Hey, there! Log in / Register
For Councilor LaMattina
By adamg on Wed, 06/13/2007 - 10:12am
Councillor Sal LaMattina doesn't like the sound of ice-cream trucks in the summer. Why not ban the sound of kids laughing outside, too, Councilor? Oh, and the kids on my block make a lot of noise shooting hoops. Also, as long as you're at it, can you do something about those damn birds that start chirping at 4:30 a.m.?
In honor of our own budding Mr. Potter, crank it up:
Earlier:
The melancholy ice-cream truck of Davis Square.
Summer is officially here in Roslindale.
Topics:
Free tagging:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
LaMattinasville?
LaMattinasville? Wha-whaddaya mean LaMattinasville? Thish ish St. Botolph'sh Towne!
Does Sal have a nickname?
If so, please say it's Sonny.
It's Loud
I live there. It's obnoxiously loud. And repetitive.
http://webster-street.blogspot.com/2007/06/ice-cre...
What a Grinch!
The ice cream trucks' songs drive me nuts, too, but it's a sound of summer. You can't stop that!
As a former ice cream man
As a former ice cream man (true - for about two weeks one summer) I'll tell you a couple of things concerning "the trade."
So far as I know, the tunes are neither adjustable within the truck for volume or to change to another tune. I'm sure there's some way to change the tune or the volume, but I could never figure out how. It drove me nuts, too.
Often, it's a hit-and-run proposition for these guys. If it's a newbie like I was, who has no idea concerning the routes of long-time drivers, then he's just trying to make a quick sale or two before he either...
A) Has the cops on his ass for parking illegally
or
B) Gets major grief from some other guy who's been working the neighborhood for forty-seven years.
Believe me, it's not an easy way to make a buck. As a matter of fact, the best day I had was when I directed some sailors on shore leave to a place where they could score some weed and I got a finders fee. However, that's another story altogether.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Fightin' ice-cream guys
A couple years ago, some guy dared to run some of the same streets as "our" guy. He spotted the evil truck and took after him and caught him and they broke out the brooms and began battling it out - or so I heard.
But at least the toothless grumpy guy who would yell at kids is no longer grumpy (he's still toothless). He got a "new" truck this year (black, which just seems sinister for an ice-cream truck, you see it idling down the street like that Eat Me car at the end of "Animal House") and that seems to have made him a much happier person and now he not only doesn't yell at kids anymore, he's willing to spot them a quarter if they run short.
ice cream trucks
Yes, it is the sound of summer and I wouldn't support the ban. However, when I grew up, ice cream trucks stopped for a few minutes to sell ice cream, then drove along. Nowadays, city ice cream trucks stop and idle for hours and hours in one spot and the song is painfully loud and obnoxious, not the ice cream truck song of years ago. There aren't really any little kids in my neighborhood, so I don't know why they stop on my block for so long...
Suggestion
Rather than banning the music, how about limiting the hours the music can be played?
a sign o' the times
Our first big cookout of the season was over Memorial weekend, and coincided with the first time I heard our neighborhood ice cream truck. I immediately looked all over the house trying to figure out whose cell phone was ringing.
i managed to grab a
i managed to grab a semi-crappy picture of the ice cream truck while he rolled around davis about a week ago: http://www.flickr.com/photos/varmazis/532400210/
personally, i was delighted to see/hear one of these again -- it's been probably a decade since i last saw one.
Level 3 Ice Cream Men
jesus.hearing some of these stories and looking at some of the drivers pictures in the paper leaves me asking this question. what parent in their right mind would send their children in the same direction that these annoying ditties was coming from? at least at the circus you can keep your eye on the kids while the pedo/ride operator operates the rides.these are some scketchy looking characters.when i was a kid my dad told me kinko the clown drove an ice cream truck and he would kill me if i approached the truck without an adult.i dont know if thats going to work for everybody but im still here.
Best rant of the day on this topic
Stop Your Bitching, Victims Of Gun Violence. Some Of Us Have Real Problems - Loud Ice Cream Trucks.
A more dispassionate post that argues that some trucks ARE too frickin' loud.
Via MenuPages, which sees nothing wrong with a ban between, say, 9 p.m. and 10 a.m.
re: stop your bitching
First of all. F**k you! Yes, I have 'real problems' too. Do you want me to bring them to the table, a$$hole? I don't think the issue is whether or not there are more serious issues in the world than loud ice cream trucks. That's obvious and understood by all. If people can blow off some steam over something as lighthearted as loud ice cream trucks, then good for them and good for me. Lighten up a little, please.
First of all, you misspelled
First of all, you misspelled "fuck" and "asshole".
Second of all, you realize that this comment might be better placed on the blog on which the post to which Adam linked was written, right?
Third of all, that previous sentence should be taken out and shot. With an ice cream gun.
At least with the trucks
At least with the trucks that scour my neighborhood, it's the recorded female voice calling "hello!" that gets me. It's even louder than the recorded music and, quite honestly, I'd like to know who made the decision to choose this voice. There's nothing cutesy about it, rather the voice is grating and almost confrontational.
I don't want to see the trucks disappear but on a hot, humid summer day the sounds of those trucks carry like crazy.The bells would be an improvement.
Hello, Folks!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087072/
The ultimate ice-cream-truck-war movie.