Question

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

Does anybody know how much money the city of Somerville is paying out in attorney's fees/etc to continue this ridiculous lawsuit over airplane noise?

I ask this because in these harsh economic times, it seems to be a less than wise expenditure of money.

Comments

50 M, I think. Is that too much?

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

;-P

[zenala.livejournal.com]

Gah, that's really going forward at the city level? I had thought it was just some silly activist type group with nothing better to do...

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

Sound can be a pretty invasive issue; some folk deal with it better than others...

[zenala.livejournal.com]

I understand that, certainly--I'm sensitive to some noise, like drunken idiots or late-night parties, say--but planes are always background noise to me. What I don't get is why plane noise should be any different from heating oil trucks or garbage pick-up or lawnmowers/snowblowers or half a dozen other things that are to some degree useful enough to be worth putting up with.

Also, planes are hardly unlimited in where they can go:
http://www.wired.com/cars/futuretransport/magazine/17-03/ff_airspace
"the Federal Aviation Administration treats each plane as if it were a 2,000-foot-tall, 6- by 6-mile block lumbering through the troposphere"

Boston has an airport that can basically only be reached from most of the US by crossing over densely populated areas of the metro area. I would hope that the decision of which particular densely populated areas to fly over would be based on a combination of time, resource use, and safety concerns, rather than which people on the ground whine the loudest. Somerville is narrow enough that pretty much any plane that can be heard from the city is almost certainly also noticeable in Cambridge or Medford or both, and possibly even louder. Those planes passing over Davis Square can also be heard from Harvard Square.

Not nearly enough.

[dent42.livejournal.com]

Seriously, I've lived here before and since they opened that new damned runway, and the noise went up seriously once it was built, despite numerous promises they wouldn't have flight paths over Somerville. I swear some days there's one every 30 seconds. If they treat those things like 6 mile blocks, then they're digging 4 miles trenchs through the city of Somerville.

Re: Not nearly enough.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

despite numerous promises they wouldn't have flight paths over Somerville.

Can you cite any legally binding contracts to that effect?

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

Counter to previous poster, too much? I would rather they fix roads and staff the somerville libraries.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Agreed. I don't want to hear about a single city employee who has to be laid off because of this thing.

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

Seriously. I can think of a lot more, better uses for money than this stupid battle that can't be won...

[balsamicdragon.livejournal.com]

Sorry to devil's advocate, but the lawsuit may be a good investment. Fewer planes flying overhead = higher property values in Somerville = higher real estate taxes = more money for the city. Plus, if the lawsuit is already underway, it would be a huge waste to just abandon it. Better to try to settle with the airports, make some sort of deal that ends the lawsuit but reduces the number of planes.

Exactly....

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

I'd say that anyone who does not own property in Somerville should just STFU on this issue.

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

How about the INCREASE in property values because we're a 25-35 minute ride by public transit to a major international airport?

[ron_newman]

What I'm getting from all the posts on this subject is that the amount of noise varies greatly from one place to another, even in our small city. I'd love to know why. The noise does not bother me at Orchard and Day streets, but apparently it's unbearable in other areas just a few blocks away.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

It doesn't bug me on the top of Ten Hills.

[bobobb.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure, but I live closer to Ball square and my house gets shaken to the gills at 5am on some mornings when the planes are coming in. My first night here after moving in I almost put the house back on the market. After a couple days though I got used to it, rarely hear it any more.

[303-5.livejournal.com]

Planes are following a particular low-altitude flight path from runway 33L directly over Somerville. The frequency of these flights has increased several fold since 2006. The current trajectory is low enough that distances of say half a mile may make a significant difference as to whether you are directly under the flight path. Though I suspect the particular configuration of one's home may make a bigger difference--e.g., top or bottom floor, brick or wood, etc.

As this area was known for being on the wrong side of politics (i.e., the left side) of the last federal administration, it seems the FAA leaders had little interest in treating us fairly--e.g., they weren't eager to take calls from Rep. Capuano and they seemingly wouldn't spend a nickle to do anything that might benefit this area. Whether or how soon we may start to see a shift in FAA policy under the Obama administration is tough to say, though it won't happen overnight, as major cabinet positions are still being filled.

It was bad yesterday, but today?

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

If I listen closely, I can hear the planes landing and using their thrust reversers at Logan. But only if I stand outside on my back porch and listen hard. Yesterday, however, I concede that it was the loudest I can recall in a long time. And I think that is why so much hullabaloo erupted here.

[tt02144.livejournal.com]

FYI....if you're looking to curtail all of the 'less than wise expenditures of money' by the city, you could be buried in paperwork for a thousand years!
And I do believe that the 'whiners' who complain about the airplane noise don't do it when they are flying in or out of Logan Airport.
Forget the lawsuit, it can't and won't change. People want convenience, i.e., their choice of 40 flights a day to NY and 25 to Washington D.C. There's nowhere else for the planes to go.

[davelew.livejournal.com]

There are other places for the planes to go. They could go the same place they went two+ years ago: banking over the Atlantic Ocean where the noise is not as significant.

[kennygster.livejournal.com]

The noise is bad where I am. It is especially unbearable in the summer when the windows are open and it is hard to enjoy our yard when the planes are constantly going overhead (can't hold a conversation without being interrupted).

The FAA was not truthful with Somerville when it built the runway and I am glad that Somerville is standing up to them. I don't know the exact cost but a couple $ per person (~75k residents in Somerville) does not seem like a high price to pay for a better quality of life.

[zenala.livejournal.com]

The noise is bad where I am sometimes, but I don't notice the plane noise any more than the heating oil trucks, the garbage pick-up, or the lawnmowers or snowblowers, emergency vehicles, or trains. It's a city. There's noise. Do you really think your conversations are more important than the safety and efficiency of the planes? Every time your conversation gets interrupted, think about the fuel that plane is saving. Do you care about the depletion of natural resources? No, I'm serious. Every plane banking out over the Atlantic is using up extra fuel. If you think your personal needs trump the efficient use of natural resources, then that's your opinion, but let's just make sure we're being consistent here, ok? I like to keep the thermostat at 72 instead of 68, but in that case, I'm the one personally responsible for the extra cost. By wanting planes to use up extra fuel for your conversational convenience, you're not the one personally responsible for the cost. That cost will go to all the passengers flying future flights who have to pay more and also spend more time since there will be more delay. It's not just the cost of the lawsuit itself. It's the other costs that will be added on to things if they get anywhere with it. This is a large complex system we're talking about here, with the differing needs and desires of millions of people competing with the laws of physics and economics and simple geography. There's a big world outside of your conversational needs.

oh geez

[solarpanda.livejournal.com]

Is there a contest on snowy days of who can make the most incendiary post to garner the most comments that I should know about?

Can't we all just hold hands and be friends? :p

[jodi.livejournal.com]

as some others have mentioned, there is more to urban noise that just the planes.
with my windows open in the summer, i notice some planes but not all; i'm not usually awakened by them or interrupted by them.
all told, i find the constant honking of horns and the sirens more annoying than twice the planes would be. i can't sue to get rid of that, though, because sometimes i need to rent a car and i might need an ambulance someday just like i regularly use those airplanes and that conveniently located urban airport. also, when the commuter rail goes by the buildings i use at tufts, i have to stop speaking and wait for the train to pass. i also can't sue to stop the trains because, really, i enjoy their presence and plan to use them multiple times in the near future.
i guess i will just have go on enjoy my centrally located life in a major urban center. viva la metro.

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

Seriously.

When I lived in San Francisco, the airport wasn't even in the City! It was a few towns away in Burlingame. At that time, there was one city bus that went out there something like once an hour and took forever - BART didn't have tracks out there yet. And cab fare from downtown to the airport - in the late 90's - was $45.

Yeah, I'll take a little noise to have a nearby, convenient airport.

Planes don't make nearly as much noise as trains do. Ever been to Chicago? I went to an estate sale near Wrigley in a house that was almost directly underneath the El. That was one hell of a lot louder than any plane I've ever heard, and trains went by much more often than planes do; in the time I was in this house, trains went over at least four times.

I live in the city because I like not having to drive to get milk. I like that I walk a few blocks and get on a train that will take me anywhere in the metropolitan area, including an airport that will take me anywhere in the world.

If I wanted quiet, I'd move to the suburbs.

[tt02144.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing that the planes that 'bank over the Atlantic' to avoid Somerville will then go over Winthrop, East Boston, Lynn, Nahant........