coronado bridge uplighting approved

the port commission voted to uplight the coronado bridge with blue LED lighting powered by solar energy. while they're just getting started by seeking artist proposals for the lighting plan, it's a good sign that the commission recognizes how impressive nighttime lighting of the graceful bridge could be.

pretty exciting news - i think this calls for a sample of lyrics from frank zappa's "the blue light", from tinseltown rebellion, circa 1980:

The plankton, the krill
The giant underwater pyramid, the squid decor
Excuse me. Todd
The big ol' giant underwater door
The dome, the bubbles, the blue light

meanwhile, the price of the harbor drive pedestrian bridge has ballooned from 13 to 30 million, and ccdc was considering scaling back at today's meeting on the project. however it appears they just modified the bridge proposal and plan to move ahead with the futuristic design. the most surreal part of the story was seeing the union tribune editorial board, normally as conservative as a pack of texans, actually support the expensive bridge. it's rare to see this kind of sense from a newspaper that's long settled for less when it comes to defining projects like these - lest they actually have to pay more taxes for them. just look around the waterfront for plenty of examples of what conservative "vision" can do for a city. what's next for kittle and co. - supporting gay marriage?

but not everyone is defying expectations. as the bridge article above notes, hilton hotels, who spent $350 million on their new hotel across harbor drive and is counting on the footbridge, can't be bothered to chip in a dime for the project. here's a company that's probably raked in millions of dollars in profits from doing business in touristy san diego over the years, and was purchased for 26 billion last year. yet they can't help out with a project like this? i guess for some companies, the bottom line comes before community relations.