Photo credit: Steven Hylands
by Arline L. Bronzaft, Ph.D., Board of Directors, GrowNYC, Co-founder, The Quiet Coalition, and Honorary Chair, Quiet American Skies
The title of this article by Irishman Trevor Laffan is, “Both in the streets and the home…silence is golden.” His message is clear – noise is unwanted. Laffan writes from Cork, Ireland but as you will soon see, his descriptions of intrusive sounds are no different from the ones experienced by people around the world.
Laffan recalls that when he was a policeman in Cork years ago, street musicians disturbed the city center retailers with loud music. Law enforcement agents were then called in to remove the buskers. When policemen asked them to move, they would simply go to another location. There were citizens who didn’t think the musicians should move, especially since this was their way to make a living. These people also found many of the musicians entertaining. Laffan did not think all the buskers were good musicians, and sided with the merchants.
Because of his experiences, Laffan is sympathetic with businesses in Killarney, Ireland that came up with their own way of fighting back by installing amplifiers and speakers outside their businesses. This is called fighting noise with noise. As I have reported before, neighbors often use noise to combat noise from their neighbors. However, should we fight noise with noise? Laffan added that Killarney is working on bylaws to deal with these buskers.
In Mediterranean countries, where outdoor living is considered normal, individuals inflict their sounds on others. In Cyprus, people speak loudly, so sitting outside may result in neighbors being disturbed. Laffan recalls in the 70s, people would sit on park benches and hear the full volume of radio music played by nearby park-goers. But today, sitting silently in the park might be disturbed by music from a loud speaker.
Laffan ends with “silence is a rare commodity.” This is true for people living in Cork and Killarney, as it is for people living in cities and towns around the world.
