Our petition against the Yonkers noise ordinance just crossed 1,500 signatures — 306 in the last 30 days, our fastest growth since launch. If each of you forwards this email to one or two people, we'll hit 2,000 by July 4th.  Or send them a link to the petition, or to Quieter Yonkers, or to Facebook. 

Amplifying our voice is critical, because now we have newfound momentum.  After months of stonewalling and denials, the city finally turned over internal emails we requested under New York’s Freedom of Information Law. 

Campaign finance records show that three weeks before Council Member Tasha Diaz introduced the higher noise limits, she received $1,000 from a private party with a personal stake in louder allowable noise.There was no research. No meaningful public hearings. And no serious scrutiny from City Council Members or anyone in City Hall.. The Mayor and Council President both signed a bill so sloppily drafted the city itself now concedes parts of it are unenforceable.

So what we have is one of the least restrictive noise ordinances in the US.  It allows noise levels that vastly exceed any parameters recommended by any public health expert in the world. Les Blomberg, a leading expert on US noise ordinances, called 85 decibels  “a license to pollute.”

Sometimes I wonder if a noise ordinance is too small a thing to really matter. It’s not like it’s actually going to be enforced, no matter what it is. Yes, noise is bad for you. But who wants to be the neighborhood crank?  But if higher noise levels are known to increase cardiovascular disease or delay cognitive development, then of course it is the right thing to do. 

A city that passes a noise ordinance the way Yonkers passed its noise ordinance is not a model city. It’s not a city that holds its officials up to high standards of competence or to high standards of ethical behavior. It’s a lazy city. A complacent city. A machine-run city that runs on patronage and mutual back scratching.

When you are the little guy going up against the big guy, the big guy holds one particularly big advantage. The big guy can outlast you. And the big guy can outspend you. I promise you this won’t happen to us.

Quieter Yonkers is not going away. Our campaign will continue until our message gets through to enough people so that a city that rarely hears a dissenting voice will finally hear one.

PS: Forward this. One person. You must know at least one?…Or our petition, Quieter Yonkers or Facebook.