For those of you with neighbors who still have the holiday spirit or are just too lazy to take down their lights, Joseph Greco, a licensend electrician in New Jersey, recently sent us another suggestion for getting the word out about Art. 590's limits on temporary holiday lights that takes advantage of everyone's favorite favorite home appliance: the TV.
I'm a licensed electrical inspector in the state of New Jersey. I don't agree with a "heavy handed" approach where the local inspector prowls around the neighborhood on the day by which holiday lighting should be taken down. My approach would be to work with the local municipalities and encourage them to post the requirements of this section of the Code. Most communities have a local access chanel on the cable system where items such as this are listed (leaf pickup in the fall, snow emergency routes, etc.) and a notice posted here should be very effective. Couple this with announcements in the local community's newspaper (and perhaps a reporter for one of the "big" papers could be talked into writing an article on the subject) and you would then have an informed community that knows the hows, and more importantly, the whys behind this Code provision (with a big emphasis on concern for the public's safety). I would be willing to bet that the number of cases of year-round lighting installation would drastically decrease.
Joseph Greco, PE
Cherry Hill, N.J.