Airplane noise Friday

[righteousness-1.livejournal.com]

Someone posted a comment that aircraft noise had increased over Davis recently. Today, I was sick in bed and I thought I was going to go insane. An aircraft flew over my house every minute, no kidding, all day long from 5am this morning.

I'd really appreciate it if fellow Davis Square readers who dislike noise especially from aircraft could make a complaint to Logan. Please don't flame the thread if you think airplanes are cute or you simply love noise.

Unless we speak out, even a little, no one will give a damn. I spoke to the airport people and they said they will act and possibly re-route or stagger flight paths but only if they get complaints.
Apparently, ever since a new runway went in, they have received an increase in complaints. 
http://www.massport.com/logan/airpo_noise_comcom.html
Thanks.

Call (617) 561-3333
or
This is the link to report a complaint: http://www.massport.com/logan/airpo_noise_form.aspx

Comments

[dani-namaste.livejournal.com]

It's one thing to say that neighbors are entitled to a certain amount of peace and quiet; however, there's a big difference between, say, college kids having loud excessive parties until 4am or cars going down the street blasting whatever kind of music they think the world should be listening to, and the noise caused by some of the same conveniences that MAKE city living so eco-friendly, for example, easy access to public transportation, or relative proximity to the airport. These conveniences cause a certain amount of noise, and if that level of noise is "beyond your threshold," then yes, you should reconsider city living.

For example, I live about a 20 minute walk to the train, but it runs about a block behind my house, which means I have to hear the train every time it goes by when the window is open. It's annoying, yes, but I deal with it, because I like living close to a T stop.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

Diesel railroad engines are not eco-friendly. They have virtually no pollution control systems.

If they electrified the commuter rail, it would be better for the environment, not to mention much better for passengers and cheaper to operate, since electric trains can accelerate faster, meaning shorter trip times and lower labor costs.

[dani-namaste.livejournal.com]

I do agree with that, but being able to take the subway as opposed to taking my car to most places offers many benefits, one of them being that it's a more eco-friendly option than taking a car - since I'm sharing the ride with many other people as opposed to just going myself.

That said, yes - electric trains would be better.

[theora.livejournal.com]

I agree with that...to an extent.

But. Would you be okay with the airplane noise increasing even more? How about if it increased to a level similar to East Boston or, apparently, South Boston? Or take the trains. I think you said you're going to be living near the commuter rail? What if they finally decide to run a proper service (I know, not gonna happen, but anyway) and suddenly you're getting trains every 15-20 minutes? Is there a point where you wouldn't be able to take it any more?

And, you said you think music from cars is a different sort of problem. I live in east Somerville, and out here boom cars and honking horns are a regular feature. At the worst times of day, it's every 2-3 minutes for the boom cars. Literally. For horns, I hear so many a day I lose count. Most days I'll hear at least one after 11pm and before 7am, and roughly once a week I'll get woken up in the middle of the night. And this isn't a big, trafficky road a la Washington St--it's a tree-lined, low speed limit, residential street.

Nobody cares. There are plenty of people who would tell me that this is normal noise for a city, and if I don't like it I should move out.

Noise pollution is a serious thing which is very often trivialized. This "it's a city, stfu or leave" sort of comment is one of the ways it's trivialized. I don't know whether you understand how, well, frantic it makes people feel, to be subjected to noise beyond their control. I am on edge most of the time I am at home. It takes me a good half an hour to relax enough to get to sleep (that's if I'm not disturbed again by a horn). Maybe that's why I'm more sympathetic to the original poster--because I understand the desperation, and how the desperation is compounded when someone tells you that because it doesn't bother them, it's all your problem.

[in fact, a car has taken up residence down the street right now, and I've got to stop writing because I won't be able to think straight till it's gone]

My point is not, OMG someone's upset, stop the planes NOW! My point is that this attitude of it's the city, what do you expect is just sneering and dismissive, and symptomatic of the low priority placed on preventing noise pollution. IMHO, it should be recognized that the noise is damaging to people, and that should be balanced against the benefits of the service, which has happened a bit in the comments here, and probably happens in real life, but did not happen in the comment I replied to. Hence why I replied. It's a dismissive, ignorant, bullshit argument, and when I see it I'll call people on it.

There's also reason to consider the health effects of noise, even when people think they're used to it. This article from the Seattle Times (http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=noise21&date=20030521) has a good summary of some of the studies, as well as the general issues involved.

[dani-namaste.livejournal.com]

You make some excellent points, and I agree with most of them. What I will say in response is a) the relative lack of noise in my area is one of the reasons I live here and not another area of the city where cars/motorcycles/etc are more of an issue (although I tell you, there are some crazies out here in summer!), and it's also one of the reasons I am moving to Watertown in August (aside from the fact that I love it there). I can deal with the noise, but I do actually get trains going by my back porch every 15-20 minutes, which is quite distracting when I'm trying to work from home all day. Today, in fact, I had to shut all the windows and turn on the AC because the city thought it would be nice to chip a tree two doors down from me at 8 in the morning.

So I hear you. On all counts. But I do think that it's a balance when you choose to live in a city - a certain amount of noise is part of life. And Somerville, especially, gets louder in the summer, if the two years I've been here is any indication.