Exclusive Insights: Dixon City Council Members Shelve Ordinance On Decibel Levels Restrictions
Exclusive Insights: Dixon City Council Members Shelve Ordinance On Decibel Levels Restrictions
By Ben Edokpayi, Staff Writer ©
#WordCount 1085
Dixon, Calif: Picture a scene where a construction zone on a major artery that links Solano and Napa County, triggered complaints about extreme noise levels from construction which prompted a request from that family through the contractors and Caltrans for alternate accommodation throughout the construction time frame?
That situation during the 2009 construction of the $6.9 million truck climbing lane on westbound Highway 12 in Jameson Canyon, led to a grievance filed with Governor Arnold Schwarzenneger’s office, which required a pre-emptive resolution from Information Officers from the District 4 Headquarters in Oakland who gave the family Ear Muffs but rejected their hotel requests during the construction time frame.
That Public Relations team included Steve Williams former Information Officer for Alameda and Bay Bridge Retrofit projects (Who also worked for Senator Dianne Feinstein in her San Francisco Office https://nypost.com/2020/12/10/dianne-feinstein-struggling-with-cognitive-decline-report/ ) as well as this reporter who was once Caltrans District 4 Information Officer, Solano County.
Both of us were also on the State Publicity Team for the Devil’s Slide Bridge project.
The Solano ARRA project, which was part of a 27 miles of pavement rehabilitation on Interstate-80 from Tennessee Street in Vallejo to Leisure Town Road, Vacaville, became a Caltrans priority at that time because the incessant jam at the Fairfield Truck scales generated backups that sometimes extended through Dixon and Davis in Yolo County. https://dot.ca.gov/caltrans-near-me/district-4
Well, this was one of many unforeseen scenarios that an officer from the Dixon Police Department visualized at Tuesday’s council session where the City Attorney introduced an ordinance for Noise Control In Dixon.
The officer interjected his answers to questions from Council members with cautionary statements. “ I am certain we could make the new ordinance work. I do think there are sections in there that are of concern about construction noise,” he told council members, and concerns about downtown business that abut local residential areas. The ordinance is silent on these aspects,” cautioned the Dixon PD officer who advised that the Ordinance be further tweaked to make it enforceable without worry of legal boomerang.
Council members agreed to his advice that the ordinance be modified with inputs from other municipal areas where similar ordinance on noise has been litigated and found to be above board. They tabled the matter for future discussion in concurrence with city Manager and Erin Dervin, who represented the City Attorney law Office at the session.
At the June 7, 2022, City Council meeting where the topic was first introduced the City Council discussed a draft ordinance to address nuisance noise in residential neighborhoods within the City. During the City Council’s discussion of the draft ordinance, the City Council explained that the draft ordinance was being discussed because they were informed that residential neighborhoods were experiencing an uptick in disturbing noise from neighbors during parties and other gatherings. The D.M.C. (Dixon Municipal Code) does not offer an easily enforceable standard to address that noise. The City Council provided instruction to City staff to move forward with regulations establishing objective standards for noise regulation in residential neighborhoods, streamlining enforcement of those regulations for the City’s police.
Former Council Member Mike Ceremello weighed in on the contentious topic as well.
“ I do not see a point to this,” he told Council Members. “I have driven through the area from where the complaint was made and never heard a sound. You don’t create an ordinance simply because one person complained. Where exactly are you going to measure the sound levels from,” asked Ceremello.
https://twitter.com/BenjaminEdokpa1/status/1548075196954816512?s=20&t=fn5JkTEK92Vfwngf_nbf2Q
In a comical slip, the usually astute Speaker and Journalist mixed up his phone numbers as he asked for people who are concerned to call him. After he read this number 707 678 9468 he interjected and said that was an errata. “Excuse, that’s not my correct number. My correct number is 707 678 8575. I was thinking of somebody else because I usually don’t use my landline, that’s why I forget it. Anybody that has a problem with noise I’d like them to call me because I haven’t seen it, I haven’t seen a problem and I think you are trying to solve a problem that is not a problem in the first place,” he informed Council Members.
Important Footnote! In 2008, I and Steve Williams were among a group of Caltrans PIO’s (public information officers) who coordinated publicity and the celebration of the bridge connecting Devil’s Slide, a name given to a steep, rocky coastal promontory located about midway between Montara and the Linda Mar District of Pacifica on Highway 1 on the coast of California. The event coordinated by Public Information Branch Chief Robert Haus featured speeches by many dignitaries including Congresswoman Jackie Speier, Caltrans Deputy Director Dan McElhinney, who also worked with me on the outreach for Highway 12 in Rio Vista. This was a public safety and road improvement project. This state of California employee has never been associated with any other kind of Devil’s Slide including the slide and back stab of a teen for blood for DNA mix through fiery alchemistry with a sex toy in Vacaville in 2013.
Here is a video of the State Devil’s Slide event. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXB5l_a5FS8&fbclid=IwAR2ql0vRgbc3MFFDMXSYJ3pUziUP8rkNw42MlBFb_6QUL4PD5Xi3xZcVGjA
I was the information Officer for the Pave 80 Project in Solano, the first ARRA funded Infrastructure Project In California which garnered awards for Caltrans District 4. Read more about Barack Obama’s pet project.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/02/18/lessons-recovery-act-its-year-anniversary/
This article is a lead in the Sonday July 24 edition of the Dixon Tribune, the newspaper of record for the city of Dixon, Pop 21,000. The city was formerly known as Dickson.
In the meantime prayers are in order for victims of the Oak Fire.
A fire near Yosemite has become one of California’s largest blazes of the year
https://www.npr.org/2022/07/23/1113219051/california-oak-fire-yosemite
The President visited the area with his family, four years after my family had a great vacation there in 2012 with some time spent at Bass Lake and the old Ahwahnee hotel.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/18/yosemite-obama-national-parks-climate-change
https://www.fresnobee.com/news/california/yosemite/article254834617.html
#EnvironmentalTribalJustice https://dtsc.ca.gov/office-of-environmental-justice-and-tribal-affairs/
