August 7, 2007
In Defense of the Ice Cream Man
On the same day that the Herald runs a story about a real problem involving rising violence in the school system, readers also get to hear more griping about a fake problem – ice-cream men who are too noisy.
Michele McPhee quotes one woman as saying, "You talk about road rage. I have ice cream truck rage.” She then added, “You think it’s a silly thing, loud ice cream truck music, until you live it."
Are they pushing something else in the ice cream? If the answer is no, then there's no problem. This is a city. Cities are noisy places. Sometimes, at night, you can even hear people talking. You might even hear a siren. It happens. If the worst you are hearing is the ice cream man, then you do not have problems.
If you take the ice-cream man out of the equation, then City Councilor Sal LaMattina, who is backing this measure, simply wants police to do a better job with enforcing noise ordinances. That in itself is a good idea, as long as he goes after the ice cream trucks as much as he goes after anything else noisy.
We liked what Barstool Sports had to say about the situation the last time LaMattina brought it up:
Today in Boston City Hall which is located in Boston which is reputed to be one of America's great cities, the City Council will be spending time debating ice cream trucks rather than say stuff like violence or housing or property tax rates or job creation or transportation. You know, because ice cream trucks and their blaring music of death is why Bostonians need City Councilors.
Somewhere, Clint Howard is annoyed. Image from Amazon.
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while i agree that sometimes city hall argues over ridiculous issues, i have to disagree about the ice cream truck issue. it's not just a question of noise, but of pollution, and child safety as well.
if one ice cream truck drove by my house once a day it would be fine. but there are at least 3 trucks that include my street on their route. and i have to wonder what is going to when the ice cream truck drives by at 11pm? why are kids awake at that hour and eating ice cream? i think ice cream trucks should be a suburban thing, not a city thing. there is a convenience store at the end of every street if you really want ice cream so badly. i mean really, kids running into the street for ice cream, who thought of that brilliant idea? on top of that, it would be an environmentally friendly gesture to take the ice cream trucks off the city streets.
Those are all good points. I never thought of the kids-running-in-the-middle-of-the-road factor.
But if your Ice Cream Guy is going around at 11pm, then you definitely ought to ask him if he's selling something else besides Rocky Road!
Sorry to be cranky, but I get to stay up Thursday-Sunday until 3 a.m. because my neighbors have decided to stay up until 3 a.m.? Oh yeah, I live in a city so I just have to deal with it.
Noise Pollution Takes Toll on Health and Happiness
A growing body of evidence confirms that the chronic din of construction crews, road projects, jet traffic and, yes, those ubiquitous leaf blowers, is taking a toll on our health and happiness.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/04/AR2007060401430.html
OMG. My in overlooked a beautiful playground (near Green St. T). My ex worked at home. There was one ice cream truck that parked outside, directly under our windows *every*. *freaking*. *day*, from 9 AM till after dark, playing the same song, over and over and over very very very loudly. Play your music, truck, FINE! But, the truck is just too damned loud! It was louder than the subway and the Acela which were less than 100 feet away from our house. It was louder than the children playing. Louder than traffic and airplanes overhead.
And the song was annoying. It went like this.
To the tune of "She'll be comin' 'round the mountain"
Da-na-NA-NA-nananana, na-na ("hey!") Da-na-NA-NA-NA-nanana, na-na (dog barking - twice)
DA-na-na-na-na-na, da-NA-na-na-na
DA-na, da-NA-na, DA NA.
Da-na-na-NA (police whistle - twice)
Da-na-na-NA (hand claps - twice)
Da-na-NA-NA-NA-na-na, na na... da-na-na-na-na!
Na-na-Da NA-NA-nananana, ("hey!")
and so on.
Note that this was 2 years ago and I still can't make the sound go away.
Huh?
Enforcing noise ordinances by chasing after ice cream trucks? And I suppose teenagers blaring their noise at max volume or parties by uppercrust snobs who'd like you to know who's better than you are mere whispers in the wind. And of course I suppose that violence, public transportation, education, drug-use, etc. just don't have that zing anymore for us to care about them more.
Le sigh. People are idiots.