Noise, Noise, Noise. Gotham’s New Noise Pollution Rules To Placate Miserable Whiners

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Subtitled: Speaking of hearing, I can’t take too much loud music…Noise, but I can’t hear anything. Just guitars screaming, screaming, screaming. Some guy screaming in a leather jacket. Owwww!

Almost 120,000 New York City residents who called in noise complaints in the first 5 months of this year. That’s 789 a day or 1 every 2 minutes.

Breakdown as follows:

So the politicians, in an attempt to pacify the masses, have proposed more noise regulations and listed some new public enemies:

[quote]
[ul][li]Bars and nightclubs at which music is “plainly audible” from 15 feet beyond a club’s property line, except when doors are opened and closed as customers go in and out. []Dogs that bark for more than 10 minutes during the day and five minutes after dark. []Engine-revving vehicles “plainly audible” from 100 feet away and motorcycles from 200 feet away. []Mister Softee and other food carts that are “plainly audible” from 50 feet away. []Car alarms that blare for three minutes or more and house alarms that sound for 15 minutes or more. Car alarms set off by anything other than “direct physical contact” with the car also would be banned. []Air conditioners louder than 80 decibels when measured from 3 feet or more away. []Mowing lawns before 8 a.m. and after 7 p.m. on weekdays and before 9 a.m. and after 6p.m. on weekends.[/ul][/li][/quote]

Newsflash: The large number of people calling in complaints about noise live in a city! – A very large and densely populated one at that.
(Conspiracy theory #3: Perhaps it’s not that many people - Just some old lady with 311 in her speed dial)

You want quiet and solitude? Why not move to an 8 acre farmhouse in Croton or relocate to the Carolinas. I realize I’m taking a very unpopular stance here – and I’m certain I’ll be reminded about uncivil behavior and the health hazards of excessive noise. But speaking as someone who’s noise tolerant & couldn’t fathom calling in a complaint; All I want to know is:

Are people’s lives so miserable that they have nothing better to do than complain about their neighbor’s racket? What’s next: a ban on fire engine sirens?

2

That’s what happens when you’re an adult now.

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The city of Davis, CA (just west of Sacramento) has a “no noise pollution” ordinance. Back in 1994 (I think), a woman was cited by city police for violating the noise ordinace by snoring too loudly.

I can no longer find links to any of the news stories at the time, but the event is discussed on The City of Davis Official Web Site.

4

Dear God - What a place! I guess there’s no better way of showing how good we have it here then to compare it to how extreme it is out there.

Couple things missing from the OP:

  1. The Mr. Softee Website - With a grainy wav version of the jingle playing and a link to the sheet music. (I had no idea the song had lyrics!)
  2. Correction: The last line should read: What’s next: a ban on fire engine sirens and a call to tear down all the El’s throughout the city?