Hey Judd,
Try doing more of your airbrushing in ACR. The spot removal tool is perfect for portrait shots. Once you have spots cleared up, adjust for color and light and so on. Then open in PS, duplicate the layer, and add a surface blur to the top layer. Set the sliders to ~10 for both and adjust to taste. It'll look a bit fake, but then you can adjust the opacity of the blurred layer so it looks more natural. Then flatten and do whatever additional processing you need.
And I know what you mean about street lights. Last night we were out walking and I saw a great scene with the nearly full moon and Venus (I think) shining down on a small pond with a fountain. It would have made a great long exposure image except for the damn street light behind me lighting up the foreground.