The Bend City Council is poised to discuss the idea of making city skies darker when it holds a goal-setting session, probably in January. The group Lights Out Bend thinks it would be dandy to add recognition by a group called the International Dark-Sky Association to the list of accolades about Bend, but getting recognition would be a big project and councilors decided not to act on it immediately.

The idea sounds good — happy animals, soundly sleeping people and all that, according to a member of Lights Out Bend — but the idea could present problems:

• Good night lighting is critical for some in the community who have disabilities. When sidewalks are snow-covered or in poor repair they can be downright dangerous if one travels by wheelchair or suffers from impaired vision, among other things.

• Good night lighting can provide an element of personal safety that otherwise would disappear, literally, into the shadows. While the evidence is mixed, good lighting actually has reduced crime in some, although not all, cities. Bend’s night-time crime problem isn’t huge, and there’s no point in risking making a small problem bigger by reducing night lighting.

• In December, sunrise is after 8 a.m. and, by the end of the month, closer to 9 a.m. Streets lights make it safer for kids to walk to school or wait for a bus.

• For those who make deliveries before dawn, including newspaper carriers, good lighting makes it possible for drivers to find the addresses on their routes.

• Bend is already a relatively “dark” city. Way back in 2004 it chose to end the practice of allowing street and house lights to shine up into the night sky. If better enforcement of that decision is needed, then so be it. But don’t make the entire city darker because some lights are adding too much light to the sky.

Early next year Councilors will be asked to balance residents’ needs against the desire of some to make the city darker. Unless they can be certain the former would not be compromised by the latter, they should set the notion aside.