So yeah, this is great, but the real noise sources are harder to address, because they involve approaching a whole group of people, not a lonely person in a car.
They just laughed at her and kept fooling around with the firecrackers.
Next day I asked why didn't she call 311. She had been doing so for months, the police never showed up. The resolution of the incident was "not enough evidence found to sustain the complaint", or something along those lines.
But many people have one year leases they don't want to break, or don't want to roll the dice just to move to an equally noisy place, or don't want to move and have to pay 30% more.
But I think it's safe to say the root cause is lack of resources.
Not sure what kind of performance you are expecting in residential pedestrian streets. I've seen plenty of customs go WOT through a 25mph zone. No other reason to do that except piss people off.
From about June to August all you hear is mortars. Boom. Boom Boom. Drives dogs insane, wakes up children, it's terrible.
Oh, they are only legal during the 24 hours around the 4th of July and New Years-how do you even enforce that? New Years is just a 2 hour gun shooting session anyway...
Having an above ground train that isn't deafeningly loud is a huge improvement to the neighborhood, and I wonder why we don't think more about making new quiet above ground lines, instead of drilling +$2B per mile tunnels. I understand that people may find them to be an eyesore, but the noise is the top issue by far. With 100 years of new technology since the last ones were built, we should be able to make huge improvements in this area.
the city, any city belongs to everyone, pedestrians, “redneck gang”, etc
So why is one allowed when the other is not when they seem to arise from such similar contexts?
First of all, while one might feel like its use is a 'bigtime no-no', the use of 'wetback' is still very popular in certain segments. So obviously it's only disallowed in certain contexts, e.g. around people who don't hold to that particular kind of racism, in public forums, in professional settings, etc. Among other words it's used every day as a rallying cry of the anti-migrant movement in North America, and as such has a lot of negative power.
'Redneck' on the other hand has been embraced by a 'grassroots' conservative backlash movement, which now has a certain amount of political power. So while originally it marginalized a class of people: the poor rural class that have less access to adequate education or health care, and show many of the same generational problems that visible minorities do; now the term also refers to a whole bunch of definitely not marginalized middle-class Americans. People whose grandparents would never have self-described as 'Redneck'.
These new, political 'rednecks' backlash against anything they consider liberal, including efforts to help or defend the marginalized they purport to represent.
So now in some contexts the use of the term is not only allowed, but encouraged.
But where is that liberal society that's supposed to be defending the marginalized against bad words? Well, the liberals are hypocrites, just like most everyone else in this world. They'll jump on any chance to derogate 'the other' as long as it's fashionable to do so. They certainly won't come to the defense of the 'rednecks' while it's such a convenient rally cry against Trump voters.
So it's us-versus-them politics at play here, and as in any political game the marginalized get trod on by both sides.
Because giving chase to vehicles presents a huge public safety danger on city streets. Unless you're talking about a suspect of a major violent crime, especially when the infraction suggests drag racing tendencies, the police in many jurisdictions are very limited from pursuit.
With the crime wave NYC is experiencing, is there not more important crimes to focus on?
Honestly quite sick of the ever more sterile, dull, and gentrified cities we inhabit (I live in London).
This might be dull and boring to you, but that's probably because these externalities do not significantly affect you. If you want to seek (loud and dangerous) thrills you have almost unlimited opportunities today to pursue them.
of course they are, but we accept them because of the negative effects that you mention.
From Wikipedia. Not sure how limits on pollution are anything like that.
Woah now, why is there anymore “toxic fumes” than any typical exhaust? Are you confused and think the louder the exhaust the dirtier the exhaust? While this can certainly be true, the muffler has nothing to do with emissions. That’s the catalytic converter. A loud exhaust simply removes some sound baffles so the air moving has less restriction. It should not pollute more if they’ve not modified the catalytic converter.
The most Onion bit of news I've seen is NIMBYs who buy condos next to a music venues. Then complain/litigate about noise till it gets shut down.
This is a defeatist attitude. You could have made the same comment a hundred years ago except replace "noise" with "smog", yet clean air regulations improved the lives of billions. Cities aren't necessarily loud; most of the noise comes from cars.
Tokyo is also amazingly quiet for its size and density. Just one block away from any major thoroughfare will be pleasantly quiet, but can have a lively high street with shopping, restaurants, bars, and cafes (called "sho-ten-gai").
A long time ago, I read a study about noise from high speed roads (freeways, expressways, auto-bahn, etc.) and the effect on people who live near them. They have (statistically significant) higher levels of stress, and all of the negative mental and physical effects that come with it. This is one of the major benefits from using special low-noise cement or asphalt, or trees / shrubs / barriers to reduce noise effects on people who live very close.
Finally, I'm excited for a future where more cars, trucks, and buses are electric. It will certainly make cities more quiet and livable.
What makes you think electric cars are not going to be modified? Have you ever unwound an electric motor to increase its performance and heard the noise it makes? It’s much louder. Have you heard the electric drag cars? They are also not very quiet.
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/golf-ball-causes-6-000-damage-to-...