FOR SOME, the music is deafening and unbearable; for others, the sound coming from the popular Friday night Pork Limes held at the Lime Wildey Sports Club is no bother at all.Residents of nearby Clapham may not have to worry anymore about the perceived Crop-Over blast provided by the Contact Band.Yesterday, the band via a Press release, pledged to monitor any complaints about Friday nights, noting they had already put measures in place to address any such concerns.Anthony Layne, bandleader for Contact, explained that the customary strategy was to take the volume levels down later into the night so that the impact on residents was minimised.Contact plans that for the duration of the Pork Lime during the Crop-Over season every effort will be made to reduce any noise impact on the residents of the area. “The Contact Band is committed to maintaining a neighbourly and cordial relationship with all residents in the environs of the Lime Wildey Sports Club,” the release added.Resident Ricardo Skeete said: “The noise is very loud and we can definitely hear it in the area but it doesn’t affect me personally. I accept that it is part of our Crop-Over season and the music does not disturb my sleep.”No disturbanceOther residents such as Shanelle Smith assured the Weekend Nation that the noise was present, but it was not unbearable or a nuisance and in fact had been lowered over the past two weeks. With a similar outlook, Clapham Park resident Natasha Reid said: “It is not a nuisance at all and it does not bother my parents, who are elderly and find noise pollution disturbing.”Most persons questioned about the situation responded similarly. Some, like George Lashley, were not even concerned. He mentioned that most of the younger residents were in fact attending the event and the older residents might be the ones issuing the complaints.Peter Hinds was quite vocal about his discontent with the entire situation.“It is way too loud and I can’t get any sleep until after 3 o’clock in the morning when it finishes.” He added that the organisers tested speakers hours before the event even began and that just increased the length of the discomfort.Carl Moore, president of the Society For A Quieter Barbados, does not like what he is hearing.“The levels are too loud. All across the island on Fridays and Saturdays there are sessions of karaoke that are unreasonably loud. They can go on to 3 and 4 a.m. and this is not fair to the citizens of this country. Environmental issueMoore added that noise pollution was an environmental issue like litter, dumping in the gullies and all other aspects of environmental abuse. He was of the view that loud noise was a form of disrespect.“Somehow, we have developed a tolerance of it. Many people seem to accept the noise and just don’t know what to do. Some people have been threatened for even complaining about the loud noise.“The loud noise says ‘I don’t care about you’. We need to know how to respect each other. Crop-Over is about music but . . . . We can’t overdo it. We have to strike a balance. Four to six weeks is a long time for people who want to get some rest.” (MK/TJ)
