When the city council passed the egregiously flawed 2023 noise ordinance, the result was to raise the city’s daytime noise limit to 85 decibels, a limit that a nationally recognized noise expert called “a license to pollute.” There were no meaningful public hearings. No expert consultation. And no one on the council or the mayor’s office even bothered to read the ordinance.
Contrast that with 2005, when the council passed the same noise ordinance that was ineptly changed in 2023. There was a two year process of research and discussion. Multiple city agencies participated in the discussion. A leading noise expert from Rutgers was brought in to consult. And the result was a carefully crafted ordinance, with intelligent provisions for enforcement.
We recently obtained a video of the March 22, 2005 meeting when the council unanimously approved the ordinance. Although the council at the time was divided along party lines and was engaged in harsh partisan warfare, the council members came together in support of the ordinance. Council Member Dee Barbato described part of the process that went into developing the ordinance, noting the work of “our police department, to our building and housing commissioner, and our public works people that all participated, because of every single nuance that had to be dealt with in revising our noise ordinance.”
What did the council members have to say in 2023, when the recent ordinance was passed? Nothing. It was passed without discussion. And unlike the two-year process of 2005, the work leading up to the 2023 vote was pretty light. Took all of 10 minutes.
You can watch the short video of the 2005 council meeting here. Or read the transcript.
