RE: Good to know you

[Peter Donnelly <skookum@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Cathryn, thank you so much for joining our group. Your thoughtful message 
is exactly the kind of thing David Staudacher and I had envisaged when we 
first discussed the creation of quiet-list. This is a place for positive 
messages like yours -- progress can be and is being made. Above all else we 
need to encourage one another and give practical advice and examples of 
what can be done. We are not alone!

I have so much admiration for what Sound Rights has been able to accomplish 
in less than a year. I hope you'll continue to share your successes and 
thoughts with us.

Peter Donnelly
Right to Quiet Society
http://www.islandnet.com/~skookum/quiet/


----------
From: 	Cathryn Vandenbrink[SMTP:cathryn-v@msn.com]
Reply To: 	quiet-list@igc.org
Sent: 	Sunday, June 08, 1997 2:55 PM
To: 	quiet-list@igc.org
Subject: 	Good to know you

Dear Quiet-list participants and readers,

My name is Cathryn (this feels like the beginning of a twelve step program) 
and I am working on noise issues in Seattle.  For the past ten years I have 
lived next door to a club that plays live music seven nights a week from 9 
PM
to 1:30 AM.  I know what you are thinking.  No sympathy.  Move!!  I have 
come
to believe that the devil you know is better than the devil you don't know. 
When I go visit someone in a "quiet" neighborhood and the next door 
neighbor
is mowing the yard, playing the radio or has annoying wind chimes, I am far 
more incensed than in my own chaotic environment where the noise is 
somewhat
expected though still at illegal levels.

Three years ago the neighborhood bars began a biker night promotion that
mobilized the relatively small residential population.  We do become
accustomed to a level of noise and when something spikes it over the top we 
crack.  We begged for relief from City officials, the police department and 
came to find out that Seattle did indeed have a noise ordinance but it was 
not
being enforced.  When I began my quest for attention to this noise 
pollution,
being forced on innocent non-participating members of the community, I was
asked why I lived in the downtown neighborhood and told to move.  Nothing
would be done.  Three years later, after contacting other neighborhoods 
under
siege, meeting with various city departments, lots of letters, and the
formation of Sound Rights, Citizens for a Quieter Environment.  Sound 
Rights
is not attached to any one noise issue.  We are from all neighborhoods each 
with its own problem.  Through our lobbying efforts we are beginning to see 
a
policy shift.  Miniscule it may be but suddenly noise is an issue in the
newspapers, at community council meetings, in local government departments 
and
on TV and radio.

The Sound Rights newsletter, informing people of the existence of a noise
ordinance, and suggestions for ways to advocate for noise reduction, is 
mailed
to all Seattle neighborhoods, community councils, neighborhood planning
committees, City department heads, all audiologists, environmental groups,
etc..  Our mission is to educate and advocate.  The Quiet-list can serve 
our
organization best with examples of solutions from other communities.  These 
are two articles from our newsletter.

Discovery Park

Friends of Discovery Park have passed a resolution requesting the Seattle 
City
Council to identify Discovery Park as an extremely noise sensitive area, 
and
to coordinate with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to limit
over-flights of the Park under Visual Flight Rules (VFR).

The 1972 Discovery Park Master Plan, approved by the City Council calls for 
Discovery Park "...to provide an open space of quiet and tranquillity for 
the
citizens of the City-a sanctuary where they might escape the turmoil of the 
City and enjoy the rejuvenation which quiet, solitude, and an intimate 
contact
with Nature can bring,".

We thank Friends of Discovery Park for being forever vigilant on behalf of 
our
park and urge the City Council to act to protect our public spaces.

Did You Know...

Homes near O'Hare Airport in Chicago are eligible for soundproofing grants 
if
aircraft noise measures more than 70 decibels.

Idaho's Morrison Center is the first performance space in the country to 
have
a decibel limit for its performers and imposes fines of up to $5,000 for
musical groups exceeding 85 decibels.

Wisconsin has cracked down on loud car stereos by imposing fines and 
removing
stereo systems from cars after three citations

A Euro Commission is proposing noise policy relating to vehicles for all 
its
member nations, noting motorcycles emit the most conspicuous noise, 
especially
when they are accelerated at full power.

42 cities in California have banned gas-powered leaf blowers.

It is a long winded introduction.  I beg your indulgence as I have read and 
waited a good while before participating.  I would like to say thank you to 
Peter Donnelly for his generous support and encouragement.  And a big thank 
you to David George from the Department of Construction and Land Use Noise
Abatement Program, Officers Stuard Coleman and Jason Kasner of the Seattle
Police Department who put out a flyer notifying all bikers of the public
disturbance law that will be enforced this summer and to Eric Zwerling from 
Rutger's Noise Institute who trained and excited David George and with luck 
will be coming back to Seattle to train 10 police officers in noise
enforcement.  http://snowfall.rutgers.edu/envsci/noise.html

OK I'm done now.

Cathryn
========================================================================  
====
QUIET-LIST:   Internet Mail List and Forum for discussion of Noise 
Pollution,
Soundscape Awareness, and the Right to Quiet.     Email: 
"quiet-list@igc.org"
To subscribe, email "majordomo@igc.org" with message "subscribe 
quiet-list".
For info, send message "info quiet-list" to same.
========================================================================  
=====




============================================================================
QUIET-LIST:   Internet Mail List and Forum for discussion of Noise Pollution,
Soundscape Awareness, and the Right to Quiet.     Email: "quiet-list@igc.org"
To subscribe, email "majordomo@igc.org" with message "subscribe quiet-list".
For info, send message "info quiet-list" to same.
=============================================================================