The Noise Next Door
A city delegate pushes back against proposed ordinances intended to silence wood-sawing machines near homes.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Delegate Carlisle objected to a bill forbidding the operation of wood-sawing machines within fifty feet of a dwelling. He said if they were to legislate at the instigation of citizens objecting to business there would be no end to it. He pointed to the Broadway pumping station, with its smoke and cinders by day and pounding by night, as a greater nuisance. He argued against putting power into the hands of 'cantankerous' people who would use it to settle petty grudges. Despite his protest, the bill was passed with amendments.
“If a dog barked by night a man might as well rush to the city council to have the nuisance abated.”
Delegate Carlisle's frustration with 'cantankerous' citizens mirrors the modern NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) debate in Seattle. The tension between preserving residential peace and allowing the functioning of a bustling city economy remains a constant, whether the noise comes from wood-saws or urban density.
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