Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Port Authority Bus Lights Are A Kenny Rogers-Style Nuissance
By
Garth Johnston
Published Nov 14, 2011
Modified Nov 14, 2011
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Garth Johnston
Published Nov 14, 2011
Modified Nov 14, 2011
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Remember that episode of Seinfeld when Kramer and Jerry are both driven mad by a glowing red sign for Kenny Rodgers Roasters? Well, it seems that life is now imitating art. Residents on 43rd Street and Eighth Avenue (yes, people live there) are up in arms over the five-month-old LED display the Port Authority proudly put up on its Bus Terminal over the summer. "My cats don’t know what’s happening. They’re jumping around and looking all over the place trying to figure out where the light’s coming from. It’s funny, but it’s not funny," complained one neighbor.
Back when the Port Authority first showed off its new lights this summer we were impressed, and jokingly suggested they start screening movies on it. But the neighbors, they were not as impressed! Though the PA says it dims the lights on the giant billboard by 40 percent at night, folks on 43rd Street (who are subjected to it via reflection and through a parking lot-sized gap) say that isn't dim enough. "It’s flashing, flashing, flashing all the time, like lightning or having the paparazzi chasing you in your living room," Wilmer Hernandez, 74, a retired financial-aid adviser who has lived on 43rd Street for 40 years told the Post.
So now they are taking their gripes to Community Board 4 to get things done. They'll be speaking their minds tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. at the Holland House at 351 W. 42nd Street. On the one hand, it seems pretty reasonable to expect that if you live somewhere for 40 years you can have a reasonable expectation that you won't be subjected to insane light pollution nonstop all night. But on the other hand? If you live right next to Times Square it can be harder to make that argument.
Anyway, if neighbors are looking for ways to persuade the PA to dim the lights...we doubt that the throwing wet rat fur around the Port Authority will make much of a difference at all.
Tagged
bright lights
manhattan
nimby
port authority
port authority bus terminal
seinfeld
Garth Johnston
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Inside the plan to fix the nearly collapsed Pfizer Building, 1/64th of an inch at a time
Construction crews will jack up sagging floors where two key structural columns bent in July.
By
David Brand
Published Oct 16, 2026 at 1:54 p.m. ET
School bus carrying autistic students got lost in Brooklyn for 4 hours last year
A city investigation discovered that when the bus arrived at its destination in Crown Heights, one student was lying in a pool of urine.
By
Jessica Gould
News
School bus carrying autistic students got lost in Brooklyn for 4 hours last year
A city investigation discovered that when the bus arrived at its destination in Crown Heights, one student was lying in a pool of urine.
By
Jessica Gould
NYC’s bridges can last 'forever,' if we take care of them
By
Clayton Guse
Queens mother charged with murder in death of 5-year-old daughter, NYPD says
By
Ryan Kost
NYC’s whiplash weather continues into weekend with heavy winds, chilly temps, NWS says
By
Monica Melton
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .