Letters

I live in Southampton Village, on a small lot with a relatively small house. The yard is full of trees, shrubs and flowers — it feels like a real oasis.

But because of the relative density of the village, and the landscaping habits and equipment of the area, every day means a nearly constant sequence of noise: lawn mowers, hedge clippers, edgers, car vacuums, leaf blowers.

Thanks to former Mayor Michael Irving and Trustee Kimberly Allan, the blowers now are required to be, and mostly are, electric. But not the hedge clippers or the lawn mowers — though they could be.

Maybe this seems like a trivial issue as we all focus on how to live during a pandemic and how to address both societywide and personal racism. But noise saps energy and reduces mental bandwidth, which we need for all our other work. It is the single aspect of my life here that would drive me to live elsewhere.

Is there any group of citizens in the area that concerns itself with noise?

Diane Englander

Southampton Village