An Empty Corner and Pitiful Non-Blogs
(CLICK TO ENLARGE) After a quiet Saturday afternoon on Feb. 11, a night snow blankets the southeast corner of H and 8th Streets NE. The usual amplified crowd erects their stage of wooden boards on milk crates in between the gray box and the traffic light post. The group’s amplifier points south, down 8th Street, toward the bus stop shelter and the residential homes, here obscured by snowflakes. (Copyright © 2006. David Klavitter)Another anonymous person posted this to “Quest for Quiet” last evening:
Anonymous said...
NEWS FLASH!! Hazardous Waste and Noise Pollution by CSX trains!!!!
This Q4Q blog is pitiful... This effort is a non-event... This attempt is at finding a noise polllution source is ridiculous. I live in Ward 7 across the river and there are CSX trains that are as loud as a jet taking off that come past our community at all hours of the night... and the city counsel won't do anything about it... it also carries hazardous cargos through the middle of the nations capitol with no adequate security measures in place in the event of a terrorist attack or accident. Quest for Quiet is a joke on our side of the river!
Here was my response…
Dear anon:
Sorry to hear about your noise and other issues with the CSX trains. What is your Ward 7 councilmember's position on the issue? I can understand the frustration with the city...hence the reason for this blog.
I would be interested to know how the train noise affects you and your neighbors. If you email me, I will post prominently on this Quest for Quiet blog.
Also, I suggest doing what our neighborhood did: Organize, decide what it is you want to achieve and take action. Also, start your own blog, too. It's free.
Stay in touch.
posted by Klav at 12:37 PM
1 Comments:
The problem needs careful definition. Trains count as noise pollution, but trains' noise is not debilitating, as amplified speech is, and trains don't deprive people of pursuit of happiness, as amplified speech does.
On my way to work there is sometimes a guy "singing" Christian songs from an amplifier. Drives me bananas. There's not a mean or rude word anywhere in it, but for the length of a whole block I cannot think my own thoughts.
The nation's early communities sprang up and flourished alongside railroad tracks. I myself lived for one year directly right next to railroad tracks. I got used to it. I ceased to notice the trains. Trains are not similar to amplified speech.
By contrast, amplified speech deprives you of your peace of mind - that's its point and purpose, to seize forum - and thereby deprives you of pursuit of happiness.
In any event, trains are old news. Is someone here who's more ancient than the railroad through DC? You know what you're getting into, noise-wise at least, when you move near the tracks. The amplified speech, on the other hand, is moveable. Perhaps next week it will show up on your doorstep!
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