Lighting for the Elsinore at the Historic Landmarks Commission

The Historic Landmarks Commission meets tomorrow, Thursday the 17th, and they'll be considering lighting on two of the three agenda items. New signage for the Elsinore would be a great addition!

Approve new retro blade sign

The Elsinore Theater proposes a set of front entry, marquee, and facade improvements, the most notable of which would be a retro neon-style blade sign. Like the one on the Grand a block north, this would be a cheery addition to the night in downtown!

Makes the night more cheery (via Cherriots)

There are some other ornamental restoration details also, including some gothicky filigree for up high. (Here's a good early view with it.)

On these the Staff Recommendation is for approval.

You can see some of the historic illuminated marquees, including the Elsinore, in the history wrap on the vault at the Courthouse on High and Court. 

"Salem's Theatrical History"
at High and Court (2019)

But on one detail Staff recommends denial.

Two LED readerboards are not historical in spirit or detail and would detract from the historic facade.

Deny new LED reader boards

In a piece originating from Elsinore PR, Salem Reporter has the applicant's side:

[They are] most excited about the proposal to add three marquees signs, replacing the current signage which he said is too small to be noticeable.

Their hope is to make it digital, with plain lettering reminiscent of historic signage that won’t require [staff] to climb a ladder to change them over 1,000 times a year. Getting digital signs will be difficult due to city sign code and their status as a historical place, which means proposed changes to the building will require city review.

“I first told the board I wanted the old-fashioned kind, and my board said ‘Absolutely not, because we know you and you’ll be up there on a ladder, and you’ll fall,’” he said, and laughed.

The Elsinore's own page on the capital campaign, "Lighting our Way to 100 Years!" has photos and more also.

The balance in the Staff Recommendation seems exactly right here. The readerboards are distracting, light clutter, and not historical.

The baseball field and stadium project for the Marion Berries is also on the agenda, and it is recommended for approval. 

In the packet is a neat illustration of changing lighting tech. It's provided by a vendor, so it's not like it's some objective field study, but it does show manufacturers are responsive to the problems of light pollution.

Evolution in lighting tech

There are also several maps of the light spill and its rapid fall off in foot candles. Below, the red line maps 5.0 and the blue line 0.1. That's a 50x reduction.

Steep falloff in light pollution

It does not, however, appear to be very sensitive to the tree canopy's filtering, and it sure seems like the blue line ought to be much less circular, especially at 3, and 7 and 8 o'clock positions on the map where there are more trees. This is probably not very important, but the modeling may not account for actual features in the landscape.

The third item is approval for a house to replace one from 1875 that burned down in the Court-Chemeketa Historic District. In and of itself it seems routine and non-controversial, but we may return to it in a more general context another time.

Addendum, November 21st

The HLC meets tonight the 21st and one of their items is the continuation of the baseball matter. The Supplemental Staff Report is not long, and it sure looks like the groundwork for a quick and unambiguous decision, though the opponents may well try to appeal and delay things.

The West Coast League already announced the season opener for May 30th with a three-day series against the Corvallis Knights.

Some of the matters in the Staff Report we may return to later.

In October, opponents continued to hit themes of purity and exclusion.

Exclusionary themes

More interesting is the mismatch between the hoopla around a "plan" and its actual enforceability.

Is the plan enforceable?

We've seen this with updates to the Transportation System Plan in the past and we will see it again with our forthcoming TSP update: If we want a value to yield enforceable policy, the value must be instantiated in statute, in Salem Revised Code.

No, the plan is not enforceable

Additionally and separately, comments in the media from the Elsinore suggest they plan to appeal the denial on the reader boards.