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.

[cold-type.livejournal.com]

Actually, I don't think the plane noise is that bad at all. Try moving to Southie or East Boston for comparison.

Second, the planes have to fly somewhere. I think it's a bit elitist to insist that planes avoid Davis Square and only fly over neighborhoods.

[cos]

Which suggests, perhaps, that someone who's really concerned about this collect some real data about flight paths and find out if, in fact, Davis got the short end of that stick due to complaints from other neighborhoods, or if they're just flying a reasonable amount over Davis based on needs & weather, or perhaps maybe Davis is getting less than its share because it has complained more than other areas. I honestly don't know, and I get the sense that most of the people talking about it don't know either. For those who don't care much about it, not knowing seems fine, but for those who want to raise a major issue about it, getting the information first would seem wise.

I'll say it less tactfully

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

Can we use the same form to urge the FAA to send planes over brown people and poor people instead of me and my upscale yuppie neighborhood?

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

a data point -- i was woken up somewhere between 5 and 6 am today by airplane noise, and counted four planes go over in short order. i've lived in the city a long time, and i'm used to city noise. this was not "noise as usual".

i don't particularly care if they route planes over somerville, i just wish they'd wait until a more reasonable hour to do it.

Re: I'll say it less tactfully

[spatch]

What?

Try moving to Southie or East Boston for comparison.

Here, let me translate for you:

"Try moving to one of the neighborhoods closer to Logan where there's a lot more planes taking off and landing close by."

There we go. Now put down the Offended Stick and ruminate over that for a moment or three.

[cold-type.livejournal.com]

Oops. I left out a word. I meant to say "fly over OTHER neighborhoods."

[kidsmokes.livejournal.com]

As a "brown" person, I didn't take it this way at all.

[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.

Re: I'll say it less tactfully

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

What?

I think you are trying to snark something you don't understand.

Allow me to explain this to you:

Routing is an issue of direction, not distance (unless you want to use the form to urge them to move Logan, in which case, good luck with that).

While you are good with your Google Maps and realize that those neighborhoods are in fact closer, they (and actually others) are on different routes. Part of your confusion may stem from the fact that the OP used neighborhoods closer as examples. I regret if I didn't clarify that for you.

Which route is selected can be controlled by the Big Shot Aviation People to a certain degree, and that is what the argument between Somerville, the FAA, and the other neighborhoods is over.

I can draw you a picture if you like, but look at the Logan runways, and then use your pen to draw a line 4 miles* from the end of those runways. See what neighborhoods the path flies over (South Dorchester, Ashmont, Revere, etc.)

The planes have to go somewhere. No one is arguing that Somerville should take more than their fare share.

What you are unaware of is that the other neighborhoods (most with a minority population higher and an average income lower than West Somerville) have also been complaining as vociferously about noise on the days when we aren't.

* The distance from the end of runway 33L to West Somerville.

[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

[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.

Re: I'll say it less tactfully

[spatch]

Oh, now come on! That's a completely unfair accusation to make.

I didn't even use Google Maps.

WAIT A MINUTE ARE YOU AGREEING WITH cold_type
MY WORLDVIEW IS IMPLODING BY THE SECOND
QUICK, MAUDE, GET THE SALT PILLS

[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.

[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.

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

I stand corrected.

I'd much rather spend my gold pieces on the +50 Sword of Righteous Anti-Fucktardism.

[shana-lyons.livejournal.com]

I'm envious. They woke me up at 6:10 this morning. Thank you to the OP for the reminder about the form. I submitted my complaint.

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.