Do you hear what I hear? Noise pollution gets a meeting in Salem
Jun. 30—SALEM — Noise pollution has been generating complaints in downtown Salem for years, but not to the volume they are today.
Ward 2 Councilor Caroline Watson-Felt says she's been fielding complaints from downtown residents — other councilors also report similar concerns in their neighborhoods — and now city officials will be holding a meeting in the coming weeks with various department heads to discuss the volume of vehicle-generated noise, most notably car stereos, motorcycles and sound amplification devices, ahead of the coming tourism season.
The City Council's public health, safety and environment committee will meet later this summer to discuss these issues and any potential actions the city can take to help mitigate the problem. The meeting is at the request of Watson-Felt, whose ward includes the downtown, Salem Common, Bridge Street Neck, the McIntire Historic District, and more.
"I had a Ward 2 constituent and a number of neighbors in his building reach out to me about this issue," Watson-Felt said. "They live in a really busy intersection in the heart of downtown."
David Finger, a New Derby Street resident whose home is near the New Derby and Washington streets intersection, was the one to lodge the request with Watson-Felt on behalf of his neighbors.
"We love everything but the noise," Finger said, adding that he and his wife moved to the city about a year ago. "We request the City Council take action — take action by studying the decibel levels around Salem, by educating the public of our current ordinances, by enforcing those ordinances."
From there, the discussion opened up to parts of Salem far outside of Ward 2.
"I hear plenty of concerns and complaints from the North Salem area, actually coming from across the water even," said Megan Riccardi, who represents Ward 6 to the north of downtown. "The sound travels over the water and North Street, so a lot of places outside of the downtown area hear this feedback as well."
That isn't a new complaint. Complaints occasionally surface from neighboring communities, like Beverly and Marblehead, regarding activity on one shoreline being heard and affecting residents on the other.
"Every department head in the city has some input, because they have some responsibility into what's going on," said Salem Councilor-at-large Conrad Prosniewski. "I know a lot of the noise that's caused over there is due to the intersection of New Derby and Washington streets. But you have the DPW to get involved, the Police Department... We have to have everybody put their heads together to try to see what kind of avenues for relief are out there and possible."
Prosniewski leads the public health committee and said city officials would pull information together ahead of time, with meetings to be held "sometime after the summer break." The council typically holds fewer meetings in July and August.
From there, the goal is to have something executable "before the October festivities," Prosniewski explained.
Jeff Cohen, councilor to Ward 5, connecting downtown Salem to Salem State University, said a wide-reaching conversation is needed.
"We've had years of discussion, especially downtown, about how to mitigate noise from street preachers and other things," Cohen said. "So this is the right way to go."
In the meantime, Watson-Felt said she wants residents to be on the lookout for issues and how to address them.
"Keeping your ears open, keeping a record of when and what you're seeing and being a part of that conversation that's really based in fact will help to really make it productive," Watson-Felt said. "Thinking outside the box is the only way we're going to get to a place where we can figure out how to solve the problem."
Contact Dustin Luca at 978-338-2523 or DLuca@salemnews.com. Follow him at facebook.com/dustinluca or on Twitter @DustinLucaSN.
Contact Dustin Luca at 978-338-2523 or DLuca@salemnews.com. Follow him at facebook.com/dustinluca or on Twitter @DustinLucaSN.
