Dear Editor,
While much attention is being devoted to the national midterm elections, there is also a very local election taking place in the Town of Somers. Voters will elect a Town Supervisor and a member of the Town Board. Among the issues the candidates should consider is the growing problem of vehicle noise and its impact on quality of life and the perception of safety in our community.
I am referring to high-powered cars with increasingly loud exhaust systems that blare through our town, particularly at night. Hardly a night goes by without these disruptive noises breaking the general silence of our otherwise peaceful community.
On our block alone, multiple automobiles have modified exhaust systems. They race up and down the street, and their engines are often revved to intolerable, ear-splitting levels, often during the late-night and early-morning hours.
My 94-year-old mother, who is visiting us from Queens, is astonished and frightened by the noise. She has remarked that her apartment in the middle of New York City is far quieter than my house here in Somers.
There are laws on the books to address this problem. New York State’s SLEEP Act, for example, is intended to reduce noise pollution and protect public health from excessively loud vehicles. Violators, including shops that install illegal exhaust systems, can face significant fines.
I am not pining for some mythical time when everything was “hunky-dory.” I am simply asking the candidates for Town Supervisor and Town Board to recognize excessive vehicle noise as a quality-of-life and public-safety issue — and to consider whether existing laws are being adequately enforced.
-Tito Davila, Somers
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