Two of the three Ward 7 candidates recently made statements regarding noise.
Bob Trane's comments and proposed solution (legislation) can be found in this Somerville Journal article and Katjana Ballantyne's mention can be found on her web site.
Although Joan Whitney Puglia has not, to my knowledge, mentioned noise in any of her campaign literature, I would assume that she's not taking a 'pro-loud-party' stance (as always, the candidate is welcome to comment below as to her stance). I mention this only because I doubt that noise and how noise complaints are handled is not likely to be an issue that provides voters with a way to differentiate between the candidates.
Both the Trane and Ballantyne comments make reference to noise from students. I agree that being awakened by a party of students is annoying but so is being awakened by a number of other noise sources e.g., horn-honking, parties of non-students, anyone holding a loud conversation, crying/tantrum-ing children, loud vehicles etc. I'm sure that in some neighborhoods it is the students who make up the bulk of the noise; however, it seems to me that focusing only on a single noise source is misguided. The noisy party or fighting, under-aged drinking, or public urination (other issues mentioned by Trane) are, in my experience, easier problems to deal with as police response (especially to a fight) is quicker.
I see that a number of other communities have enacted legislation that puts pressure on landlords so perhaps there is merit to it. My first response, however, was how fair such pressure is when (if) the landlords do not have a legal means to pass such fines along to the tenants or to evict, quickly, the noisy tenant.
As an issue pertaining to the upcoming election, I am glad to hear comments from the mostly-silent Trane and I am glad to hear a comment from Ballantyne that goes beyond (slightly) the usual three themes ("open, inclusive government, affordability and local jobs").
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Joan Puglia sends the following response.
ReplyDelete- Barry Rafkind, Joan's Committee Chairman
"For the past five years I've lived next to a house that's been occupied year-round by up to twelve Tufts undergraduates. There have been occasions when the parties have gone on into the early morning hours and the noise has been excessive. Each time this this has occurred either my husband or I have gone over to speak with the students face-to-face and remind them about their obligations living in the neighborhood. In a few instances, I've had to call the Tufts police and they've responded promptly and resolved the situation quickly. The problem has never cropped up again with the same students, especially because they do not want to risk affecting their status at the university.
As far as the proposed noise ordinance is concerned, I believe the Tufts and Somerville police already have more than enough tools at their disposal to deal effectively with these kinds of problems. They simply need to use them wisely and effectively when the situation demands police intervention, whether its students or others who are the source of the problem."