Voice of the people (letter.)

Living With Noise

October 07, 1999|By James Slaughter.

HINSDALE — The article "Is your house a teardown candidate?" (Real Estate, Oct. 3) omits a major aspect of the teardown story--teardowns create pollution, noise, dust, asbestos, fumes and construction debris.

Because, as the article mentions, a whopping 10 percent of the houses in Hinsdale have been demolished, it should have been easy to discover that Hinsdale is very polluted by noise. Additional research would have led to the finding that the noise has persisted virtually every day for the last 10 years.

Indeed the teardown artists are notorious for creating noise. And just try to stop them. Both teardown artists and village administrators are impervious to noise complaints and suggestions on how to reduce this type of pollution.

This noise distracts us even inside our homes. It prevents us from enjoying the peace and tranquility of our own property. Feel like leaving the windows open in the summer? Forget it. The constant noise interferes with normal conversation, hampers listening to the TV and is distracting enough to impede the completion of tasks requiring focused concentration. Want to read a book in the dappled shade of the maple tree in the front yard? Bring your earplugs and face mask.

In pursuit of information I spent many hours researching the issue of noise. I found companies that produce super quiet equipment like portable electric generators and air compressors and acoustic-containment products to dampen the noise and create an envelope around the offending machine or activity. The teardown artists politely ignored my suggestions. The arguments teardown artists use to justify their activities are strikingly similar to the ones used by the tobacco and asbestos industries: Yes, exposure is annoying but no research exists to prove beyond doubt it (noise, tobacco, and asbestos) can hurt you; this is good pollution because it is good for the economy; there is no law against it--besides we are giving our customers what they want; if it bothers you, you should move somewhere quieter.

Ironically during a decade when aircraft noise has been reduced significantly, Hinsdale has gotten noisier. This part of the story merits our fullest attention.