Residents along Tyler Court won a battle Thursday against the Durham City Council and the Durham Police Department. The battle was over two additional street lights the city proposed to install along the residential street.

David Chasteen, along with other residents who opposed the new additions, came to speak their case at the city's work session.

"Please do not ask me to put up with street lights that invade my yard, my home and indeed my bedroom every night," Chasteen said.

The ordinance, which started in 1997, gives police officers the ability to recommend streets in Durham for additional lights. The street lighting program has helped to install thousands of streets lights around the Bull City.

Chasteen cited studies from The National Cancer Institute and from the Department of Justice that said street lights don't help reduce crime and nighttime lights cause cancer.

"The study by the Department of Justice says they do make people feel safer, but it does not reduce crime," Chasteen said. "The National Cancer Institute study says there is a strong link between exposure to nighttime light and increased risk for breast cancer."

In the end the council sided with the residents and said if citizens don't want the street lights they aren't going to force them.

While Tyler Court may have won their battle, neighbors who live along Pennsylvania Avenue in Durham also voiced their frustrations to the council. The street received four additional street lights back in May, but residents don't welcome the additional light.

"We now have seven street lights on our block and that is absurd," resident Ned Kinnington said. "We don't have nighttime anymore; it's always daytime."

The council did say they will review the current ordinance and find ways to remove the street lights if enough residents want the street lights taken out.