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In Cambridge, some residents are irritated by the sound of leaf blowers--as opposed to all the other noises one can hear in Cambridge. So, the City Council is spending its valuable time debating when and where the dastardly leaf blowers can be used.
According to Matt Dunning at the Cambridge Chronicle, the City Council spent the "better part of two hours" discussing how strong bans on leaf blowers should be. Exceptions to the ban kept popping up.
Finally, Marjorie Decker tried to bring some common sense to the table: "It seems a bit absurd,” Decker said. “I mean, what else to do we ban? Crying babies? Lawn mowers? I’m not trying to live in a silent city, and I’m not trying to live in a quiet suburb.”
Thank you, Councilor Decker. This debate sounds similar to Beacon Hill residents trying to shut off the chirping that notifies blind walkers when they can cross the street, only crunchier.
For some reason, leaf blowers tend to make people in the Boston area huff and puff. Recently, H2oTown posted a video of a guy who went crackers at workers who were blowing leaves off another guy's lawn.
Image of a leaf blower from xttols.com.
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I'm glad this is the most important docket on the Cambridge council's schedule.
Sounds like a case of "Santa Monica Envy".
Sorry to go into all caps, but the phrase "you live in a city so you should expect TO HAVE SUBSTANDARD QUALITY OF LIFE" DRIVES ME UP THE WALL.
Noise Pollution Takes Toll on Health and Happiness
Everyday Noise Can Overstimulate the Body's Stress Response
By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 5, 2007; HE05
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....
"Everyday noise is under the radar, yet it affects everyone's life," said Louis Hagler, a retired physician in Oakland, Calif., and an advocate for quiet, who recently published in the Southern Medical Journal a review of studies linking noise exposures to health problems. "We don't say to people, 'You just have to learn to live with sewage in your water,' " Hagler said in an interview. "Why should we tolerate sewage coming into our ears?"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/04/AR2007060401430_pf.html
I don't think anyone is saying that if you live in a city you should expect to have a shitty life.
That being said, if you have a choice to live in an area like Cambridge or an area like Dover, you have to expect that Cambridge would be slightly louder than Dover.
Again, no one thinks people living in cities are destined for a shitty existence, but almost everyone would agree that people living in cities would be exposed to a much noisier environment.
Agreed. The population density alone guarantees more noise, and, maybe it's just me, but I don't have problems with leaf blowers. I'd rather hear them than, say, jackhammers.