(WSVN) - Bright lights are good for some things. Bright lights in a neighborhood can be aggravating, especially if there are a couple of dozen flooding your home. But is it legal? Let’s turn the spotlight over to Help Me Howard with Patrick Fraser.
If you Google “animated,” don’t be surprised if Shavonne pops up.
Shavonne Anderson: “My mom’s house is literally down the street. An auntie’s house is down the street. Auntie’s house down the street.”
Shavonne grew up in this neighborhood and wouldn’t leave it.
Shavonne Anderson: “Nice neighborhood. No crime. I can sleep with my window open, if the light wasn’t coming through the window.”
Yes, the bright personality has a light problem.
Shavonne Anderson: “I have been hit with lights, constantly. Big lights, small lights. Light, light, light, light, light, light, light.”
This is her next-door neighbor’s house at night.
Shavonne Anderson: “So I have literally seven lights coming from the back to the side of my home, from coming through my bathroom, master bedroom to another bedroom.”
The lights are so bright, Shavonne can’t sleep in the master bedroom facing her neighbor.
Shavonne Anderson: “So now when I pull it up, you see her camera sits there. She got lights there, lights there, the lights up there.”
She wanted to move to the bedroom in front of the house, but look across the street at that neighbor’s lights.
Shavonne Anderson: “They got like four, five, six lights that are just as big as her lights.”
A total of 15 lights from two houses pouring into her home. That began when Shavonne notified FPL a neighbor had put a floodlight on their pole, shining into Shavonne’s rooms. Her neighbor took a dim view of being told on.
Shavonne Anderson: “She looks at me with that – and I’m like, ‘Mmmmm…'”
That’s a good way of explaining it, but the results are bad as Shavonne tries to block the light.
Shavonne Anderson: “So I have to come and do this to block out light in the front, and then I have to do the same for this window, so that I can sleep at night.”
It doesn’t work.
Shavonne Anderson: “It was to the point where I was up at night, I couldn’t sleep.”
The neighborhood she grew up in is so bright, it’s darkening Miss Personality’s mood.
Shavonne Anderson: “I feel like, you know, my home is my castle. Just like her home is her castle. I don’t want her to stop enjoying her home, but why do I have to stop enjoying mine?”
Everyone knows there’s a noise ordinance, but Howard, is there a bright light ordinance?
Howard Finkelstein: “Most cities have a law that regulates lighting to protect adjacent property owners from the spillover glare of the lights. How do you know when one is too bright, if they do not have a measurement standard? It’s like what the judge said about pornography. You’ll know it’s too bright when you see it.”
I wanted to know why the two homeowners had so many bright lights. They didn’t want to talk to me.
I contacted Miami Gardens. They were great. They gave the homeowners 30 days to take the lights down or turn them off.
The person in the blue house took all their lights down, and Shavonne’s next-door neighbor turned off some, dimmed the rest, and life returned to normal for Shavonne.
Shavonne Anderson: “I mean, I’m happy I’m living in my master bedroom. I’m serious. I’m living in my master bedroom.”
So, so happy, after her call to Help Me Howard.
Shavonne Anderson: “You don’t know how much you helped me. You don’t know, I’m telling you.”
What a personality! Now, if you have a neighbor whose lights are too bright, first talk to them. They might not know it’s bothering you. If they do and don’t care, contact code enforcement, and remember, you cannot do it anonymously anymore.
A problem darkening your mood? Ready to shine a light on it? Flip the switch to us. We may not be the brightest bulbs, but we flash a little intelligence once in a while.
With this Help Me Howard, I’m Patrick Fraser, 7News.
CONTACT HELP ME HOWARD:
Email: helpmehoward@wsvn.com
Reporter: Patrick Fraser at pfraser@wsvn.com
Miami-Dade: 305-953-WSVN
Broward: 954-761-WSVN
Copyright 2025 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.