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.

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

Thank you. There are certain laws of aerodynamics at work here and if the whiners had their way, Logan would be shut down completely, rather than having planes fly over their neighborhood. The FAA and air traffic controllers just don't wake up some morning and say "you know, I really feel like fucking the residents of Somerville up the ass today" but you would think, based on the comments of the NIMBYs, that this is precisely what is happening.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

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

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?

Re: Not nearly enough.

[miss-lisa-ma.livejournal.com]

Same promises they made in public meetings in Chelsea, et. al., before they opened the new runway. Might take a while, but some of can prob find the background.

[georgy.livejournal.com]

Actually, Logan would only have transatlantic flights that wake up no one except the fishes :-)

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

I don't get it either (and also tend to think occasional plane noise is one of the tradeoffs for the privilege of living near an airport), but apparently a lot of people don't process it as background noise.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

The transatlantic flights spend some time over the city on landing, and maybe on takeoff as well.

[georgy.livejournal.com]

Yes, I more or less know that. Was trying to extract humor from this tired old debate :-)

[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.

[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.

Exactly....

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

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

Re: Not nearly enough.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

As this community has so recently seen, promises by one group to another about their business practices aren't always kept, and, usually, the promise breakers cite exigent circumstances.

[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.

[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.

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

It all depends on which way the wind is blowing, yes.

[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?

[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.