去年，布卢明顿警察局接到了3107个投诉电话，涉及吵闹的聚会和骚乱。今年早些时候，市政府官员开始采取措施，对可能违反噪音条例的人保持沉默。7月7日，纽约市长约翰·费尔南德斯(John Fernandez)与波士顿警察局局长迈克·霍斯特勒(Mike Hostettler)以及安全与市民城市项目协调员玛莎·布拉德福德(Marsha Bradford)共同公布了“宁静夜晚倡议”。该计划分为两部分，旨在帮助减少布卢明顿社区的夜间噪音违规。nIt包括超过6万美元的额外资金，用于教育外展和增加警察对噪音违章的支持。补充资金将列入2001年度预算。Hostettler说:“我们听住在附近地区的人说，噪音是一个非常大的问题。”“他们是我们的客户，我们会尽一切努力帮助他们解决违法问题。”“宁静之夜倡议”的第一个目标是教育布卢明顿市的居民了解城市现有的噪音规定，并警告居民违反这些规定的惩罚。“睦邻友好的关键在于邻里之间的相互尊重，”布拉德福德在对媒体的一份声明中说。“这一举措的教育部分将有助于树立期望，并建立社区规范。”\nNick Hipskind, associate professor of speech and hearing, is a strong advocate of noise control and has offered his name and expertise to some of the new literature being distributed for educational purposes.\n"Noise does damage hearing," said Hipskind, also an associate dean of University Division. "It causes an irreversible loss, and you cannot fix it. And even though this type of noise, in all probability, is not going to cause a hearing loss to the neighbors, it is going to cause a real annoyance. \n"People don't have the right to play music so loud that it interferes with other people," he said.\nHipskind said he hopes these efforts to educate Bloomington residents produce an increase in responsible listening in the future.\n"I hope there are going to be some people who look at (the noise issue) and say, 'I really didn't think about it that way,'" he said.\nThe other component of this initiative that officials expect to help solve the noise problem is a 200 percent increase in spending for police enforcement. \nWith this additional funding, BPD will be able to provide more money for officers working overtime and for such special programs as the "Party Patrol."\n"Starting in January, there will be more funds in the overtime budget to allow us to have more officers on the street during peak times," said Hostettler. \nPeak times include the weeks at the beginning of the fall semester and the weekends leading up to the Little 500 bicycle race.\nIf residents are caught in violation of the Bloomington noise ordinance, they could face charges for a Class B misdemeanor. First-time offenders are issued warnings, but those who repeat the violation can be arrested. While this is not a new BPD policy, the possibility of arrest is something officials hope will make potential offenders think twice before turning up their stereos.\nStill, some students think the whole concept of noise control is ludicrous. Junior Jeffrey Schwab said he believes the city is impeding community communication and wasting time.\n"I think noise complaints are dumb," said Schwab, who lives off-campus in the Bryan Park area.\n"The neighbors can just ask you to be quieter. It's not really necessary to bring in a third party like the mayor or the police. Complain about your house burning down."\nTo be on the safe side, city officials such as Hostettler encourage Bloomington residents and off-campus students alike to make noise responsibly.\n"There are two things to keep in mind," Hostettler advised. "Don't draw attention to yourself by having loud parties where they're totally to the point of making the neighborhood shake with the noise. Just be concerned about your neighbors and think about how you would want to be treated. If those two things are done, I think everyone will be able to live very nicely"
