“Noise is the New Smoking”
PNP In late 2024, Providence City Council member and Environment Committee chair Sue AnderBois (Ward 3) introduced a proposed amendment (47724) to regulate the use of heavily-polluting gas-fueled leafblowers and similar landscaping equipment in the city. The amendment co-sponsors are John Goncalves (Ward 1), Helen Anthony (Ward 2), Miguel Sanchez (Ward 5), Ana Vargas (Ward 7), … Read more
In 2023, newly elected Providence Mayor Brett Smiley proposed addressing excessive noise by purchasing hand-held noise meters for Providence Police, which sounded oddly familiar to Noise Project volunteers. The text below is from Providence City Council member Jo-Ann Ryan’s Oct. 2017 News & Notes blog: We asked Mayor Smiley’s office what happened to the noise … Read more
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By Kevin Hartnett (Boston Globe, Oct. 23, 2016) — Noise is an inconvenience of city living. Could it also hurt your health? Erica Walker, a doctoral student at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, set out to help answer that question. For a year, she measured noise levels in 400 locations in Boston … Read more
Below is a sample letter that Providence / RI residents can send to local and state policymakers, asking themto sponsor or support legislation and policies to limit the adverse health and environmental effects of gas-powered leafblowers and other landscaping tools. Subject line (if e-mail): Please take action to regulate leafblowers Dear [Mayor / City Councilmember … Read more
