PVD Noise Project

Explains why @PVDCityCouncil.bsky.social member @SueAnderBois.bsky.social was acting and talking like a *state* politician — and sold PVD residents out to state-wide landscapers on the recent gas-fueled #leafblower ordinance — while still serving as a *municipal* legislator. Follow the money, media!

Not sure why “ordinances” is in quotes — or that they don’t work. No rule or policy will work if it’s not actually implemented. But a society that passes laws on the implicit understanding that they WON’T be enforced has bigger issues than regulation: The essence of community is personal limitation.

In response to a Newport resident complaining about recurring and unhealthy #leafblower #noise, RI Sen. @SamZurier.bsky.social suggested she work with her neighbors to “enact an even better ordinance” than the embarrassing 7-year farce recently passed by the @PVDCityCouncil.bsky.social.

We concur.👏🏼

@PVDCityCouncil.bsky.social member @SueAnderBois.bsky.social, @WPRI12.bsky.social reporter @TedNesi.bsky.social recently wrote that “silence is rarely the most effective option for a public official,” so we’re asking AGAIN for the dates & times you met with RINLA about your gas #leafblower ordinance

Photo of early 1980s NY Times article on research showing public school students academic achievement is adversely affected by excessive noise from outside.

Our partners at @QuietCommunities.bsky.social have an excellent tribute to Dr. Arline Bronzaft, a pioneering urban #noise researcher / activist who recently passed away, and the namesake for our second Providence sound monitor. May she finally rest in peace. www.quietcommunities.org/quiet-coalit...

We surveyed the candidates in the @PVDCityCouncil.bsky.social Ward 2 special election, and are *cautiously* endorsing @Mattmfm.bsky.social McDermott.

We’re wary of candidates who tell residents what they want to hear, and will hold him to his responses. providencenoiseproject.org/2025-ward-2-...

We appreciate @PVDCityCouncil.bsky.social Ward 2 special-election candidate @JeffLevy.bsky.social’s fast response to our #noise issues survey and now look forward to receiving them from @JillD.bsky.social Davidson and David Caldwell.

If anyone knows how we can reach Axel Brito, please let us know.

We appreciate the fast response from Ward 2 special-election candidate @Mattmfm.bsky.social McDermott to our #noise issues survey, and look forward to receiving them from @JillD.bsky.social, David Caldwell, @JeffLevy.bsky.social, and (if we can get his contact info) Axel Brito.

Voters want to know!

Similarly, EcoRI quotes @PVDCityCouncil.bsky.social member @SueAnderBois.bsky.social as saying the GOAL of her ordinance “is to reduce #noisepollution in the city, as well as … other forms of environmental degradation from gas #leafblowers” — but if it lacks elements needed to do that, why pass it?

EcoRI News quotes a PVD official as saying the administration has made reducing #noise a “top priority” — citing long-touted sound meters and still-undeployed sound cameras — and that “these efforts are improving quality of life across Providence neighborhoods.” But where’s the *EVIDENCE* for that?

We were particularly dumbfounded that the Dept. of Environmental Management, which enforces federal laws governing pollution, told ecoRI News that #noise enforcement is left to cities and towns. RIDEM enforces the U.S. Clean Air Act, which includes noise, and has oversight on municipal enforcement.

Providence Project Aims to Reduce 'Loud' City's Noise Pollution - ecoRI News Excessive noise can affect health, causing high blood pressure and sleep issues.

Our thanks to @RobESmit.bsky.social and @EcoRInews.bsky.social for a great overview of the excessive #noise PVD residents have been exposed to for decades — and *still* remains a serious #publichealth issue despite years of “We’re acting on it” verbiage from city officials. ecori.org/providence-p...

The same guys — and they are mostly adolescent men — who spend money to replace perfectly working mufflers with modified ones that amplify engine noise tend to also be the ones who illegally tint their windows and drive far above the speed limit and otherwise recklessly. It’s a vehicular #darktriad.

After taking so many years to finally introduce #leafblower regulations in the @PVDCityCouncil.bsky.social’s appropriate committee, and another 8 months to gather input on the initial draft, why the sudden rush on a committee vote with just 2 days legal-minimum notice and similar full-Council votes?

@SueAnderBois.bsky.social says @PVDCityCouncil.bsky.social’s *only* chance at #leafblower regulation is to vote on Thursday, but it has other options: The Council sets its own legislative agenda, and can simply delay the vote to give the Environment Committee time to shorten those two key deadlines.

After spending nearly 8 months ostensibly seeking input on the original draft of the #leafblower ordinance, the @PVDCityCouncil.bsky.social’s Environment Committee doesn’t seem to have talked to PVD Mayor Smiley — or his sustainability director — or it did but ignored them. We know what that’s like.

If the PVD city government wants to end its use of gas-fueled #leafblowers sooner for the sake of the environment and residents’ #publichealth, why isn’t that in @PVDCityCouncil.bsky.social’s ordinance?

Whose interests are they representing if not their own constituents’ …?

@Rachel-RI.bsky.social

And PVD’s director of #sustainability testified to the @PVDCityCouncil.bsky.social’s Environment Committee that the general public’s use of gas-burning #leafblowers should end within six years rather than the EIGHT-year transition the Council proposes. @ShelPVD14.bsky.social @MSanchezPVD.bsky.social

Providence Mayor Smiley told WPRI 12 on Oct. 10 that the city government should lead by example by ending its workers’ / contractors’ use of gas-fueled #leafblowers earlier than the general public. The original version of the ordinance included that provision, but it was removed without explanation.

@PVDCityCouncil.bsky.social’s ordinance doesn’t finally end gas #leafblower use until 2033! According to the Quiet Clean Alliance, a network of U.S. groups working to reduce / end gas leafblowers, no other U.S. municipality lets these toxic emissions continue for so long. www.quietcleanalliance.org

@PVDCityCouncil.bsky.social member @SueAnderBois.bsky.social, you told the other members of the Environment Committee that you met with members of the RI landscaping lobby “several times”, and incorporated their requests into the #leafblower amendment. On what dates and times did you meet with them?

We call on @Rachel-RI.bsky.social to pause next week’s vote on the current amendment to allow a short period to revise it, then vote on the improved version later this month.

The amendment doesn’t kick in until 2027 — what’s the rush to pass a flawed version now instead of a better one in 3 weeks?

After a long delay since the February public hearing, the Environment Committee’s 15-minute approval and full City Council vote seem unnecessarily rushed.

Most PVD residents didn’t get a chance to review the version the Committee rubber-stamped, and expected more improvements to the original draft.

> “If it fails to pass or is veto’d, it’ll set it all back by at least a year or two to get a future version passed”

Not true — you can amend the current version to reduce the unnecessary 5-year delay to 2–3 years, as PVD’s director of #sustainability advocates. We’d support and mayor will sign it.

> “The phase out begins with a seasonal phase out in 2027, which is less than 2 years away.”

Nothing happens until 2027, then the process freezes for another FIVE years — leaving PVD residents and landscaping workers exposed to #noise and other toxic #airpollution every day every autumn until 2033!

> “bringing folks to the table is an important part of the process”

Knowing who you represent is an even more important part of the process. A municipal ordinance is intended to protect the health and environment of Providence residents, who elect the City Council to represent them — not all of RI.

> “Getting this passed and implemented is what I’m doing to best serve my community”

That’s exactly the point: As written, the prohibition on gas leafblowers in Providence won’t be implemented for EIGHT years. How does that serve your community in *PVD* (not all of RI, which you keep referring to)?

> “Most folks I talk with want the phase-out”

We also support a phase-out — that was never the issue. It was always about how *long* the phase-out should be. The amendment cites gas leafblowers’ adverse health and environmental effects, but then takes EIGHT years to phase them out. That’s too long.

> “PVD based businesses serve other parts of the state & vice versa.”

The @PVDCityCouncil.bsky.social doesn’t govern other parts of the state, which get to decide how much pollution they want to endure there, just like PVD residents decide that here through you — and non-PVD businesses must comply.

> “Getting legislation actually passed & implemented often requires working [with] many folks.”

And even more folks when you include people who don’t live in PVD — and who have city council members (and RI reps / senators) where *they* live.

We need you to represent PVD residents — not all of RI!