{"id":15549,"date":"2023-03-04T12:15:25","date_gmt":"2023-03-04T19:15:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/?p=15549"},"modified":"2023-03-04T12:15:27","modified_gmt":"2023-03-04T19:15:27","slug":"the-bay-lights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/the-bay-lights\/","title":{"rendered":""The Bay Lights", an ongoing effort for a new and better creation"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
\u201cThe Bay Lights\u201d on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, part of Interstate 80, spans the San Francisco Bay in Northern California in January 2014. (Photo courtesy of John Chacon\/California Department of Water Resources, via Bay City News).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Keith Burbank. Bay City News<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A canvas of light descends Sunday after illuminating the western span of the Bay Bridge for 10 years. But with enough donors, it will return \u201cin a more glorious manifestation,\u201d founder Ben Davis said Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bay Lights have been shining brightly in the Bay Area for many to see despite exposure to sand, dirt and vibration 24\/7 for the past decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now is the time to decommission them as they are failing faster than they can be cost-effectively repaired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure they\u2019ll be back,\u201d Davis said in a telephone interview, explaining what residents might see when they do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Davis wants more people in the Bay Area to be able to see the lights and wants drivers to travel through a \u201cpublic art portal at night.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, drivers on the bridge cannot see The Bay Lights except in their rearview mirrors. The proposed project will produce a gently undulating pattern of low-voltage, monochromatic light up to 230 feet high for 1.8 miles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lights will wrap around the cables on the north side of the west span in the recreation. Currently, the lights are on only one side of the cables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a sense of mystery and magic to the piece,\u201d said Leo Villareal, the artist who worked with Davis to create the light installation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People see the lights and can't help but say something to the person walking next to them. It brings people together, Villareal said. It's not about language or images, but something deeper, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The light patterns produced by The Bay Lights are never repeated. The original installation took two and a half years from initial conception to completion, Villareal said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenge, which Davis and others are working on, is making sure the new installation doesn't distract drivers. He's working with traffic engineers and the California Highway Patrol to ensure driver safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past 10 years, the installation of lights has not caused a single traffic problem, Davis said, and that's the equivalent of traveling on the bridge to the sun and back 40 times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt immediately became an iconic image for the Embarcadero, drawing visitors to the city,\u201d said Jill Manton, director of public art trust and special initiatives for the San Francisco Arts Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manton helped win commission approval and helped draft the resolution supporting the commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After it goes dark, reinstallation could take eight to 10 months following an ongoing fundraising campaign. Davis is trying to raise $11 million to fund the project over the next 10 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It's looking for 10 donors who can give $1 million each along with $1 million in crowdfunding donations. Details of the efforts so far will be revealed Sunday at 7:45 p.m. at Epic Steak, which is at 369 The Embarcadero and overlooks The Bay Lights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new creation will have double the current number of lights, or 50 thousand LEDs. Gifts for the new installation can be made at http:\/\/www.thebaylights360.org\/<\/a>More than $5,200 had been raised as of Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Bay Lights have become one of San Francisco\u2019s iconic landmarks, and we hope the fundraising campaign to save this important light art installation is successful so they can come back even bigger and better than before,\u201d said Joe D\u2019Alessandro, president and CEO of the San Francisco Travel Association, the city\u2019s official destination marketing organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe encourage businesses and residents of San Francisco to support efforts to keep The Bay Lights illuminating our beautiful city for years to come,\u201d D'Alessandro said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may be interested in: Tolling begins on new express lanes of the 101 freeway in San Mateo County<\/a><\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Por Keith Burbank. Bay City News. Un lienzo de luz desciende el domingo despu\u00e9s de iluminar el tramo occidental del Puente de la Bah\u00eda durante 10 a\u00f1os. Pero con suficientes donantes, volver\u00e1 \u00aben una manifestaci\u00f3n m\u00e1s gloriosa\u00bb, dijo el viernes su fundador, Ben Davis. Las luces de la Bah\u00eda, \u00abThe Bay Lights\u00bb han estado brillando […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":15550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,14],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15549","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-community","8":"category-cover"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15549"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15551,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15549\/revisions\/15551"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}