electricland

Had lunch with my mum, as she is on jury duty this week (which so far has involved sitting around in a room with a bunch of other people waiting for her name to be called and envying the guy 3 seats over his Sudoku book -- with luck she won't get stuck in a trial that will eat her entire summer) at one of the many courts around these parts.

It is hot out.

Am quite impressed with Access Toronto. On Friday morning I sent them this:

Hi --

I'm not quite sure who to contact about this! I noticed last night that one of the aircraft-warning strobe lights on one of the smokestacks west of my house is flashing EXTREMELY brightly -- brightly enough to make shadows on the wall! This is not an issue with any of the other strobe lights -- you can see them, obviously, but they don't actually light up the neighbourhood. I don't know if this is strictly a directional problem; I'm at [my address].

The problem is I'm not altogether sure which smokestack it is (it's dark out). From the direction, I assume it's either the Ashbridge's Bay treatment plant or the Hearn generating station,* which puts the light at least 2 km from my house.

Is there any way to (a) find out where this light is located and (b) change it to a lower wattage?

Thanks in advance!

Best,

Electric Landlady

*Fun with Google Maps!This morning I got this:

Hi Electric:

Thank you for your inquiry to Access Toronto, the public information and referral service for the Toronto Government.

Your e-mail has been forwarded to Chris Monteith, Plant Manager, Ashbridges Bay Treatment Plant for a direct response. Chris can be reached at [redacted]@toronto.ca should you need to follow-up.

Should it be the Hearn Generating Station, you would need to contact Ontario Power Generation as they are the owners of this facility - webmaster@opg.com or Main Switchboard: (416) 592-2555.

I hope this is helpful and please do not hesitate to let me know if you require further information or assistance.

Sincerely,

Christine Chandler
Information Liaison Officer
Access Toronto/Public Information
Office of the Chief Corporate Officer

A whole 16 minutes later, I got this:

Good-day all
I have had several complaints to-day on this issue. Upon investigation, I have discovered that the 'Strobe-light' (Aviation warning light) has a daytime mode (brighter) and a nighttime mode. Apparently a contractor working on electrical upgrades to the 600' stack inadvertently left the light constantly on daytime mode causing the brighter than normal beam during the night. This has been corrected. Sorry for any inconvenience. Please feel free to contact me with any further issues.

Chris Monteith, Plant Manager
Ashbridges Bay Treatment Plant
[contact details redacted]

So hopefully that's fixed it. Go me. And go Access Toronto, even if I did give them a fair bit of help with Google Maps.