Yuppies move next to Navy Yard, try to silence USS Constitution cannons
By adamg - Sat, 11/07/2009 - 12:20am.
The Herald reports. Hmm, maybe they moved to Charlestown to get away from the noise at the South Street Diner.
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I ... have ... no ... words
And next to be fired out of the cannons...
Yuppies.
From the article
Other nearby residents agreed, including 52-year-old Elizabeth Ames, who lives in a luxury development called The Nautica.
“This is the heart of the city’s history,” Ames said. “If you don’t like it, don’t live here.”
I don't know you, but I love you.
If I ever meet this woman...
...I will offer to buy her a glass of something or other. She rocks.
with real cannon and church bells....
I know where they can stage the annual performance of Tschaikovsky's 1812 Overture next Fourth of July.
Pass the hand sanitizer
Next they'll demand that peanuts be banned from Charlestown because of their precious snowflakes' allergies.
Poor reporting.
How about someone test how loud it is and compare it to the noise ordinance? Is that really so hard?
That is not how noise testing works
For starters the cannon is one short sharp BOOM. Not enough to get more than a spike off a noise meter. It does not last long enough to be considered a nuisance noise. If these person seriously wants to set up a dosimeter and test it the noise level, I am sure it would be over 85bDA. But the limit is over an 8 hour (work day) period. Not for the less than a minute the cannon fires for. And the echo is not counted, just the original boom
But it's not a hard test to do. Most modern dosimeters do the math for you. The unit is about the size of a cartoon of cereal. I will happily sit in the complainers living area and test it for them. Over the space of seven days, to get a good sample, and since it happens twice a day, I will have to stay at their home since commuting could mean I would miss the noise.
Steps from the beach - http://fibrowitch.blogspot.com/
Uh
Your description of the equipment and use are accurate, but 85dB(A) is the OSHA guideline for noise exposure OF EMPLOYEES ON A WORKSITE, and yes, is measured over a day. The Boston noise ordinance prohibits sound over 70dB between 7am and 11pm and over 50dB at night (both readings are using the A rating). The law doesn't specify that it must be continuous noise to be illegal. The standards you're giving are for occupational exposure as relates to causing hearing loss.
The lack of timeframe and lack of specification as to pitch or timbre is unfortunately why noise ordinances aren't generally enforced, because a lot of church bells are technically breaking the law, even though most reasonable people would say that church bells aren't terribly bothersome, since the sound profile is in the mid range of pitch and is resonant and rounded. Other sounds that aren't as loud might be much more disruptive to quality of life if the sound is sudden and/or very high- or very low-pitched. One or two bass booms on a car stereo that are quieter than church bells are going to provoke startle responses and raise the stress level of most people, while the church bells wouldn't generally be annoying to most people with normal neurology who are used to city noise.
But since the laws only relate to volume and not other aspects of sound that affect our neurology in different ways, they don't get enforced. If they start ticketing people for boom cars, then they'd have to start ticketing church bells playing for 60 seconds or so, people calling their dogs, phone ringers that are turned up for an older person, etc.
Don't get me wrong; I realize that a lot of noise (like that cannon) is infrequent and has been going on for so long that, yes, people should be aware of it when they move in. But just pointing out that if we're going by the noise ordinance, the cannon probably is breaking the law, as is a lot of even-less-bothersome stuff like church bells, people shouting briefly, etc.
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Morning/Evening Colors
I guess my original post may've been a little harsh. The gun salute is used to signify the raising and lowering of the American flag at 8AM and at dusk. This is done at US military sites all over the world. I guess Charlestown should be exempted for the convienence of those who are troubled by this.
Given the current involvement with troops engaging an enemy who has sworn to destroy us, you would think that these folks would've been a little more tolerant(!). There should be absolutely no compromise regarding this. Accept it or move.
I live across from a fire house
Can I ask them to stop using their sirens at 3am?
Do they really use sirens at 3 a.m.?
15 years ago I looked at an apartment that was across the street from a firehouse. I didn't take it because of it. Even so, I figured the trucks won't have sirens blaring late at night, but there'd still be flashing lights and truck noises and perhaps a P.A. system.
Is no one complaining about the horn of "tradition" in Arlington Center anymore? Or did it finally get turned off because of that big housing complex across the street from the firehouse?
The Arlington horn is still there.
Unfortunately.
The 6am Arlington Horn
... was silenced a couple decades ago. It used to be a REAL pain before that ... sort of like deciding that every last person in town needed to wake up at that hour.
But it took a near-lawsuit to shut it down.
They do, and you get used to it.
Its not often, but it has woken me up before. I've been here 4 years and have gotten used to it.
I used to live near a
I used to live near a firehouse but the fire station controlled all the lights around the building so a fire engine could just roll right out into the night and it would be a few blocks before they even started the wail.
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Worthy of a UHub headline
The Herald's photo caption: AVAST YE, YUPPIES! Aarrr!
Lets all go there and bang pots and pans
People complained about noise from Fenway Park. They complained about Hatch Shell Concerts. They complained about the South Street Diner.
I'm just trying to understand, why exactly did they move to the city, then?
If they want suburban peace and quiet (oh, wait, the neighbor's mowing the lawn at 7am) they should have stayed in the suburbs they likely grew up in.
I roll my eyes every time urban planning experts and wannabees tout "Mixed Use" development. It's what cities always were, but when it's forced and then marketed to the wrong group of people, it's a disaster. It's failing in downtown Salem where the residents are trying to kill the goose that laid the golden egg for the city - the vibrant life downtown, it's happening at the Quincy waterfront, but at least it isn't happening in my Downtown. Lynners are cool like that.
I dont care either way but....
There are your day to day city noises....and then there is cannon fire.
That canon fire was going on
That canon fire was going on for years and years before these condo's were built
Twitter me this!
"Condos," dammit
At least now I know where the apostrophe from your "you're" went.
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Canon fire
Isn't that what you come under for teaching only DWEMs in a Great Books course?
Especially if the DWEM
is Johann Pachelbel.
(I went to a great books school, so there was much complaining about the overrepresentation of DWEMs.)
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Oh!
I thought it was when you get so sick of listening to that Pachelbel thing that you go up to the performers and burn their music to make them stop.
Jinx
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM
Yeah, but
Pockabell?
I'll bet he's one of those who spell "you're" without the apostrophe and the "e", too. (:o)
Tacobell
Taco Bell. He can't go there because it sounds too close!
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Adam FTW
Win of the week, at least.
I slipped in that apostrophe
I slipped in that apostrophe just for you, I know how much you love em.
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Well play'ed!
:o)
Em or 'em?
I can't tell - did you mean 'em (' for the missing th) or someone named Em?
As in Auntie Em
As in Auntie Em
Twitter me this!
If you insist on being a pedant ...
... you must first be sure that you are correct!
That apostrophe belongs in "condo's" because it is an shortened form of "condominiums".
I raise you one pedant ;-)
The apostrophe does not belong because it's merely plural.
One condo, two condos.
An apostrophe would make it possessive, as in "The condo's carpeting smelled like dog".
Beware though, as this commenter got D's in English, and one of the happiest days in his life was when he finally finished his last English course in college.
Hmmm ...
Then it would be condo'ms?
Condo isn't a full word, is it?
Oh for Pete's sake
How to use an apostrophe.
Such a Fus's Twitter me
Such a Fus's
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Apostrophes are not for pluralization
"Ad" isn't a full word either. Would you write "I read three ad's in today's newspaper" ? Or "Four auto's are parked on my street" ? I sure wouldn't.
I wasn't being serious
But the point stands - be careful with pedantry when it comes to subjective wrote rules. Condo is an abbreviation ... and it could technically have an apostrophe at the end of it.
Wrote rules?
Who rote 'em?
One Double You Too Much
You can't correct stuff after it has been commented on, unfortunately.
I never claimed to be a good speller - cipherin's my game!
You gots any that citric acid? My neighbor has a punkin that's 300lbs and he needs it broke up.
Aw hail
You don't need no citric acid. Just get ye some toilet bowl cleaner and tinfoil. At'll blow that sucker up.
No Louder Than Ship Horns
I used to have an office on the outside corner of a building in the Navy Yard. The cannons and the ship horns would make me jump sometimes, but it was only once in a while.
The ship horns were worse ... not the boats, but the ones on the huge ships. They weren't at predictable times like the cannons.
At common law, there has long been a concept....
...known as "coming to the nuisance". In other word, if you knowingly choose to move next to a pig farm, you have to live with all the reasonably anticipated consequences. Granted, I would consider living near Old Ironsides a privilege rather than a nuisance. But the principle is the same.
I would consider it an honor
I would consider it an honor as well, at least until the first time the daily 8am explosion woke me up from a drunken stupor.
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If I'm not up before 8 AM....
It would be because I died during the night.
...known as "coming to the
Yet people move into new residential developments "in the country" and sue pig farms all the time.
And what is the result?
eom
Industrial Pig Farms
Not to defend all yuppies in the 'burbs, but my understanding is these issues aren't always against mom 'n' pop pig farms. Some of these cases involve massive agribusiness farms which emit serious noxious fumes. In those cases I'm not sure it's so ridiculous to make the farm more compatible with nearby homes.
Actually, it is ridiculous..
Actually, it is ridiculous.. The principle is still the same; caveat emptor!
Take responsibility for yourself and your own actions. If you wish to move somewhere, make sure you really understand the area and everything within it. It's not reasonable for anyone to come into an area where there is a "pre-existing condition" and then cry foul after the fact. Know what you're getting into and let's all stop making excuses for ignorant people...
Some body needs to move
As in those brave people who are offended by the sound of one single cannon firing at 8am. People who are so brave that they did not allow their names to be noted in the article.
I'll trade my nice quiet beach house for their loud condo in a second. I would consider it an honor. To me USS Constitution is family. As someone else said, they moved there. They must have known she fires off a single shot twice a day. As does every ship of the line all over the world.
Some one please find out who they are.
Steps from the beach - http://fibrowitch.blogspot.com/
I'd bet Her enemy's Commanders
...wished she would have been silent as well!
The heavy frigate Constitution is most famous for her actions during the War of 1812 against Great Britain, when she captured numerous merchant ships as well as defeating five heavily armed British warships: HMS Guerriere, Java, Pictou, Cyane and Levant.
Nuf ced
I saw we load it with real
I saw we load it with real ammo, show them something to complain about
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Ships Horns
Are the condo owners going to demand that no ships enter or leave the harbor, too? Some of these things look like floating neighborhoods - I would look out my office window and it would look like a high rise office building had just randomly appeared just beyond the condos. Then that ship - typically a tanker leaving the Mystic River or a large military vessel - would complete their turn and BLAST THE HORN THREE TIMES at painful decibel levels. This signal is required by law or tradition or both ... and this was way louder and way worse than the cannons.