draft letter to mayor

[cellio]

I'll de-snark this before actually sending it, but right now I just have to get this out of my system.

Dear Mayor Ravenstahl,

I write concerning the annual disturbance of the peace known as the Great Race.

As you will see from my address, I live on the starting line for this event. This means that crowds begin to gather at 7:00AM and the sound system is fired up soon thereafter. I understand the need to give instructions to the racers, but the primary use of the sound system is to play high-decibel music. I do not understand the logistical need for that.

I work hard all week, and Sunday is the one day when I can sleep in a little -- except when this great ruckus occurs outside my bedroom window. (There is, in fact, no room in my house where this is not a problem, so I can't just sleep on the couch that night.) I understand that you consider the Great Race to be a great community-building event, so I would like to suggest that some other neighborhood become the beneficiary of this community-building starting next year. It's time for the race to move. If you can't change its location, please change its time by several hours; the end of September is late enough that the mid-day heat is not a concern for runners (and late afternoon would certainly not be a problem).

Regardless of when and where the race is, I urge you to eliminate the unnecessary noise; residents are more likely to tolerate the necessary noise if we do not feel abused by gratuitious disregard of our Sunday mornings.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I would appreciate the courtesy of a resolution before election day.

Comments

[alice-curiouser.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's excessively snarky at all, and living behind a high school football field, I feel your pain. :\

[http://users.livejournal.com/merle_/]

I agree, it does not seem excessively snarky. A bit, but that is needed.

The areas when they have live blasting music at farmers markets or street fairs really irk me. I would enjoy just about any event more if I could hear the person who is two feet away from me. Or not feel the throbbing pain. It cannot be healthy for the eardrums to be within a city block of some of those sound systems. There have been times when even after walking to the local farmers market I have simply turned around and gone home because the music is too loud.

[dragonazure.livejournal.com]

I am assuming this is a foot race and not the antique automobile race. For some reason, I have it in my head that the auto race was held on Labor Day weekend.

[cellio]

Yes, foot race. Pity it wasn't the cars, actually; the density of people would be lower. :-) But really, the people weren't the biggest problem; it was that unnecessary blaring music.