Planes

[billharnois.livejournal.com]

Annoyed with all of the loud planes flying over Davis Square lately? File a noise complaint at:

http://www.massport.com/logan/airpo_noise_form.aspx

Somerville is currently suing the FAA for the 3X increase in planes over the past 2 years, and noise complaint reports supposedly help their case.

Comments

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

Can we use the same form if we couldn't care less about airplane noise, but are getting a little bored of people who can't seem to cope with one of the features of living in a high-traffic urban-ish area?

[agnosticoracle.livejournal.com]

LOL - Yes, that would be wonderful!!!

[kidsmokes.livejournal.com]

Seriously. It's not that bad, I've never been woken up because of it or anything.

[i-custard.livejournal.com]

To be honest, when I was reading this post a plane was flying overhead and I only noticed it because of this post. Seriously, I'm a light sleeper and I never notice them.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Annoyed with all of the loud planes flying over Davis Square lately?

No, but I get annoyed every time I read another goddamn post about airplane noise.

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

Word.

[ifotismeni]

+1

[m00n.livejournal.com]

+2

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

ditto.

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

Yes, let's put on our tinfoil helmets and buy a +70 outrage thong and ask Massport why planes just can't levitate and stop bothering us.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

They can. They just only use that feature over other neighborhoods.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Ahem, that's a "+70 Thong of Outrage".

Also, you should get a Black Tinfoil Helm; it's +10 against Common Sense, but you have to fail your san check for it to work.

To say explicitely what the various snarks implied here...

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

The OP is imagining thing. That's what you guys mean, right? If so, have the balls to say it clearly. In the meanwhile, it looks like Curtatone is also imagining things, since they are suing the FAA over this.

I have an alternative explanation for all the folks here who say they cannot hear the planes: Perhaps you hearing is going. Yes, earbuds can do that to you. It will become painfully evident later in life.
There are pretty noisy planes flying over Somerville every minute or so AS I WRITE.

It is noisier than usual today now that I think about it.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

I will concede that. But the amount noise we hear varies depending on the weather even if they are overhead.

Lo and behold, the wind has been out of the NW all day, so I'm not surprised they are using 33L. And I'm not surprised there was another post.

I suspect today may be just one of those days when the noise is louder.

Re: To say explicitely what the various snarks implied here...

[ethanfield.livejournal.com]

As I've talked to people around the city about this, anecdotal evidence suggests that some neighborhoods get hit harder than others. Specifically, I think neighborhoods on hill-slopes facing the airport seem to get the worst of it. I've met folks in Ten Hills, East side of Winter Hill, and Prospect Hill whose babies were constantly being awoken by the noise. But I lived in Magoun Square last year (west side of Winter Hill) and hardly ever heard a thing. I wonder, too, if people on the top floor of an exposed apartment building get it worse than 1st-floor folks in a denser neighborhood. Anyway, just because you don't hear it doesn't mean others don't. And just because you've learned to ignore it doesn't mean a 6-month-old can, and lack of sleep (for both kids and their parents) has public health implications.

Also: I don't think the argument was that the FAA should direct them over other towns (like Revere, Dot & Southie) but instead to direct them over the ocean (or just to have fewer flights, period). The FAA's party line is that flights are directed over Somerville only when the wind direction makes that runway a better choice. However, the tripling of the flights led some folks to think that maybe it wasn't just about wind. I was told (unofficially) that there may be a financial/logistical impetus to use the route over Somerville.

I share the environmental justice concern (about directing pollution to areas where low-income and people of color live). On the other hand, East Somerville arguably gets hit with the consequences of fly-overs much worse than Davis, and that neighborhood already has huge environmental justice concerns: a large low-income immigrant population, traffic from 28 and 93, diesel train corridors, much higher lung cancer and heart disease rates than state averages. Not all of Somerville shares Davis Square's demographics.

Re: To say explicitely what the various snarks implied here...

[studeronomy.livejournal.com]

If the sound of planes is so subtle that a hipster who is slowly losing their hearing due to earbuds can't hear it, it's probably not as bad as all that.

[davelew.livejournal.com]

According to my decibel meter, the plane noise is close to the level where OSHA says that extended exposure can lead to hearing loss, 80 decibels.

As for those of you who say we live in an urban environment and should be used to noise, maybe you should try walking half a mile from Davis Square. There are plenty of residential areas and one-way streets that are NOT noisy, (except on days like today when Massport breaks their promise about runway 33L not increasing plane traffic over Somerville). During the 40 minutes when I sat on my front porch measuring sound levels and taking notes, 15 cars drove by and 23 jets flew overhead. The people who have a problem don't live on busy streets, where the jets don't change things. The people who have problems are the ones who bought property on quiet streets a few years ago while believing Massport that the new runway under construction wouldn't increase flights over Davis Square.

Finally, about the issue on routing vs. distance, both are important, but one of the major drivers of noise in Davis Square is the fact the planes are noisier when they're turning, and the standard flight path has the planes flying NW up the Mystic River, then doing a 90-degree turn over Davis Square before flying off to the southwest. You can watch flight paths out of Logan at http://www4.passur.com/bos.html (looking at around 13:43 today at 10X speed shows a long string of planes taking off from runway 33L then banking left over Davis Square).

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

You're completely wrong.

According to OSHA, the cut-off is 8 continuous hours at 90 decibels.

http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=standards&p_id=9735

The plane noise isn't continuous either.

And anyone who buys property in an urban area- never mind one that is less than 2 miles from a major international airport- and expects quiet really isn't all that bright.

But hey, let's back things up at Logan and cause air traffic to back up across the entire country just so we won't be inconvenienced by a little noise.

You are right. Many turn West

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

around the Davis Sq area. Cannot see too well on the map, but it's consistent with the amount of noise.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

That's a pretty cool link! I used to use FlightAware to see what was overhead, but this one is neater because it updates in real time. I'm not sure I agree that planes are noisier when turning, although many of the larger (international transatlantic) flights departing in the evening are substantially louder.

[avjudge]

I'm with those who say that quiet residential streets in a city shouldn't be noisy; mine isn't except when the planes come overhead.

For those saying the planes don't bother them, I can only say they bother me, are loud enough that when one's overhead I can't talk to someone outside if he's not next to me (like today when my husband was just 15 feet above me on the roof), and HAVE woken up my neighbor's four-year-old (last summer). They regualarly keep me from falling back asleep at 6am on summer mornings when they're coming over.

I think Davis Square is not the right forum to discuss this; the noise there is a LOT less than it is a mile closer to the airport here by Winter Hill, or on Spring Hill. And in East Somerville it's even worse.

For those who think we should take our share of planes, or that the planes have to come this way because of the wind, well, they didn't before 2 years ago! Until the new runway opened, going back at least 30 years, planes came over only briefly after storms when the NW winds were strongest. Now they come over for days on end.

Massport swore up and down that the new runway would not change traffic patterns when the towns to the west sued to stop it. They lied. As stated, traffic in this direction has tripled since the new runway opened. Not because of safety, or community concerns, but because of "operational convenience."

Anne

[fmmodzelewski.livejournal.com]

Who gives a crap if its not as noisy as southie or eastie. Screw them this is a Davis Square board.

And if you don't think the complaining of airplane noise, perhaps you should take a similar a stance when you get robbed or raped. After all those things just happen in the "city". Dont report it to the cops you pussy.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

The question, really, is what is to be done about it? The runway was extended because it allowed runway to continue to serve a steady stream of traffic even when the wind was from the northwest rather than forcing the planes to sit on the runway (thus incurring delays all across the east coast). Given the highly charged nature of the controversy I think you can be absolutely assured that the planes are sent over the outer harbor whenever it is physically possible to do so.

One thing I can say for certain, having lived in Savin Hill/Dorchester, is that there are a lot of other neighborhoods in the Boston area, mostly poorer than Somerville, who have it a lot worse than we do.

At any rate, the only way to really solve this problem in a way that doesn't just push the burden onto some other neighborhood, is to make people fly less. Investment in Amtrak anyone??

[anyee.livejournal.com]

Is there anywhere I can complain to about the helicopters surrounding the Fenway? I accept that the game and its visitors make noise. No problem. Tossing in an AC or fan covers up the game, cheering, bottles breaking, etc. But when 6 or more (really not exaggerating) helicopters are hovering over an EMPTY STADIUM because the Sox are doing something, somewhere, it's ridiculous. Why does every news station in NE need to take the same damn overhead shot of the Fenway using a helicopter? Why the the helicopters need to sit there for an hour at a time?

I don't mind transient helicopter flights to the hospitals or even one for the duration of the news conference. It's enough to make a girl want to buy a laser pointer. (Note: the author of this post enjoys not being in jail to not actually do this.)

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

Your icon rocks the fucking house- especially for posts like these.