Shhh... Quiet if you are in Joliet |
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Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
August 12, 2008
If Joliet can do it, Woodstock can do it. Of course, Woodstock could always have done it, but why hasn't it?
For years Woodstock residents have been annoyed and disturbed by the loud, thumping bass of car stereos. When I lived on the corner of Dean and South Streets in 2002, the noise was horrendous. It could be heard with all the windows closed, and the windows even rattled from the sound of some of the car stereos.
We have two bed-and-breakfast inns in Woodstock, and rumor has it that there is about to be a third. But it's not only visitors who shouldn't be disturbed, we year-round residents deserve some peace and quiet.
Read today's article in the Chicago Tribune about the crackdown by Joliet police. Just click on http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/green/chi-noise-crackdown_12aug12,0,5829651.story
In recent weeks Joliet police officers have issued 110 tickets. That's ONE HUNDRED TEN! And since January 1st? How about 250?
If a car stereo (sound amplification system) can be heard 75 feet from the vehicle, it's a violation with a $75 fine. Joliet pumps up the cost by towing the vehicle, and that adds $275! Ouch! That'll get a driver's attention.
Woodstock Police could do the same thing. They could set up shop on the Square or on Dean Street or on South Street. An officer could sit on a porch or in a lawn chair at a measured 75 feet from a certain point on the street and, when the loud beast passes by, he could just radio to an officer in a marked car who would stop the violator and issue the ticket.
Would we use the towing tactic here? I'd recommend against it in the beginning.
Woodstock could also create some Quiet Zones and use portable signs to identify them. Quiet Zones could exist around hospitals, schools, hotels, motels, bed-and-breakfast inns, the Square, daycare centers and any place that a resident wanted to call in. The signs could be moved around, just as the radar speed trailer is.
How about it? How's the noise in your neighborhood? Are you bothered by the loud, thumping sound of the bass of a radio in a passing vehicle?
© 2008 GUS PHILPOTT