Photo credit: ennvisionn
by Arline L. Bronzaft, Ph.D., Board of Directors, GrowNYC, Co-founder, The Quiet Coalition, and Honorary Chair, Quiet American Skies
Steve Lafleur’s article on noise is a very personal one. He describes how he has been impacted by noise in his home in the City of Toronto. Two of the incidents involved film sets in his neighborhood and the third was a group of noisy women leaving a party bus. These noises all occurred at night. We know that people expect quiet at that time but loud noises during the day can also be very disturbing. Lafleur goes on to say that complaints to authorities, in general, do not yield results that would lessen the noise and often people are left to figure out how to deal with noise intrusions on their own.
Lafleur cites a recent New York Times article to point out the harmful health effects of noise. He also acknowledges that noise is a concern in other urban cities but believes that some of these cities, like Calgary, Alberta, have been more responsive to the noise problem.
The article concludes by noting that Toronto will continue to grow and residents can live more pleasantly “if we choose not to allow neighborhoods to be dumping grounds for noise.” The word “we” was selected to indicate that residents need to act collectively to limit noise pollution. I assume that Lafleur is a part of “we.” Yet, he does not suggest that he and other residents could work with city officials to write more effective noise bylaws. Bylaws also need to be enforced and that would require discussion with public officials. Having worked with several Toronto citizens a few years ago on the noise problem in Toronto, I am confident that Lafleur will find Toronto residents to join him in his efforts to make Toronto less noisy and more livable.
