Blue light special returns to Chase Bank in Bethesda

The controversial blue lights at Chase Bank were back on Monday evening in downtown Bethesda. In recent days, men were seen fixing or replacing the existing blue LED accent lighting on the building's facade. Those lights irritated some in the neighborhood when they were originally activated in 2019, leading to them being shut off for many months at the Wisconsin Avenue bank branch.

Chase Bank tests controversial lights in downtown Bethesda (Photos)

On a damp and foggy evening in downtown Bethesda, Chase Bank conducted a new test of its controversial blue accent lighting on its new branch at 7901 Wisconsin Avenue. As you may recall, when the lights were first activated on August 21, they cast a blue light all over the neighborhood. By the next week, the lights were being discussed on local television, and the controversy led the bank to power down the display.

Last night, community members stood in front of the building as Chase Bank officials activated various lighting modes for their review. As you can see, the brightness was massively toned down from the initial display in August.

Lights out at Chase Bank in Bethesda after complaints

The blue light special has ended at Chase Bank at 7901 Wisconsin Avenue. After receiving complaints about controversial blue LED lighting that projected far beyond their property since they were activated one week ago, the branch has temporarily deactivated them. While I think the lights were clearly turned up too high to comply with light pollution regulations, it will be disappointing if they cannot have some color at a lower intensity. For now, the area around the bank has returned to the funereal grey darkness now found on most Bethesda streets after dark in the post-nightlife era. 

How it looked for the last week

It was also wild to see the story I broke last Thursday go viral, with no attribution to my original scoop. The blue lights story even made it to WJLA-7 News, among others, but the source who discovered it was not cited in any of them.

Blue light special: New Chase Bank LEDs have neighborhood awash

Bethesda bank's new lights

tinting all buildings around it

The new Chase Bank branch at 7901 Wisconsin Avenue lit up a new set of LED accent lights last night in downtown Bethesda. Their trademark color left all neighboring buildings around it aglow. It could be described as "over the top."

With the collapse of nightlife in downtown Bethesda after the Montgomery County Council's disastrous "Nighttime Economy Task Force" initiative, and the rise of poorly-lit new buildings, I actually support where businesses are adding light and color to the shadowy blackness of our often-deserted streets. I know pedestrians walking alone at night are likely to welcome it. But one has to wonder what future residents of 7900 Wisconsin Avenue across the street may have to say about this blue blasting into their windows, and creeping around their drapes.

Chase Bank (at left) casts a blue
tint down and across Wisconsin
Avenue, as high as the top of the
new 7900 Wisconsin Avenue building

7900 Wisconsin is entirely lit up
by the Chase Bank lights

BETHESDA TV TOWER LIGHTS GOING HAYWIRE...AGAIN!

There you go again, Crown Castle. Their Bethesda broadcast tower on River Road has had ongoing issues with the harsh, white flashing lights somehow getting amped up to exceed light pollution standards. It has happened several times over the last few years, and twice in the last month.

The recent two incidents were short-lived, about 1-2 days. But now the lowest light on the tower (the one that seems to have the most issues) is at it again, appearing as an explosive firework that flashes brightly off of buildings located many blocks away from the tower site.

I hope that they will address the issue as soon as possible, as it greatly affects residents who have windows facing that way, as well as the intrusion of the firework-intensity light pollution on outdoor activities.

However, the constant problems - and having to write, and then call, if writing about it here doesn't work - are growing tiresome. I have heard from nearby residents who are tired of it, as well.

If this keeps up, a complaint will have to be filed with the FCC for violation of light pollution standards. Ultimately, the question continues to be, why can this tower not have the effective red lights that virtually every other TV tower in the DC area has at night? Red lights can't generate this kind of pollution, and would therefore solve the whole problem.

RIVER ROAD TV TOWER EXCEEDING LIGHT POLLUTION REGULATIONS AGAIN IN BETHESDA

The lowest flashing bulb on the TV tower behind McDonald's on River Road is going crazy again. It's been 48 hours now. This happened last year, and went on for weeks. Finally, I called the tower's owner, Crown Castle. They promised to fix it, and within a couple of weeks, it was corrected. And that was actually the second malfunction, since the tower converted from red to white lights years ago.

Now it's happening again. I received a complaint a number of days ago via comment from a reader; however, when I checked at that time, it did not seem to be malfunctioning. Perhaps it depends which direction you are standing in relation to the tower. But it's going nuts for sure now, and once again, it simply exceeds any reasonable light pollution limits.

I'll have to call them again, apparently. This is ridiculous. They need to make a permanent fix - or better yet, join the other 90% of towers in America, and use the red lights that don't have this problem (the River Road tower uses white flashing lights). Red lights are the industry standard. Does anyone know what federal entity regulates lights on broadcast towers?

This is how the bulbs are
supposed to look at night