Stop the Noise!

Weary of festival noise? Don't relax just yet, there are a couple more events in the calendar that may have you going for the ear plugs.

The music from the last few events could be heard for many blocks and must have been deafening to immediate neighbors. As it happens, there is a section of the Municipal Code that addresses loud sound and sets 100 feet as the outer limit beyond which it constitutes a disturbance of the peace.

Sec. 10:18-3 (d) of the Municipal Code, Morals and Conduct:

"No person shall play, use, operate or permit to be played, used or operated a radio receiving set, vehicle radio, musical instrument, phonograph or other machine or device for the production or the reproduction of sound with louder volume than is necessary for convenient hearing of the person so playing, using or operating such instrument or device and such persons who are voluntary listeners thereto, or in such manner as to disturb the peace, quiet and comfort of neighboring inhabitants or the public. The use or operation of any such instrument, radio, phonograph, machine or device in such a manner as to be plainly audible at a distance of one hundred (100) feet from the building, structure, vehicle or place in which it is used or operated, shall be prima facie evidence of a violation of this Article. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to prohibit playing by a band or orchestra in a hall, building or in the open air."

This noise rule could be invoked if the public demanded it. On a smaller scale, I'm sure a lot of us have those neighbors who can't clean their cars without blasting out their favorite music. As someone who likes to listen to the radio on earphones outside, I really hate it when somebody turns up their trunk sound system so high that I can't hear my radio at all.

It's too bad when people put personal indulgence over civility and when entrepreneurs disregard noise regulations to the point where all the windows shake in nearby homes. Maybe the summer of 2014 will be less nerve-wracking if these noise rules are enforced.

--Bernice

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