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Citizen complaint of the day: The scourge of bucket drumming in our residential neighborhood across 93 from the Garden

A fed-up citizen who lives on Beverly Street and Lovejoy Place complains:

Excessive noise from people beating plastic buckets outside Celtics game at 957 pm. Just woke up my sick toddler. Ridiculous - this is now a residential neighborhood and this kind of racket should not be allowed at this hour.

Another 311 user, who likes to browse complaints, files a complaint about the complaint:

1. You chose to live in a city 2. The spot you picked is a new condominium across from a sporting venue that was there long before you were 3. It's not residential, there is one condo complex(about to be two) and there are 7 bars on that street alone never mind the 17 others in the next 4 streets.

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Comments

Who in their right mind would want to live steps away from the TD Bank garden a/k/a Boston Garden, with thousands of fans concert goers pouring out and yelling, pissing on nearby private owned property drinking smoking and all the rowdiness that goes with it.

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Who move into the city for the buzz and excitement of downtown living

But

Who want to roll up the side walks at 10PM and live like its Boxford.

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Wherever Boxford iiissssss.....

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Boxford is just an extension of Revere and Saugus, most people who live there are surviving off inherentance from their parents!

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...in 2008 when the Celtics won the championship, there were roving mobs of young men destroying everything they could get their hands on. Even with the extra police in riot gear, there were some smashed windows on buildings and cars on Canal Street.

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I pissed on Beverly St in February. When you gotta go , you gotta go.

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Oh, STFU.

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The complainer about the complainer has a point.

Of all the places people have moved in and complained about noise, that is probably the most, how shall I say it, unrealistic in the expectation of quiet I've seen.

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In the 1980s, the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay types were complaining about how all the fraternities and student residences "devalued condo property".

Of course, their condos were recent. The MIT Fraternities were built starting when MIT was in Copley Square, which was a good 100 years before anything in the area "went condo".

Just like there was a sporting venue around for most of a century before the North Station area had these condos.

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Well... to be fair, swrrly, you did leave the city for the quiet suburbs! Every neighborhood has residents complaining about loud frat parties. I'm sure guys in the fraternities can handle it... it's all a part of growing up, learning to get along with your neighbors, etc.

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Yes, I am noise averse and I wanted my own parking spot. After five years of living near Kenmore Square, I understand that I cannot expect these things in highly urban areas. So I moved to a city where I could get them and still be a short bike ride from jobs and amenities in Somerville, Cambridge and Boston.

Where I live isn't exactly quiet, with train noise and state highway noise (jake brakes on a hill). I hate the "new" airplane noise, too, but I know that we are getting our fair share.

Do your homework before you buy/move, and understand that you will have to make compromises. Don't expect century-old things like student housing and sport arenas to vanish just because you have arrived!

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Now you have people in Milton , Duxbury, Scituate complaining about Airplane noise coming to and from Logan which is disturbing the peace and quality of the wealthy life and devaluing mansions, but when it's time for a Milton resident to fly out of Logan and take that luxury vacation to a carribean island , you think Mr Milton resident will complain. They want compensation from Massport that's what they're shooting for.

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People in Roxbury, Roslindale and Hyde Park are complaining as well.

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Medford, Somerville, Arlington, Belmont ...

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Shaking down Massport 101
What these communities want is a piece of Massport's pie, they see what's going on in Eastie, the mitigation money Eastie is receiving to build new parks and communities like Milton use the excuse of Airplane noise and want to shake down massport lol so they can use the money to fix their own parks !

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I can't speak about Milton, but I haven't seen anybody in Hyde Park or Roslindale demanding parks. What people are demanding is an end to the constant hours of jet noise.

And as for parks, I gather you don't live anywhere near East Boston, either, because they didn't get parks in exchange for the noise (they did get soundproofing for that), but for all the land that Massport kept taking, some of which it turns out Massport didn't really need after all (like Piers Park).

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Logan Airport is an important fabric of the entire regional economy, people don't seem to realize it's not just passangers they're carrying, it's your mail, it's human organs, Animals, items from Amazon.com, and a wide variety of other things they carry in a cargo hold of a plane, if Logan Airport decided to cut flights coming in and out because of complaints in Milton and such, it would slow down the economy..

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Obviously air transport/travel is critical to our economy and our way of life. Sure is convenient to have it right smack in the middle of downtown (says the East Boston resident who rolls out of bed 75 minutes before his flight and still can get to the security line with the requisite 60 minute lead-time). But does it have to be located here?

MassPort has facilities elsewhere in the state that could handle a lot of what you're talking about, not to mention a lot of passenger flights as well. That's not to mention T.F. Green and Manchester. A more regional approach to meeting our air travel needs might actually help to mitigate the amount of noise and air pollution that folks in the near-Boston area have to put up with. I don't think this is that outrageous a thought. And given today's article about preparedness for coastal storms and sea level rise (or lack thereof) does it make sense to invest so much in a critical facility that sits out in the water?

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This takes the biscut! Roslindale is ten miles from the airport. It is a part of the city right? Welcome to my world.

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If it had always been like this, that's one thing, but the FAA has switched planes to a GPS system over the past couple years that lets them fly one after another in a very tight line over the same exact narrow swath of land - meaning that when people get jet noise, they really get it, for hours at a time. That's really what people around here are complaining about.

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Yes I know of a few high level executives who are trying to fight massport on this issue. I find it ironic, because one in particular spends half his week flying. And of course, they'd be the first to complain if their flight was delayed or delayed. You can't have it both ways, you can't have increased non-stop flights to more destinations if you don't want the air traffic to go along with it.

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What about cracking down on the noise caused by thumping car stereos in the neighborhoods? Or the thundering motorcycles racing up/down Hyde Park Ave (or any street) during the warmer months at all hours? ...meh

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http://www.universalhub.com/2015/citizen-complaint-day-even-people-who-l...

That being said, part of the permit process for getting to smack around a plastic drum should be having the drummer spend a 24 hour period in a cage out of the Deer Hunter placed in the water under Charlesgate.

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In the 2 reported cases , these residents of downtown towers are not complaining about crowd noise, loud drunks, or vehicles, all which one might assume are bothersome too. There's something about the banging on the plastic containers that is very loud and very annoying and when its starts, it doesn't stop. I find them annoying when I leave a Sox or Celts game. But I can move on, unlike the apartment dweller.
I don't know why we need to tolerate these brazenly loud noise concerts whether we are at ground level or on the 17th floor.

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Can the developers come up with some better acoustic material for these new condos going up? Or would that be useless?

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And cheaply made. They could be made better but that would cost more money and a developer is not going to put more money into a project than it has to.

Most people have no clue just what is behind the walls of their units. A great example is all the condo conversions going on around the city in old 3 families. Most of those buildings were shoddily built back 100 years ago and when a developer moves in and guts them, half the old plumbing and insulation is left behind, behind old sheet rock and plaster. Buyers come in and see bright and shiny new kitchens but have no clue their plumbing is older than their parents.

Money is everything in development. Buyer beware.

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I've been wondering about soundproofing in all these new "luxury" high-rises. You can have all the city views, stainless appliances, and granite counter tops you want, as far as I'm concerned it's not luxury if you can hear your neighbor's TV, stereo, and every move. I'm no architect, but these buildings look pretty flimsy to me.

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I've never lived in or visited an apartment or condo where you couldn't hear your neighbor's tv or stereo. You have to learn to tune it out. Plastic bucket banging on the other hand... not sure I could tune that out hour after hour if I'm trying to get some sleep.

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I live in a condo in a converted house. It was built in 1830, and I hear barely a peep out of my neighbors (there are two other units). About the only thing we hear is stomping up and down back stairs (there's a shared hallway in back with stairs and doors to each unit), but I don't hear anyone's TVs, stereos, etc. They knew how to make buildings back then.

I wouldn't live in one of the new "luxury" condo buildings with cardboard walls for any amount of money. And they ask for an arm and a leg for these places! I wouldn't live there for $200 per month.

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I live in a newer "luxury" development, albeit it's not a high-rise and is a brick building. Our soundproofing is actually kind of insanely/unexpectedly good. I couldn't hear some guy w/ power tools down the hall until I had opened my front door. But, I can still hear my upstairs neighbor whenever he decides to walk around the house like sasquatch. There's no saving anyone from the dreaded upstairs neighbors.

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"Oh, that you would be silent; for you, that would be wisdom."

To be designated "luxury" in any promotional materials, an apartment must meet certain sound transmission guidelines.

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This statement is false. If a unit is gutted, the plumbing and electrical must be replaced. The house is literally gutted down to the frame and rebuilt. You are spewing nonsense.

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You have never seen a rehab job in progress apparently.

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Justify his/her purchase? Real estate in Boston keeps going up and up. I don't think anyone who buys in Boston is going to regret their purchase anytime soon. Perhaps you might want to acquaint yourself with the local real estate market. Do you research.

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It's definitely possible to overpay for homes in the Boston area.

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I've seen its ups and downs. But I've also seen well built luxury vs granite and stainless veneer luxury.

When you are ripping out your new bathroom in 7-10 years because the old pipes are failing and you got rot behind that nice tiled wall, then you will start to wonder was it really worth the price you paid.

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I would love to share pictures of multiple rehab projects I was involved in, from the guts to final product. Please provide your email address so I can show you the 100% replacement of everything down to the frame.

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This is the rare and particularly annoying NIMBY who, instead of complaining about new things being built in their neighborhood, moves into a different neighborhood and then complains about things that ARE ALREADY THERE. Did you not see the giant sports arena right next to your damn condo before you bought there?!

Seriously though this is why Boston will always struggle to be a vibrant, energetic city. Fun, unique moments like hearing those drummers when you're leaving the game get the kibosh because some a-hole moved the the middle of the city and expects it to be as quite as Hingham.

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to be a vibrant city, it is one. Compared to most US cities, it's in a rarefied league in that department. People who actually think otherwise need to get around more, visit or live in one of our 'rustbelt' cities, or one one of the many cities around the country that are really just large suburban sprawl with some skyscrapers and highrises stuck in a 'downtown', with population densities less than the average Boston inner suburb, let alone the city itself. Boston is a real, urban city that unlike many American cities, didn't die off due to industrial and economic decline, urban decay, violent urban crimewave, over especially the past 50 years. Massachusetts, New England, the northeast, are fortunate this is the case, because there are so many examples of the opposite.

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In addition Boston compares favorably in many ways to Southern and Western driving oriented cities that weren't really developed that long ago.

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Well said! Even in our state, if you get over 5 miles away from downtown Boston today, the only things that vibrate are the cars idling in traffic on their way to the mall.

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The Boston suburbs are extremely economically vibrant. Also, many of them have architecturally interesting downtowns that were built before cars like you find in Melrose or Natick. The region as a whole is much more vibrant and established than most other parts of the country.

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Apparenly you're not familiar with Gloucester, Concord, Salem, Mass. ...museums, cultural institutions, buildings and land of unique historical significance you can tour, local art galleries, nature preserves, whale watches, etc. That's just a sampling of what you are apparently totally oblivious to!

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You can also find loud university students, street performers, honking taxi cabs, and loud crowds smoking outside bars in places outside of Boston, too!

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They have to go. Where on one side you have Keytar Bear who's a valuable addition wherever he decides to play, on the other side you have the bucket guys who make way too much noise and provide no value other than a couple of seconds worth of entertainment to the day tourist crowd.

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I am not a tourist. I enjoy the bucket drummers. To me they provide additional value to the area. Keytar bear is valuable too.

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"Seriously though this is why Boston will always struggle to be a vibrant, energetic city."

Oh, please. The Boston area is one of the most desirable, vibrant, dynamic, historic, and charming cities in the entire country. Your other points aside, you are welcome to move back to whatever metro region you have to leave in order to find a job here.

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I once lived in Pepperell (or Boxford, if you prefer). While I was there, a local pig-farmer sold some of his fields to a developer, who built large single homes on the land. You see where this is going, don't you? Yep, the people who bought the new homes, which all had unobstructed views of the operating pig farm, sued the farmer because of the smell. In a triumph of the judicial system, their case was dismissed with extreme stop-wasting-my-time prejudice. NIMBYs will complain about pre-existing annoyances every time.

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IANAL, but municipalities that are undergoing changes in their usage and demographics and that want to preserve their preexisitng whatsis would do well to think ahead. Here in WMass, there have been cases of people moving from some city and then complaining about the smell of manure, the sound of the sawmill that they moved next to, etc. To avoid legal tussles, many towns have adopted right-to-farm ordnances that are intended to stave off these kind of lawsuits. I do not know if any of them have been seriously tested, but I do know that they're not carte blanche either. If you expand your pig farm or change your operations so that your neighbors now have to deal with a constant reeking stink and large clouds of flies, you'll get objections, and not from newcomers from New York either..

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In case you weren't talking about extremely violent farmers:
http://grammarist.com/usage/ordinance-ordnance/

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Wait, you can reply online to a 311 complaint, like a discussion thread? Or is that the city's comment when they closed the ticket? In which case, bravo.

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But you can do a screen capture of the original complaint, then file your own complaint about the first complaint.

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Yes Boston. Where you can post about a complaint to a complaint which will result in complaints about that complaining, as well as the original complaint. Boston for the WhINge!

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I am the first in line to complain about these bucket banger pests, but this complainant takes the cake. Do they not know they live adjacent to a massive sports and concert venue and about 30 bars, all of which were there before that luxury condo went up? And that pompous, entitled language, "this is now a residential neighborhood" (tell that to the old residents of the West End, by the way). Makes me want to stand outside that condo and bang a few buckets myself.

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This reminds of the people who moved into condos near the South Street Diner, which is open 24/7, and then complained about it being open 24/7 and being noisy at night and on weekend mornings. Umm, excuse me, but did you not investigate the neighborhood before you moved in?

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Complaining about bucket drummers is totally different from any other previous situation. Bucket drummers [and most other buskers] are pure noise pollution. But at least with the guy with a guitar or whatever the sound is only so loud, or carries so far. And is not quite so annoying repetitive. I have even heard other street performers complain about the drummers. So yes, it may be unreasonable if they were just complaining about crowd noise from event visitors. Bucket drummers are well beyond the norm.

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Does anyone other than suburban duds, who make their way into the city a handful of times for sporting events, find the bucket drummers interesting? The novelty wore out for me after about the fifth time seeing it, 20 years ago. If you've heard one of them, you've heard them all.

This is kind of funny. There's a fair point buried in the rush for people to pile on re: this complaint.

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bucket drummers are awesome.

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I disagree. Bucket drummers are awful not awesome.

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and therefore awesome. (Remember the bike drummer from about 10 years ago, who used to ride his bike up/down Comm Ave with no hands while banging on a set of bucket drums attached to the handlebars? That is skill.)

However, I've seen many a bucket drummer who was nothing more than an industrious street person panhandling, who realized that people give more money in exchange for a low-quality "performance" than they do for a cardboard sign attached to an old Dunkin cup.

After a certain hour of the night, it should be expected that people who are out enjoying the city at least pretend to be respectful of others who might not be on the same schedule. Yelling happens when the bars empty out, no matter where you live. Bucket drumming is purely optional.

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If you like DC gogo music you'd know that some of these kids pounding buckets have real talent.

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find a club where people want to pay to hear your fabulous drumming? I'm usually the first to snark at people in the city complaining about how noisy the city is, but that doesn't mean you should have to tolerate everything without limits. Those buckets echoing off the tall buildings are beyond obnoxious.

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suburban duds, who make their way into the city a handful of times for sporting events

yep. nothing screams suburbanite more than a boston sports fan.

so remember kids, boston is not a sports crazed city...the towns in the burbs are. please tell everyone for the sake of my city's reputation.

Go Habs! Go Broncos!

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That is not even remotely true. There are Bostonians AND people from the burbs or out of state.
You miss the Bruins/Rangers game crowd the other day?
If by suburbanites, you mean the newer residents of SoBo, I guess you're partly correct.

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With Boston becoming more trendy to live in, and that in many neighborhoods, this kind of complaint and urban mechanics is happening all over, and long-time residents have serious concerns - and most of that well-reasoned - that things are changing but not necessarily for the better for everyone.

There are factions in and around parts of Roslindale that are trying to turn it into Little Inmann Sq, which in the long run has proven to be a problem for long-time residents and business, and the "village" has more vacancies now than in recent past years. Housing rents are going up and business rents are pricing out long-time family-owned business. In favor of what? More small business willing to pay higher rents with trendy upscale product lines that no one in that area is interested in. Now the development vultures are moving in and sucking up what ever property they can, even buying up small older homes, so as to demolish them and build new apartment and condo blocks and sell them off as transit-oriented development. In time the "village" will have to be re-named "the city."

People in Dorchester and Mattapan have similar fears along the Fairmount train line, and likely rightfully so.

So someone dropping into the city with sparkles in their eyes wanting quiet space in the heart of the downtown district is not a surprise. Maybe they will close Causeway Street and turn it into a bike path or pedestrian walkway while they are at it.

I can only imagine the 311 complaints that will arise when the construction starts next to where the Celtics play.

This ain't the burbs honey. It's "dirty ol' Boston." Embrace it.

PS - Is this attitude about the bucket guys just more West End gentrification talking? I mean... really.

End of rant.

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It would be great if Causeway street was closed to traffic when there are events at the garden.

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It'd be great if it were closed to vehicular traffic 24/7. Would help alleviate that problem with the North Station construction.

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If you want more people living in the city and fewer driving into the city, make it more quiet and livable for people to give up their cars instead of complaining that they should stay in the suburbs.

Idiots banging on buckets really don't enhance quality of life. I doubt its what developers have in mind when they say every project will be "vibrant".

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If you honestly think that the people who purchase those insane condos are also the type of people to give up their Benz and start walking/biking/etc to work, then you're delusional.

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I think I'll bring a bucket or better my jembe drum next time I take the train to N.Station just to give it a few whacks!

What are these rich folks going to do when the pile drivers take over the percussion scene during construction of the new complex at TD Garden? Just dream about eventually shopping there I'd guess.

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I'm gonna bring a pal and two leaf-blowers the morning after the game and treat these folks to a free leaf and sports-fan-trash removal at 7:15am!

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Bucket drummers are really, really irritating. They shouldn't be considered in the same category as real street musicians (which would include other types of drummers).

Here's how to regulate them: impose a limit of X decibels at Y feet for street performers. Give a cop or enforcement agent a sound meter. Problem solved.

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Why are most of the comments in this thread unsupportive, while in the thread from Wednesday about the bucket drummer on State Street almost all the comments agree with the complaint?

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Because this complainer is more of an arrogant entitled blowhole ("this is NOW a residential neighborhood"). They live next door to the BOSTON GARDEN for God's sake and they expect Weston? Nobody (except tourists) likes the bucket bangers, but people like entitled bubble dwellers even less.

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