Don\u2019t want speed cameras, Staten Islanders? <\/p>\n
Well, you\u2019re getting them.<\/p>\n
You hate red-light cameras? <\/p>\n
Too bad.<\/p>\n
But when Staten Islanders actually want more traffic enforcement from the city, we\u2019re left out in the cold. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s what we\u2019re seeing when it comes to noise cameras. <\/p>\n
The City Council passed legislation 2023, the \u201cStop Spreading the Noise\u201d law, mandating that at least five noise cameras would be placed in each borough by Sept. 30 of this year. <\/p>\n
The cameras are meant to ticket vehicles that break the city\u2019s noise level of 85 decibels. <\/p>\n
Noise is a major quality-of-life problem in every borough, including on Staten Island. And being a vehicle culture here, noise from cars comes in near the top of the list of irritants. <\/p>\n
That includes loud stock engines as well as engines that have been legally or illegally modified in order to make them louder. <\/p>\n
I can literally hear revving engines as I write this, like there\u2019s a drag race going on. And not the RuPaul kind. Like \u201cAmerican Graffiti\u201d or a Bruce Springsteen song. <\/p>\n
I frankly don\u2019t get the appeal of crazy-loud car engines. The same way I don\u2019t get the appeal of blasting your music out of your car for the world to hear, the bass thumping so loudly that my windows actually shake in their frames. <\/p>\n
And this just isn\u2019t because I\u2019m old and grumpy. I felt this way when I was young and grumpy too. Grow up and have some consideration for other people. Pretend you live in society and not alone on an island. Nobody needs to hear you roaring down the block. <\/p>\n
So, noise cameras seemed like they might actually be a good idea. They might not eliminate the problem entirely, but they might provide at least some kind of deterrent. <\/p>\n
The rollout concluded last Tuesday and guess what? Staten Island didn\u2019t get any noise cameras. <\/a><\/p>\n Not one. We\u2019re the only one of the five boroughs that didn\u2019t get a noise camera. <\/p>\n What, you couldn\u2019t take one or two cameras from the other boroughs so the Island could at least have a couple? <\/p>\n A total of 12 cameras were placed in the other boroughs, even though the legislation called for a total of 25.<\/p>\n The city is breaking its own law all over the place. <\/p>\n The city Department of Environmental Protection, the agency given the dubious honor of being the tip of the spear for this program, said that there haven\u2019t been many requests for the cameras to be deployed here.<\/p>\n Since when did that matter whenever the powers-that-be in the city or state have wanted to foist something on Staten Island against the will of Islanders? Congestion pricing. Battery sites. City of Yes. Bike lanes. Speed bumps. <\/p>\n Hello? <\/p>\n For once, some Staten Islanders want the city to actually apply its dreaded one-size-fits-all policymaking here. Treat us like the other boroughs. Do the same enforcement here that you\u2019re doing elsewhere. Give us those noise cameras. <\/p>\n But no. <\/p>\n Not only that, but the agency said that the noise camera program will not grow beyond the dozen cameras currently deployed because, get this, there\u2019s not enough funding. <\/p>\n Each noise camera costs around $40,000, according to the DEP.<\/p>\n Whoa. <\/p>\n In the context of a $115.9 billion city budget, that\u2019s not even a grain of sand on a beach. You\u2019re telling me the city couldn\u2019t find that money somewhere?<\/p>\n A boilerplate statement from Mayor Eric Adams read in part: \u201cDEP identifies camera locations based on background noise levels, traffic patterns, and other environmental factors. This data-driven approach helps us address noise pollution and ensure that every neighborhood benefits from a quieter, more peaceful environment.\u201d<\/p>\n Right. <\/p>\n Except on Staten Island. <\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t want speed cameras, Staten Islanders? Well, you\u2019re getting them. You hate red-light cameras? Too bad. But when…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":279660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[2106,5229,144545,43718,144546,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,7207,1194,132861,144547,144548,144549,144550,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,22968],"class_list":{"0":"post-279659","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-alcohol","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-darkness","11":"tag-drivers","12":"tag-drunkenness","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkcity","17":"tag-ny","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-police","20":"tag-society","21":"tag-speed-limit","22":"tag-speeder","23":"tag-symbol-image","24":"tag-symbol-photo","25":"tag-under-the-influence-of-alcohol","26":"tag-united-states","27":"tag-united-states-of-america","28":"tag-unitedstates","29":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","30":"tag-us","31":"tag-usa","32":"tag-view"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115321980149098399","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}