Noise Pollution and Our Ineffective Alarm System

Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2012 8:05 PM
To: 'joel.hanson@ci.little-canada.mn.us'
Subject: Just noise pollution?

Joel,

You probably can't do anything about this, but if anyone in the city has a voice in this stuff I hoped it might be you. I saw a news program the other day that talked about the fact that our emergency warning systems have been found ineffective. This is everywhere, not just Little Canada. People don't pay attention to the alarms and if we ever have a real natural catestrophe that will be a big reason why more lives will be lost than necessary.

In Little Canada, the alarm system appears to be completely abused by the city. For some idiotic reason, it wails at noon and 6PM everyday just to contribute something to the town's already excessive noise pollution. We all have clocks, cell phones, watches, and radio/televisions so I'm pretty sure we can figure out when to eat lunch and dinner without an alarm to "warn" us of the time. The alarm fires off when the volunteer fire department is notified of some emergency, although I imagine those volunteers all have cell phones and get the same message via phone and the rest of us have no need to hear about the alarm unless it's our house burning.

That leaves the only time the alarm ought to be sounding as a rarity; severe storm and tornado warnings. With the multitude of useless "warnings" going off on regular and spasmodic intervals, I suspect that fewer than 5% of the city's residents know or care about the difference in siren patterns and tones and most of us probably ignore it all as we try to ignore the constant drone of the freeway and the usual Harley noise-making crowd who parade through our streets announcing their presence. I would not be surprised if the city could hold some liability for trivializing the alarm system if it is ignored at the cost of lives when a real emergency exists. At a minimum, it would be proper for the city to review current obsolute policy regarding the regular sounding of this silly system. At best, the whole system should be updated and the city should make a concerted effort to inform the residents when the damn thing is not to be ignored.

Regards,
Tom Day

Getting Ready for This Century

A lot of the effort made by government, local and state and federal, from the last 25 years has been wasted money. We're at the end of cheap and easy oil and the beginning of a new era of higher cost energy and high efficiency. Much of our city's "traffic control" was designed by people who can't count, don't use critical thinking effectively, and are bound by old habits and foolish strategies. The whole freeway widening move from a few years back was wasted money and poorly considered. The traffic on 35E is going to drop as gas prices pass $4, then $5, and until fuel prices shoot past the reach of almost everyone currently commuting in a single passenger vehicle (probably 95% of current traffic).

Even in our neighborhood, many of the traffic control devices are half-baked and irrational. The stop sign at Jackson and Lake Street (A) or the sign at Demont and Canabury (B) make no sense at all. The first should be a pedestrian crossing warning and there should be a similar warning at Rose Place and Jackson (C) and another at the crosswalk on Demont and Jackson (D).

The stop lights at the 35E and Little Canada Road exit should be operational only at rush hour and turned to flashing reds at all other times. We had a demonstration of how effectively this works last winter when the lights failed multiple times in November and December and traffic was dramatically improved at those intersections when drivers just used common sense. The fantasy that government traffic controllers can more effectively control traffic than can drivers is delusional, at best, and arrogant on the average.

We're going to have to start thinking seriously about energy conservation, sooner or later. If we do it later, we'll be struggling to survive as a city and a culture. If we do it now, we might get through this together.

Safety Issue

This is off of the subject of our depleted lake resource, but every time I walk this route I'm reminded of how dangerous a neighborhood can become. At the intersection of Jackson and Demont (See figure at right, marker "A"), there is a pedestrian crosswalk. In the 15 years I have lived in this neighborhood I have yet to see a single vehicle stop for pedestrians in that intersections. I have, however, seen cell-phone impaired drivers tear through the intersection while students from the high school try to cross that street even to the point of seeing one zombie in a club-cab pickup nearly wipe out a girls' running team. Sadly, even the Ramsey County Sheriff's department deputies don't appear to recognize the pedestrian right-of-way. Sooner or later, someone is going to get killed at that intersection and we should all do whatever we can to prevent that tragedy.

Between notifying the sheriff's department (651/248-2449 or tim.entner@co.ramsey.mn.us) and the Metropolitan Council (james.andrew@metc.state.mn.us and 651/602-1721) we ought to be able to get some attention paid to this intersection.

City Council Meeting Notes 8/10/2011

ELECTRONICS/ SAVAGE LAKE:
Rocky Waite appeared before the Council asking the status of the sedimentation pond on the Gopher Electronics property. Waite noted that he raised this issue with the Council 3 ½ years ago. Waite felt that the
existing situation is causing harm to Savage Lake. The City Administrator reviewed an August 1st email wherein it is reported that the Watershed and Gopher Electronics is working out a costshare agreement to address the situation.

Waite again noted that it has been 3 ½ years and nothing is done yet. He pointed out that a condition of construction of the Gopher Electronics building was that there be a sedimentation pond to filter run-off before it went into the lake.

The City Administrator reported that there was a delay by the Watershed in moving forward on this issue, but it is now proceeding. Initially there was some discussion on who was responsible, but the Watershed is agreeable to a cost-share agreement with Gopher Electronics. The Council asked that the City Administrator request a timetable for completion from the Watershed as well as progress updates.

Waite indicated that he would provide the City with copies of minutes that reflect the requirement that Gopher Electronics maintain a sedimentation pond on their property. Blesener asked that Waite submit that information to the City Administrator.

REQUEST TO RENAME SAVAGE LAKE AND SAVAGE LANE:
Waite reported that he is a Choctaw Cherokee and that he is offended by the name of Savage Lake and Savage Lane. Waite requested that theCity provide him with assistance in getting these names changed.Montour stated that while the City would have some control over a streetname, he did not believe the City had any authority to rename a lake.

Keis and Boss stated that they never associated these names as derogatory terms. Waite felt that the process to change the names should start with the City and asked for any assistance that the City could provide. Montour stated that while he appreciates Waite’s position, he felt that such a request should come from people living on Savage Lake and/or Savage Lane. Waite felt that it was a violation of his civil rights to have this name in place.

Spraying Permit Problems

The weather has completely foiled my planning efforts this fall. Joel Hanson managed to get the DNR permit signed off on the 11th, but between work, family, and the constant rain fake-outs I've been unable to get a date sorted out for the spraying. Up to next week, I am available to do the work most days. After that, it's weekends only. Next week I have a new school semester with 3 new classes for which I'm in preparation-panic-mode. If someone else can take on the DNR contact portion of this project, it would really help.

Otherwise, we might miss this window to take care of a few of the weeds on our lake.

I have posted the permit information on my website: http://home.comcast.net/~twday60/SAVAGE PERMIT_20110811095915.pdf

Last Spraying

We received our permit to spray the lake for water lilies one last time (on the city's buck) early this week. We need at least two dry days for Rodeo to do it's work and the weather report for the weekend seemed sort of undependable up until this morning, so I didn't get the paperwork into the DNR in time. I hope to try again next week. This has been an over-full week for me as it is.

I hate to toss in the towel, but I think this labor of frustration and solitude is about to end. I named this website/blog the "Savage Lake, Little Canada, Minnesota Lake Owners' Association" with the hopelessly optimistic goal that there might actually be such a group in the near future. The website has been around since May of 2008 and we're no closer to being that organization than we were when I wrote the first entry, "Getting Started." Someone said, "You get the government you deserve." With that in mind, I think we are getting the mosquito infested swamp we deserve as we passively let this small body of water deteriorate into mess it has become. I loved our little lake a few years ago. Today, it has become a liability.

It is nothing but painful to me to look out of my backyard and see the lake we once enjoyed become the disaster the Watershed District so desperately and incompetently wanted it to be. Not that many years ago, we canoed this lake almost every summer evening. On muggy days, we'd paddle to the interior of the lake to avoid bugs in the backyard. Now, the lilies have made fine nesting homes for every kind of biting insect that lives in Minnesota and the lake is the last place you want to be when the damn things are out hunting. One of our neighbors has been trying to sell his home for a while and at least one prospective buyer stated that they lost interested in the home because of the freeway noise. A more interested buyer would probably have second thoughts after experiencing the insect "wildlife" some evening. Our backyard is worse than our front yard and simply crossing the street is enough to reduce the need for bug repellent considerably.

John Bibeau has, again, volunteered to help spray the lake this last time. I'll use this website to post when that will be as soon as we set a date with the DNR. After that, I'm going to shut the site down. I'm too old to bang my head against a closed door.

A New, Bigger Lake

 It's been a few years since we've had this much water in the lake. Our rain gauge said we got almost 5" this morning.

When I built this dock, somewhere around 10 years ago, the water level was so low I could walk all around it during construction. A year later, I had to chase the dock down because it floated into the middle of the lake after a big rainstorm.  Five or six years ago, I anchored the dock to the awing frame in case we ever got a major lake-fill again. Looks like it worked.

I'd say the water is about 6" above the historic shoreline. It looks like more from the pictures, but the water is only about 1-4" deep between the dock and the beach. My wife has some potted plants in the water (which you can see the tops of to the left of the dock about 8') and all the pots and most of the plants are almost submerged.

We had a pretty good sound and light show this morning, too. All of the pets crowded onto the bed about 4AM, so I got up to watch the lightening. Some of the louder shots were close to 1,000 feet of our house (based on the timing between the light and the sound). I'm amazed we still have power in the neighborhood.