Whole lotta loud
In my West End neighbourhood at Jervis at Pendrell, I have been assaulted daily for two weeks now by various people pressure washing their sidewalks, parking lots, a swimming pool and so on. The noise and activity is objectionable on three counts: one, it is continuous for several hours; two, it is mostly a wasteful activity when directed at sidewalks and parking lots; three, now that we have water restrictions in place, it ought to be illegal.
In a few weeks, developer Intracorp will start demolition of three houses and an apartment building, then dig and drill a deep hole, then begin construction of a 19-storey tower, and we will have this noise to contend with for month upon month.
I propose that the city review its noise bylaws; that it take into account the density of the downtown peninsula, the echo chamber effect of all the towers, where noise rebounds and affects hundreds more residents per city block than it would in a more open, semi-suburban neighbourhood.
Noise is an invisible cause of stress; if noises were made visible everyone would be up in arms about the pollution. As the city gets noisier, we assume this is just the way it has to be.
We would all be better off if we became more aware of and vigilant about noise. Complain to your councillors and mayors: that's one noise I think we need to make loudly and often.
–Michael Cox
A neighbourhood by any other name…
Re: “Hastings-Sunrise fixture Red Wagon reopens,” Robert Mangelsdorf, May 19, 2016.
Thank you for calling it Hastings-Sunrise and not East Village!
-Khoi Chau
All rants and raves are the opinion of the individual and do not reflect the opinions of Westender. The editor reserves the right to edit for clarity and brevity, so please keep it short and (bitter)sweet. Email your rant or rave to [email protected]
