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Citizen complaint of the day: Ceaseless throbbing in West Roxbury

A concerned citizen files a 311 complaint about unending thrumming in West Roxbury:

Loud, low, continuous thrumming or vibration in West Roxbury. Extremely disturbing and unabated 24-7. Many neighbors have noted this as well. It is. [Not] a new sound but has become louder and more frequent recently. It sounds industrial, from the direction of Hancock Village. What can we do to figure out what this is and how to stop it?

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Comments

I don't live in WR but if you live south of Centre St, it seems odd to specify Hancock Village vs say Roche Bros or Corey St. or something more local reference point.

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It's like if I lived in Mattapan and said the noise was coming from the direction of The Pru.

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I don't think you know where Hancock Village is in relation to W Rox. Unless you misread and read John Hancock

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I've only just started WFH since 3/16 and I'm about 1/2 mile from Hancock Village going towards Centre St. near Greaton Rd and I hear it all day. I don't notice it at night as I'm assuming its union work and they are off the clock usually as soon as the clock strikes 4-4:30 depending on contract hrs. I had heard very many large BOOMS, but only assumed that was blasting to get through bedrock or granite rocks.

There is a huge new section of the Handcock Village being added up behind the section right after the VFW pkwy going towards putterham circle.

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I hear it too. Not 24/7, from 7am til 5 or 6. I'm off Lagrange right near the commuter rail, they are working on a house on westmount Ave, and it could be a generator

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Hancock Village is doing alot of construction that could be the cause

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If they have a permit nothing can be done. I've filed 311 complaints, called 311 and called the police, several times about ongoing noise and construction at 63 Morton Street all throughout the stay-at-home advisory. Nothing has changed and they are still out there as I type this, grinding stone and rocks for their cosmetic improvement to their business.

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Because the usual sounds aren't there to drown it out, such as planes and cars.

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Myself, while napping, I've been experiencing more of a tapping...as of someone gently rapping...rapping at my chamber door.

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I've read so far. Have you noticed how loud the birds sound early in the morning lately?

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major construction and puddingstone blasting going on there. they're adding 300 or so units

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Well, that led me down a rabbit hole!

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I saw a moving backhoe doing something or other up on a huge mound of dirt there today. Maybe the noise has something to do with construction.

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I know there have been a lot of online complaints about the Hancock Village construction.
A) That it is not essential and still going on and
B) That they are banging and crashing and making it very hard for people nearby to work from home.

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Brookline hasn't banned construction as Boston has, and most of Hancock Village is in Brookline, I think.

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I can see the Bertucci's at Hancock from my bedroom window. Have not noticed any new thrumming. My neighbor bought this two family last year and has been renovating ever since. Most recently has picked up the amount of time sawing and hammering in his driveway, probably because the weather has turned. Doesn't bother me, wouldn't call it 24-7 by any means, but appears to be the only audible "disturbance" nearby...aside from the parade of honking any time someone on the street has a birthday during quarantine.

Also, long time reader, not a big commenter. Moved to W Rox about two years ago from Ruggles area. Not sure why all the hate for West Roxbury. People seem nice here. Good sense of community on my street. I sympathize with the cross walk issues on Centre Street. I wish they would put flashing lights and ticket double parked delivery trucks.

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Snipping lids in people’s basements.

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Hamburger Lady being a lovely horror story.

But I wouldn’t want it 24-7

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All of the sudden I have an insatiable hunger for a hamburger.

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Could it be public works department flushing/auguring/vacuuming storm drains and sewers? That type of work usually has big pumps and compressors.

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It's been heard on and off in parts of Boston. Note smiley face :-)

Opinion #2 - More people at home noticing what they normally might not see or hear while at work.

/snicker on/ Should we start an airplane noise thread? /snicker off/

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"The Hum": Of course! Everybody in West Roxbury is doing it because they've all forgotten the words!

Alternatively, it could be a horror-movie plot (start narration):
West Roxbury. A shady neighborhood.
Ummm.... A neighborhood of shaded, tree-lined streets (that's better).
A neighborhood with a secret.
Normally the hum of traffic on its pleasant parkways is an unconscious background noise to tranquil suburban life. Little did the residents know that the traffic and noise was the price that secured their tranquility - and their safety.
It had not been ever thus. Many long-time residents had heard of the beast. Heard of it - but dismissed it as legend. A beast with many names - whispered of at banks, pizza parlors, neighborhood meetings, and among parents along the sidelines at kids' soccer matches. Many names, but its most fearsome name was - The NIMBY.
The early internal-combustion pioneers who had transformed WRox into what they would unironically declare had always been and therefore must ever be - they knew its power. They knew that it was simultaneously an obstacle to their plans and the key to preserving their utopia.
They sealed the beast into the ground, making it a part of the essence of the place.
Making its power serve them...
Its dark heart throbbing, unheard - beating in time with their own...
The parkways were the key - The parkways and the rotaries! Steel, gasoline, rubber, asphalt, tetryethel lead - those were the materials that were used to enact this dark sacrament! The parkways formed the lattice of a net to snare the beast - and the rotaries were the locks.
The unceasing thrum of traffic - that background noise unwittingly thought of by today's residents as part of the place - it is indeed part of it! It is the thread that binds the dark heart in place!
Now with the pandemic... besides all of the epidemiological carnage, there is an unexpected consequence.
People #stayhome - with unsuspected consequence.
Less traffic on that binding lattice. Less traffic on those binding rotaries. The engines that bind the Beast in place are no longer properly fed.
That throbbing?
It was always there - they just never heard it before.
The Beast is awakening.
It is coming for its own.
...and...
It.
Is.
Cranky.

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Any chance it's near the adult book and video store on Rt 1? Just a passing thought.

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I live on Mendum Street near the arboretum ..... and I have been hearing this noise for about 3 years ..... usually at night when other activities and noise abate. What I hear is a rhythmic somewhat pulsating sound that comes in short waves ..... this is the first time that it has been confirmed by other people - I just stumbled on this site - I believe it is some manufacturing activity or it could be from power or AC units on some of these large rehab centers ....maybe the largest one which I think was the Jewish Rehab center near the arboretum .... or it could be from the hospital ..... certainly very disturbing ...... how do we find this source?

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