Dr. Bronzaft

PEOPLE, HOUSES RATTLED BY BOOM CARS
Pawling News Chronicle; Pawling, NY; pawlingnewschronicle.com
By: John M. Benson 08/18/2004

They are called boom cars, and ground pounders, street pounders or trunk thumpers. They roll by on the public roads emitting noise of such volume that windows rattle and foundations shake, and residents are disturbed during the day and awakened from sleep in the middle of the night.

Acccording to the "wordspy" Web site, "A decent home stereo might pump out 200 watts, but boom car units often boast 1,000 watts of power, and systems with 2,000 and 3,000 watts have been recorded."

Village resident John Bergan visited the town board in July to ask the councilmen to consider tougher local laws and enforcement of laws that restrict boom cars.

"What right does somebody have to blast a stereo so loud that it bothers people hundreds of yards away inside their homes?" Bergan asked in a recent interview with the Chronicle. "There are Web sites from the companies, that show it is their intention to shake windows and rattle foundations of homes. The people who drive boom cars actually buy stereo systems designed to bother people as much as they possibly can. In fact, SONY and Pioneer have trademark slogans that actually say 'Disturb the peace,' 'Wake up your neighbors,' and others."

Bergan and Conservation Advisory Board Secretary Sibyll Gilbert will speak to the village board at the workshop meeting on Sept. 20 to discuss enforcement of the existing noise ordinance, and revision of the ordinance if it is needed to facilitate enforcement.
As Bergan said in the interview, "Sheriff's Sgt. Lamonica, in my opinion, has done a fantastic job of trying to crack down on some these boom car people in the village. If people hear boom cars, they should definitely call the Sheriff's Office, and they will look into it, especially if you get a license plate number."

That is in part because the Village of Pawling has an extensive and exhaustive noise ordinance.
Lamonica confirmed for the Chronicle that the Deputy Sheriffs are enforcing the village ordinance, and said that the ordinance is in fact what makes the enforcement possible.

Dr. Arline Bronzaft, chairwoman of the Council on the Environment of New York City (CENYC), has spoken with the Chronicle to clarify what municipalities may use in local ordinances.

"The boom car people maintain that they have the right to do whatever they want, but your rights end at my ears. We have the Bill of Rights, but what we need is the Bill of Responsibilities.

"As to ordinances governing noise, the law recognizes the concept of reasonableness. Would a person of reasonable sensitivity be bothered by this noise?"
The Village of Pawling noise ordinance uses that concept, as do many municipalities. The local law makes it illegal to create an "unreasonable noise," and defines that as follows: "Any excessive or unusually loud sound or any sound which either annoys, disturbs, injures or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace or safety of a reasonable person of normal sensitivities or which cause injury to animal life or damage to property or business."

With regard to stereos, the ordinance specifies: "No person shall operate or cause to be operated a sound reproduction device that produces unreasonable noise. The operation of any such device in such a manner as to create unreasonable noise across a real property boundary or the operation of such device by a passenger on a common carrier in such a way as to disturb any other person on a common carrier is prohibited."

While it is not spelled out in the village ordinance, the "real property boundary" is defined in a city of Buffalo ordinance in a manner that covers any private property, including a motor vehicle: "An imaginary line along the ground surface and its vertical extension, which separates the real property owned by one person from that owned by another person or from any public right-of-way or from any public space."

Bronzaft said that the New York City ordinance is more specific: "When in comes to a loud stereo in a car, what New York City says is that if a police car is two car lengths behind, and can hear it, then that is loud enough to be disturbing. So, even though it is an audible standard, it still has a distance involved. It is two car lengths behind, and the officer can hear it clearly, the officer can issue a violation citation."

Some municipal ordinances require that an officer actually measure the volume of the noise with a meter.
As Bergan said, "The best laws are the ones that have both the scientific measurement, and the officer's discretion."

The Damage
In contemplation of the impact on health from the boom cars, the discussion focuses on two issues, the effect on people who can hear the systems from outside, and the hearing damage that is being suffered by those who are within the cars themselves.
Bronzaft has spoken with the Chronicle on the impact of noise on the health of people who hear it. She has published extensively on the subject of noise, and its impact on health. Her articles and others can be found at llh.org, the Web site of the League for the Hard of Hearing.

She is the chairman of the CENYC, and the group addresses permanent hearing damage or loss on its Web site: "Continued exposure to noise damages your hearing. The louder the noise, the less time it takes to cause hearing loss. Cells of the inner ear are destroyed, and hearing deteriorates each time we are exposed to prolonged intense sound. The cells do not regenerate. Noise-induced hearing loss is permanent and incurable. It is, however, preventable.

"The loud music that children listen to on the radio, on stereos and earphones, in discos, and at concerts impairs their hearing. Studies show that noise interferes with learning and lowers reading and math scores. Children will be deprived of these skills and will be partially deaf by the time they are grown unless we act to lessen noise."

Sibyll Gilbert of the CAB addressed the issues of excessive noise in society today, and its impact on health, saying, "I have seen the impact of hearing loss on people. I visit my mother, who is living in an assisted living facility nearby. There are so many people there who are severely handicapped by their hearing loss. These people are completely alienated, and cut off from communication with the rest of the world. They spend the end of their lives imprisoned in this world of hearing loss. So many of these people could still lead happy, functional lives, if they didn't have this hearing loss.

"In our society, we are permanently damaging the hearing of babies, of a whole generation of people, with this unnecessary noise. Hearing loss can be prevented, and we are not taking it seriously.

"It is a whole issue of noise pollution, that American society has come to accept, because it has just grown on us. Young people have become accustomed to this noise, and they accept it. They aren't even aware of it."