Showing posts with label Noise Issues. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Noise Issues. Show all posts

January 3, 2011

Yet Another Benefit of so called safe and sane Fireworks?

In addition to air, water and noise pollution we now have this issue below to contend with. I guess this is similar to dogs that break loose from yards and run wild once fireworks start. The Fireworks industry is pushing very hard to get fireworks now for New Years in addition to July 4th. Soon we we will be able to enjoy lovely fireworks all year long. Wonderful. Next up..fireworks to celebrate Martin Luther King Day...

Update 1/5/11: apparently this WAS the result of fireworks just as was suspected.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-01-05-arkansas-dead-birds-fireworks_N.htm

Fireworks likely cause of massive Ark. bird kill

By Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY
It wasn't a secret government spraying program, Martians or gas seeping out of the New Madrid fault that killed the 5,000 or so blackbirds that died New Year's Eve in Beebe, Ark.

It was someone shooting off professional grade fireworks in a residential district, scaring the night-blind birds out of their roost into a 25-mph flight that ran them into houses, signs and even the ground, says Karen Rowe, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission ornithologist.

"They were bouncing off houses, basketball backboards, trucks," she says.

Rowe made her observations Wednesday as Game and Fish officials got back further results from necropsies on the dead birds. The findings have given Rowe and others enough confidence in their original conclusions that they were having fun with some of the other theories floating about.

Separate bird deaths were also reported this week in Louisiana, where 450 died, and in Kentucky last week, where hundreds more were found dead.

LOUISIANA DEATHS: Louisiana has mass bird deaths just days after Arkansas
BIRD KILL: Trauma cited in mysterious Ark. bird kill

The not-so-mysterious saga began at about 10 p.m. New Year's Eve in the tiny town of Beebe, about 40 miles northeast of Little Rock.

"Someone shot off 10 to 12 professional-type fireworks near the roost," she says. Wayne Ballew, Beebe's chief of police, lives nearby. He reported that they "shook the windows on his house," she says.

Rowe has talked with residents who live in the neighborhood where the birds were found and they all reported the loud booms at that time.

At that point, the flock, which could easily numbers in the tens of thousands, took to the air.

It was actually composed of both red-winged blackbirds and European starlings, which commonly roost together.

Unfortunately for the birds, both blackbirds and starlings "have extremely limited night vision," says Robert Meese, an avian ecologist at the University of California-Davis who studies a related blackbird species.

In addition, neighbors were also setting off fireworks and bottle rockets, which further confused the birds who were now madly trying to get back to their safe perches, Rowe says.

"I talked to individuals who were outside when the birds started crashing into things," she says.After the birds took flight they would have been completely disoriented and flying at a high rate of speed, "most likely about 25 mph, given my experience with their cousins, the tricolored blackbird," Meese says.

They would have flown up into the air, then back down looking for a safe place to roost.

"This rapid descent of living birds crashing into these multiple obstacles then caused the loud noises reported by the residents of Beebe, especially those that flew into rooftops or walls of houses," Meese says. "This also accounts for the blunt force trauma to the breasts."

Perhaps most importantly, Meese says, the spatial distribution of the carcasses on the ground is what would be expected from a flock of blackbirds in flight, relatively close together and not scattered over many miles.

The necropsies performed by the Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission found trauma to the chest, hemorrhages to the chest and the leading edge of the birds' wings broken, Rowe says.

"What seems like a deep mystery likely is not, and if this had occurred out in the middle of a wheat or corn field instead of in a suburban area, we'd probably never have been aware of it," Meese says.

State officials originally put the number of birds dead at around 3,000, but a more systematic count, and estimates of those taken by scavengers, puts it closer to 5,000, Rowe says.

The story of dead blackbirds raining down from the sky in a small Arkansas town, hitting as it did on a slow news week, caused a huge stir that still surprises state officials.

"I'm keeping a list of the most bizarre theories," Rowe says. So far they include:

• Aliens

• Noxious gases seeping out of the nearby New Madrid fault, cause of a massive earthquake in the area in 1812

• Sonic booms

• Fumes from a gas plant in Mississippi

• The government spraying poison over Beebe

And Meese adds these:

• Black helicopters (covert, unmarked military aircraft)

• Tornadoes

But it's taught Rowe that she and other wildlife experts need to do a better job of educating the public about the fact that wild animals die all the time. A bird that manages to hatch and leave the nest still has only a 70% chance of making it to its first birthday, she points out.

"Birds don't go to the bird hospital and get put on life support and die there. They just die. Mother Nature is not a nice lady," she says.

Contributing: Associated Press

Arkansas blackbird carcasses being sent for testing
CTV.ca News Staff
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/SciTech/20110103/birds-death-arkansas-110103/
Date: Mon. Jan. 3 2011 11:16 AM ET

Wildlife experts hope to gain insight this week into what caused the mysterious deaths of more than 1,000 red-winged blackbirds in an Arkansas town on New Year's Eve.

Autopsies will begin Monday in laboratories in Arkansas, Georgia and Wisconsin, according to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, which is heading up the investigation.

It may take a week for results to come in.

For now, investigators are scratching their heads at the strange phenomenon. Between 11:30 p.m. and midnight on New Year's Eve, about 1,000 birds fell from the sky in Beebe, Ark.

Karen Rowe, an ornithologist with the AGFC, suggested lightning, high-altitude hail or celebratory fireworks may have played a role.

Horace Taylor, an animal control officer in Beebe, told CTV's Canada AM he believes the birds were scared into flight by fireworks. Because they have limited night vision, the birds then simply started to fly into objects and each other.


"We're pretty sure it's fireworks that caused it," Taylor said.


"The birds were frightened, they started flying and flying into one another, running into trees, houses, cars and everything they could hit, and it killed them, that's what I think happened."

The dead birds -- which have all been collected -- fell in an area about 1.5 kilometres long by 800 metres wide

The Monday necropsy testing is expected to help determine whether the birds died from trauma or toxin.

The incident occurred just one day after thousands of dead fished washed up on the shore of the Arkansas River, which is about 300 kilometres away from Beebe.

The fish were found by a tugboat operator along a 40-kilometre stretch of the river near the city of Ozark, Ark.

Because only drum fish were affected, some experts have suggested the die-off was likely due to disease, rather than contamination.

It's not clear whether there is any connection between the two incidents.

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™ click here to receive LAAG posts by email

January 6, 2007

Noise laws and regulations in Lakewood

We get lots of inquiries about "noise" on our site. As is typical of the Lakewood official city website it offers very little specific information so we have had to obtain the information from other sources.

"Ordinary" business and residential noises are acceptable between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. "Construction work" (we suspect this also includes yard and tree maintenance people) is permitted between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Sundays. This is governed by Lakewood Municipal codes.

The Lakewood Sheriff’s Station claims that it responds to complaints about loud parties, bands, and similar disturbances. Please call the Lakewood Sheriff’s Station at 562-623-3500, or better yet email them directly so you have a written there is a record of the complaint. There email addresses are on this site or contact us directly. There is no Lakewood Municipal code dealing with "noisy parties". California Penal Code section 415 deals with noise coming from parties and other unlawful gatherings:

Penal code section 415
Any of the following persons shall be punished by imprisonment
in the county jail for a period of not more than 90 days, a fine of
not more than four hundred dollars ($400), or both such imprisonment
and fine:
(1) Any person who unlawfully fights in a public place or
challenges another person in a public place to fight.
(2) Any person who maliciously and willfully disturbs another
person by loud and unreasonable noise.
(3) Any person who uses offensive words in a public place which
are inherently likely to provoke an immediate violent reaction.

Barking Dogs and other Noisy Animals:

When the City contracted with the Southeast Area Animal Control Authority in 1992, they adopted their uniform ordinance. Animal control sections within the municipal code were suspended and Ordinance No. 92-9 now controls. The following section is from that ordinance:

Section 911. NOISY ANIMALS. It is hereby declared to be a nuisance, and no person shall keep, maintain or permit upon any lot or parcel of land within the city under this control, any animal or animals including any fowl or fowls, which by any sound, or cry, shall interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property by an individual.

What is Good About A Barking Dog?

* Alerts owners of potential problems.
* Warns owners of a stranger's presence.
* Alerts neighbors of intruders when the owner is not home.
* Indicates an animal in distress.

What Is Bad About A Barking Dog?

* One dog barking usually starts another dog barking.
* Excessive barking is extremely annoying.
* Barking disturbing one's sleep is aggravating.
* Excessive noise disturbs those who are ill, shut-in, etc.
* Citizens can obtain a complaint for this code violation.
* Usually indicates a highly nervous or bored animal.
* Excessive barking can be harmful to dogs.
* Unless stopped, barking may develop into a type of hysteria.

Do You Own A Watchdog Or A Nuisance?
Determine for yourself whether your dog is a good companion and watchdog or a neighborhood noise nuisance by asking yourself these questions:

Does your dog bark excessively.....

* When someone rings your doorbell?
* When garbage collectors, mail carriers, paper carriers, etc. come to, or go by your house?
* When children are playing outside?
* When another animal comes into view?
* When hearing a siren?
* When wanting to get into the house?
* When you leave or get home?
* When left alone and lonely?

If your answer is "yes" to any of these questions, your dog could be a neighborhood nuisance. This disturbance of the peace is one of the quickest and most common ways to become a bad neighbor. Persistent barkers are more likely to be ignored if there is a real emergency since they seem to bark all the time.

What Can You Do About Your Barking Dog?

* Determine what causes the dog to bark.
* Dogs are less inclines to bark if a barrier blocks their view.
* Be alert to stop the barking as soon as it starts.
* Train you dog to respond to a command to be quiet.
* Reward your dog whenever it barks for a watchdog reason.
* Don't leave an animal unattended for long periods of time.
* Train your dog to stay quietly within its quarters when you are away.

Breaking A Bad Habit
The best cure for the barking habit is prevention early in a dog's life. If a dog already has a barking habit, then you must make efforts to correct the situation. Whatever training method you choose, be consistent and persistent with the animal. Simple scolding and punishment may be sufficient.

When left alone in a house, help the loneliness by leaving a radio on. To help either an indoor or outdoor dog with boredom, be sure to have some toys available for amusement. Don't make a big thing out of leaving or returning home; and overly excited dog is more likely to bark and yelp.

You may consider taking the animal to an obedience training school if the dog is too neurotic for an inexperienced trainer.

Your dog will soon learn that his silence pleases you.

Water Training Method
The Humane Society of the Unites States has endorsed a method of breaking the dog of a barking habit that is both inexpensive and humane. The solution is based on animal conditioning and the method is almost 100% effective when properly carried out.

Every time a dog barks unnecessarily, it is sprayed with water from a plant mister. The spray is harmless, but it stops the barking. Usually, a day or two of training is enough, as the dog learns to expect a squirt of water if it barks for the wrong reason. Be ready for an immediate response. Have a plant mister filled with water ready for use when needed. Say "QUIET" and give one or more squirts at the dog while it is barking. Spraying after it stops barking will confuse the dog. Repeat "QUIET" and give one more squirt of water each time the dog barks needlessly.

With this conditioning procedure, your dog will learn to expect a squirt of water when you say "QUIET," for once the dog has made the association you won't need to squirt the animal again, only when he forgets.

Remember to reassure the dog that you are still friends by petting him later when he is quiet.

The Responsibility Is Yours
As a dog owner, you know the companionship, loyalty, love, and fun that your dog adds to your life, but you must also realize your responsibility toward your neighbors. Dog owners are sometimes insensitive to the barking of their own dog. Put yourself in your neighbor's place to see how your dog's habits affect them. Excessive barking can be extremely annoying to neighbors as well as to those who have to live with a noisy dog. The security of knowing you have a real watch dog, as well as enjoying a peaceful and quiet neighborhood, is well worth the effort.

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

click here to receive LAAG posts by email

December 15, 2006

California Noise Laws

California Health and Safety Code

DIVISION 28. NOISE CONTROL ACT

CHAPTER 1. FINDINGS, DECLARATIONS, AND INTENT

46000. The Legislature hereby finds and declares that:

(a) Excessive noise is a serious hazard to the public health and welfare.

(b) Exposure to certain levels of noise can result in physiological, psychological, and economic damage.

(c) There is a continuous and increasing bombardment of noise in the urban, suburban, and rural areas.

(d) Government has not taken the steps necessary to provide for the control, abatement, and prevention of unwanted and hazardous noise.

(e) The State of California has a responsibility to protect the health and welfare of its citizens by the control, prevention, and abatement of noise.

(f) All Californians are entitled to a peaceful and quiet environment without the intrusion of noise which may be hazardous to their health or welfare.

(g) It is the policy of the state to provide an environment for all Californians free from noise that jeopardizes their health or welfare. To that end it is the purpose of this division to establish a means for effective coordination of state activities in noise control and to take such action as will be necessary to achieve the purposes of this section.

46001. No provision of this division or ruling of the Office of Noise Control is a limitation or expansion:

(a) On the power of a city, county, or city and county to adopt and enforce additional regulations, not in conflict therewith, imposing further conditions, restrictions, or limitations.

(b) On the power of any city, county, or city and county to declare, prohibit, and abate nuisances.

(c) On the power of the Attorney General, at the request of the office, the state department, or upon his own motion to bring an action in the name of the people of the State of California to enjoin any pollution or nuisance or to protect the natural resources of the state.

(d) On the power of a state agency in the enforcement or administration of any provision of law which it is specifically permitted or required to enforce or administer.

(e) On the right of any person to maintain at any time any appropriate action for relief against any private nuisance as defined in the Civil Code or for relief against any noise pollution.

46002. Nothing in this division shall be construed as giving the Office of Noise Control authority or responsibility for adopting or enforcing noise-emission standards for any product for which a regulation has been, or could be, prescribed or promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency under the Noise Control Act of 1972.

CHAPTER 2. SHORT TITLE

46010. This division shall be known and may be cited as the California Noise Control Act of 1973.

CHAPTER 3. DEFINITIONS

46020. Unless the context otherwise requires, the definitions set forth in this chapter govern the construction of the words used in this division.

46021. "Local agency" means and includes every local agency, including a county, city, whether general law or chartered, city and county, school district, municipal corporation, district, political subdivision, or any board, commission or agency thereof, or other local public agency.

46022. "Noise" means and includes excessive undesirable sound, including that produced by persons, pets and livestock, industrial equipment, construction, motor vehicles, boats, aircraft, home appliances, electric motors, combustion engines, and any other noise-producing objects.

46023. "Office" means the Office of Noise Control.

46024. "Public agency" means and includes every state agency and every local agency.

46025. "State agency" means and includes every state office, officer, department, division, bureau, board, council, commission, or other state agency.

CHAPTER 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE

46040. There is within the state department an Office of Noise Control.

CHAPTER 5. DUTIES OF THE OFFICE

46050. The office shall, in order to protect health and well-being establish and maintain a program on noise control, including but not limited to:

(a) Determining the psychological and physical health effects of noise.

(b) Determining the physiological effects of noise upon plant and animal life.

(c) Monitoring noise.

(d) Collecting and disseminating authoritative information on adverse effects of noise and of means for its control.

(e) Developing, in cooperation with local governments, model ordinances for urban, suburban, and rural environments.

(f) Providing assistance to local governmental entities engaged in developing and implementing noise abatement procedures.

(g) Developing criteria and guidelines for use in setting standards for human exposure to noise.

(h) Developing standards for the use of noise-producing objects in California.

(i) Developing criteria for submission to the Legislature so that state agencies may require noise control in equipment purchased for state use.

46050.1. Notwithstanding Section 65040.2 of the Government Code, the office shall adopt, in coordination with the Office of Planning and Research and each state department and agency as it deems appropriate, guidelines for the preparation and content of noise elements as required by Section 65302 of the Government Code.

In adding Section 39850.1 to the Health and Safety Code, which was the predecessor to this section, and amending Section 65302 of the Government Code by Chapter 1124 of the Statutes of 1975, it was the intent of the Legislature to ensure, insofar as possible, that new and periodically revised noise elements in local governments' general plans be more standardized, comprehensive, and utilitarian than they had been previously.

However, the Legislature also recognized that some cities and counties had already adopted noise elements pursuant to the existing Section 65302 of the Government Code and that others had received extensions on the due date of their noise element until September 20, 1975. Those cities and counties were not required to resubmit new noise elements consistent with Section 65302 of the Government Code, or to recognize guidelines adopted pursuant to this section, but are required, upon initial and periodic revision of the noise element, to comply with Section 65302 of the Government Code and to recognize those guidelines.

The requirement that the office adopt guidelines for the preparation and content of noise elements shall be inoperative during the 1993-94 fiscal year.

CHAPTER 6. ASSISTANCE TO LOCAL AGENCIES

46060. It is the purpose of this chapter to encourage the enactment and enforcement of local ordinances in those areas which are most properly the responsibility of local government. It is further the purpose to insure that the state is of maximum assistance to local agencies in the discharge of those responsibilities, furnishing technical and legal expertise to assist local agencies in the enactment and enforcement of meaningful and technically sufficient noise abatement measures.

46061. The office shall provide technical assistance to local agencies in combating noise pollution. Such assistance shall include but not be limited to:

(a) Advice concerning methods of noise abatement and control.

(b) Advice on training of noise control personnel.

(c) Advice on selection and operation of noise abatement equipment.

46062. The office shall provide assistance to local agencies in the preparation of model ordinances to control and abate noise. Such ordinances shall be developed in consultation with the Attorney General and with representatives of local agencies, including the County Supervisors Association of California and the League of California Cities. Any local agency which adopts any noise control ordinance shall promptly furnish a copy to the office.

CHAPTER 7. COORDINATION OF STATE AND FEDERAL ACTIVITIES

46070. The director shall promote coordination of the programs of all state agencies relating to noise research, abatement, prevention, and control. Each state agency shall, upon request, furnish to the director such information as he may reasonably require to determine the nature, scope, and results of the noise research and noise control programs of the agency.

46071. On the basis of regular consultation with appropriate state agencies, the director shall compile and publish, from time to time, a report on the status and progress of state activities relating to noise research and noise control. This report shall describe the noise programs of each state agency and assess the contributions of those programs to the state's overall efforts to control noise.

46072. In any case where any state agency is carrying out or sponsoring any activity resulting in noise which the director determines amounts to a public nuisance or is otherwise objectionable, such agency shall consult with the director to determine possible means of abating such noise. This section does not apply to any action of a private person for which a license, permit, or other entitlement for use is required to be issued by a state agency.

46073. The Legislature authorizes and directs that all state agencies shall, to the fullest extent consistent with existing authority, administer the programs within their control in such a manner as to further the policy declared in Section 46000. This section shall not be construed to limit or expand the authority of any state agency to issue or deny a license, permit, or other entitlement for use.

46074. Each state agency authorized to adopt regulations in the area of noise control shall in the manner specified in subdivision (c) of Section 11423 of the Government Code give notice to and invite the comments of the office concerning any proposed adoption, amendment, or repeal of a regulation in the area of noise control.

46075. In accordance with the provisions of Section 11426 of the Government Code or other applicable law, the office may petition any public agency for the adoption of regulations or other measures otherwise within the authority of that public agency in the area of noise control.

46076. The Office of Noise Control shall maintain a program to insure that all state agencies are advised of available federal assistance and funds for noise control programs. The office may, at the request of individual agencies, act for them for the following purposes:

(a) Applying for federal funds which may be made available to the states for noise control programs or related research as a result of the Noise Control Act of 1972 (P.L. 92-574) or any other federal program or law.

(b) Receiving technical assistance from the Environmental Protection Agency to facilitate the development and enforcement of state noise standards and model noise legislation.

46077. The office shall maintain a program to ensure coordinated state and federal noise control programs including, but not limited to, the following:

(a) The study of federal noise regulations proposed for adoption pursuant to the Noise Control Act of 1972.

(b) The preparation of comments, evaluations, objections or the use of any other means to ensure that the federal government considers existing California noise control statutes and regulations prior to the adoption of regulations in order to prevent the adoption of federal noise regulations weaker than existing state standards.

CHAPTER 8. RESEARCH AND PUBLIC INFORMATION

46080. In furtherance of his responsibilities under this division and to complement, as necessary, the noise research programs of federal agencies and of other state agencies, the director is authorized to:

(a) Conduct research, and finance research by contract with other public and private bodies, on the effects, measurement, and control of noise, including but not limited to:

(1) Investigation of the psychological and physiological effects of noise on humans and the effects of noise on domestic animals, wildlife, and property, and determination of acceptable levels of noise on the basis of such effects.

(2) Development of improved methods and standards for measurement and monitoring of noise.

(3) Determination of the most effective and practicable means of controlling noise generation, transmission, and reception.

(b) Coordinate with and become knowledgeable concerning the noise research programs of other governmental entities including the federal government.

(c) Disseminate to the public information on the effects of noise, acceptable noise levels, and techniques for noise measurement and control.


CALIFORNIA CODES
VEHICLE CODE SECTION 27000-27007

27007. No driver of a vehicle shall operate, or permit the operation of, any sound amplification system which can be heard outside the vehicle from 50 or more feet when the vehicle is being operated upon a highway, unless that system is being operated to request assistance or warn of a hazardous situation.

This section does not apply to authorized emergency vehicles or vehicles operated by gas, electric, communications, or water utilities. This section does not apply to the sound systems of vehicles used for advertising, or in parades, political or other special events, except that the use of sound systems on those vehicles may be prohibited by a local authority by ordinance or resolution.

California Land Use Compatibility Noise Guidelines
LAND USE CATEGORY -- Residential - Low Density, Single-Family, Duplex , Mobile Homes
Normally Acceptable Conditionally Acceptable Normally Unacceptable Clearly Unacceptable
50-60 dBA 55-70 dBA 70-75 dBA 75-85 dBA
Source: California Land Use Compatibility Noise Guidelines - Community Noise Equivalent Level (CNEL*)

Ambient noise: background or existing noise level. The composite of noise from all sources near and far in a given environment, exclusive of occasional and transient intrusive noise.

CNEL (Community Noise Equivalent Level): a noise measurement scale applied over a 24-hour period to all noise events received at the measurement point. It is weighted more heavily for evening and night periods in order to account for the lower tolerance of individuals to noise during those periods.

EIR: environmental impact report, a requirement of CEQA.

EIS: environmental impact statement, a requirement of NEPA.

EPA: federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™