower wattage lamp. I'm not completely sure about the lamp itself, but they did install this black plastic device over the lamp housing which blocks most of the stray light.
Once I have a good clear night, I'll take some photos to show the difference with this modified lamp.
It took a long time for this to happen, but persistence has paid off.
Clear skies!
Tony
