When I lived in Alice Springs sky viewing was great, but it was better when camping out of town. Translate that to cities and you can't see a thing. I have always wondered about the tall buildings needing to have all those lights on at night for the cleaners. I'd been brought up to turn lights off when leaving a room.

I agree. They don't have to shut all the lights off, just tone it down a bit. I use to live too close to the city and had forgotten how many stars where up there until I got away from it.