In 2023, the Yonkers City Council quietly voted to raise residential daytime noise limits to 85 decibels — loud enough to damage hearing, and eight times higher than before. Nighttime limits were doubled. There were no meaningful public hearings. No expert input. No real notice to residents.

We wanted to find out how and why this happened. We filed Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests to the city. They ignored us. So we finally took them to court, and the truth came out.  The ordinance was drafted by Council Member Tasha Diaz at the request of a  politically connected backer who donated $1,000 to her campaign at the same that the ordinance was proposed. 

You can read these emails for yourself: THE NOISE PAPERS. 

The science is settled. Noise at these levels damages hearing, raises the risk of heart disease, disrupts children's learning, and hits hardest in lower-income neighborhoods. The politics is settled: this was a pay to play deal that ignored the best interests of the city.  

We're asking the Council to do what it should have done in the first place: reverse this ordinance and let experts — not campaign contributors — set the policy.