Poor San Pedro

The saga of the Vincent Thomas Bridge lights continues. Donna Littlejohn reports in the Breeze that the cool blue glow on the soaring span over the port is now illuminating fine. But—well, let her explain the latest twist:

Now that the Vincent Thomas Bridge lights are finally on in San Pedro, some residents believe the blue lights along the roadway are a lighter, more greenish shade than the ones outlining the overhead cables.

And they're right.

The lights were supposed to match. But they don't because the contract to buy the lights was split between two companies -- LEDtronics Inc. of Torrance and Farlight of Wilmington. And the companies use different manufacturers.

The faint color discrepancy has been mentioned "many, many, many times" by customers at Pacific Diner in San Pedro, said waitress Alrene Hanson.

Louis Dominguez, chairman of the bridge lighting effort, said the committee used two suppliers as a compromise. LEDtronics had been working with the committee, Dominguez said, when Mayor Hahn's office asked them to consider buying all the lights from Farlight. Hmm. If it turns out that Farlight is a campaign contributor, the Breeze may get another story out of this.