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Providence Noise Project News
“Noise is the new Smoking”
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Thanks for your interest in the Providence Noise Project, and for subscribing to our e-mail list. Below is an update on recent noise-related developments and upcoming initiatives this Summer.
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Senate Bill S520: Funds for Landscaping Tool Rebates
Rhode Island State Sen. Sam Zurier (D–PVD) is the lead sponsor of two pieces of legislation covering leafblowers, one of which is an identical Senate version to the House bill sponsored by RI Rep. Rebecca Kislak (D4), which would regulate gas-fueled leafblowers, and Resolution S520, which would allocate $1 million to fund municipal rebate programs to encourage the transition from gas leafblowers to electric ones. (Rep. Kislak's bill had a hearing but has not come up for a vote.)
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Resolution S520 provides a maximum of $250,000 per city or town to fund a rebate program, and is predicated on the passage of a Rhode Island state law prohibiting the use of gas-burning leafblowers. The Noise Project supports all of the aforementioned bills, as a means of encouraging homeowners and landscapers to begin the inevitable transition away from fossil-fuel equipment. We urge mailing list subscribers to contact their state legislators to express their support for all of them.
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The first Rhode Island General Assembly hearing on the latter takes place this Thursday, May 11, before the Senate Finance Committee in Room 211 of the State House, at approximately 5:00 p.m. (depending on the Committee agenda and chairperson). Members of the public can attend the hearing, testify in favor of S520, and / or submit written testimony in advance of the hearing.
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Brown University Electrification Announcement
Brown will soon be announcing significant progress in its efforts to transition its landscaping equipment from gas-fueled to electric, as part of its larger strategic sustainability plan. This is a welcome change for university students and employees, as well as nearby residents. The Noise Project will be calling on other local higher-education institutions — and the city of Providence itself — to follow Brown’s lead and announce their own transitions. The climate, and our ears, can't wait.
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Quarterly Mayoral Scorecard: One for Two
One of Mayor Brett Smiley's first noise-related acts was to re-appoint land-use attorney Dylan Conley, a holdover from the previous administration of mayor Jorge “What Noise?” Elorza, to yet another three-year term as chair of the Providence Board of Licenses (BOL).
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Having run as the quality-of-life candidate and kept the moniker as mayor, Mayor Smiley's choice seems likely to perpetuate the already untenable status quo that Conley is largely responsible for. He’s publicly expressed his disdain for the noise limits the Board is legally required to enforce, and told the City Council's Finance Committee that neither he nor the Board's other two attorneys know what the city's noise laws actually are — both of which make him a poor choice to be on the Board.
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Not surprisingly, commercial entertainment venues such as bars, nightclubs, and restaurants — some of which operate above legal sound limits, outside of legal hours, and even without proper licenses for amplified music — remain one of the main sources of noise that Providence residents cite in their submissions to our Community Noise Survey. (If you have issues with noise from a business, please contact us.) Strike one, Mr. Mayor.
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To continue the baseball metaphor, the mayor did step up to the plate in terms of his response to the continued problem of illegal use of ATVs on city streets, which are both a long-standing source of noise and a threat to public safety in terms of reckless driving, to say nothing of repeated instances of violence against other drivers by individuals riding them. At the very least, Smiley’s pro-active rhetoric represents a departure from Elorza’s more gradual response, and may actually serve to curtail a prominent source of excessive, unhealthy, and unnecessary noise in the city.
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Exhausted by Muffler Noise
In addition to leafblowers, commercial entertainment venues, and ATVs, among the most prevalent source of noise we hear about from residents (and our own ears) is modified vehicle exhaust systems. Mufflers are unusual in that they are legally required by city, state, and federal laws, and yet both Providence and RI only sporadically and inconsistently enforce them — and the New England regional office of the EPA ignores them altogether. But we're not doing so.
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The Noise Project is collaborating with grad student Imran Dharamsi at the Brown University School of Public Health to gather information on illegal modified mufflers. As part of his efforts, he is conducting interviews with residents in Providence and elsewhere in the U.S. to better understand their experiences of hearing and (in some cases) buying and installing non-compliant exhausts.
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You can share your views and (optionally) volunteer to be interviewed through an online form created for this research. They will select a random group of respondents to interview remotely, either anonymously or “on the record,” for no more than 30 minutes. Interviewees receive $10 (gift card or e-transfer cash) in exchange for participating. So please help Imran, help us, and help PVD!
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Website updates: We've added more testimonials from Providence residents about their experience of noise in the city, along with updated information on leafblower-related issues and other noise sources and policy efforts on our Resources pages.
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Coming soon: More analysis of the Board of Licenses, new efforts to present the data we collect on noise in Providence, and our continuing saga to measure noise levels on an ongoing basis.
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Three ways YOU can help the Providence Noise Project
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Fill out PNP's Community Noise Survey and urge your neighbors and any friends or family in the city to do so too
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Send us your comments and ideas on noise issues or the Project itself via the Contact form on the PNP website
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Donate or volunteer your time and / or expertise to help address noise in the city by contacting us
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