People need to sleep somewhere & the "bums" you speak of these days are not those "rubbies" of yesteryear - many are displaced by a lack of jobs or suffer from mental illness that American society refuses to acknowledge, let alone treat. No money, no safety net, yes, you'll get asked to help out. Of course, there are those who spoil it for everyone else.

As far as your wavelength arguments, you seem to be grasping at straws to diss LED. As a result of buying cheap Chinese lights, yes, those do spill light "sideways". American designed/made streetlights don't - & cost more. Guess which ones cities buy? Blame ORDOT for failing to enforce its own beam-pattern rules for streetlighting.

As far as bicycle lighting, bright cycle lights modulate the LED in order to a)draw attention to the cyclist  b) keep from blending in with other lighting c) extend battery life. Confusing the most common bike lighting with a street light is nonsense unless Eugene has elected to flash its streetlights.