Thanks for bringing me stuff, can you be a little quieter doing it?
I’m enjoying my visit to San Diego. But I must confess to being surprised at how noisy a city it is. I’ve lived in cities before, including a short stint across from a fire station (ouch). But San Diego easily takes the cake as the loudest city I’ve spent time in.
This is due to the 5 freeway, the airport, and in the harbor area I’m living in, the TRAINS. Three types of trains come through – the trolley, Amtrak, and BNSF freight trains. Each has to BLOW its horn at every intersection. The trolleys horn is almost pleasant. Amtrak, not so bad, but the BNSF ones blast and echo like fog horns. I investigated and found that some train horns are louder than jet engines.
Since most of the downtown urban living centers around the harbor, and thus the tracks, the horns sound many times an hour.
I happened to sit by an active San Diego permanent resident at a cafe yesterday and he told me that new regulations had been passed to keep the trains from sounding horns. It required building better crossing guards and medians, so it won’t happen during my stay.
But the silence will definitely be welcome on future visits.
July 7th, 2010 at 9:06 pm
The good life has a price: noise, crowds, and taxes.
July 7th, 2010 at 10:45 pm
The noise here is just a by-product of the trains. Taxes, sure, but they don’t need to be so high to have a “good life”. Most of the money taken from us is wasted. And that includes San Diego.
July 8th, 2010 at 9:36 am
As for not wasting tax money: You show me an efficient government, and I’ll show you a dictatorship. — Harry Truman. 535 legislators who represent constituencies will never agree on waste-less government. Even you demand that your Members do the things you want, some of which will look like waste to a lot of others. I note that Sarah Palin even has an opinion that national security should have everything it wants. At least that is her latest opining. She could say anything that conflicts with that next week.
In addition to trains in places of good-life activity there are honking autos, close flying jets, drunken bar patrons, emergency vehicle sirens, police helicopters, etc. Serenity requires either great insulation expense or living where you have to drive to the good life.
July 8th, 2010 at 10:08 am
I’m not looking for efficient, just not corrupt.
Palin is slightly better that other career politicians.