Long Beach Ice Cream Truck Creates ‘Nuisance’

I’m a night owl, meaning I need to get my beauty rest during the day after preparing the copious amounts of research that go into doing “The Late Show!”

(Insert sarcasm here!)

You might be working nights too and need your beauty sleep during the day as well.

But you tell me, what’s more enjoyable than hearing the sounds of kids in the street howling when they hear the approaching ice cream truck and the sounds of the jingle he plays?

By us, the sound is a continuous loop of the theme to “The Sting”.

I’ll freely admit it’s enough to drive you crazy. They probably don’t pay the kid enough to have to hear that all day. It’s something they should play over and over for the prisoners at Guantanamo. They’d give up whatever secrets they have in a hot minutes.

But just the fact that kids are out in the street playing and not in the house on a hot summer day is a good thing. It means time away from computer games, and something they need more. Like fresh air and exercise, so are the sounds of kids playing and the approaching ice cream truck are both pleasant, in their own way.

Not so much in the California community of Long Beach though, where the natives want to put a stop to the sound of the approaching ice cream man.

According to this:

The ice cream man could be silenced once the fireworks are over this Fourth of July if one Long Beach city official has his way.

Councilman Dee Andrews is expected to introduce a plan at next week’s Long Beach City Council meeting to regulate the noise of local ice cream trucks.

Andrews will request that the City Attorney amend the municipal code to specially address what he described as “the nuisance that Ice Cream Trucks create.” The proposal also would prohibit ice cream trucks from broadcasting any amplified music while parked and dispensing ice cream.

The motion comes after Andrews received complaints from residents throughout the years about the noise level created by idle ice cream trucks, especially in the mid-city areas.

According to Andrews, “residents’ peace and quiet is disrupted by a constant procession of trucks playing various songs at high volume levels” and “can be heard throughout the day and into the evening hours for several blocks.”

In several cases, an additional ice cream truck will follow the first one and the cycle repeats all through the day, he added.

At least one resident was in favor of the proposal.

“I have been living in the Wrigley Neighborhood for 7 years. Each year, the Ice Cream Truck noise gets louder and the trucks increase in numbers,” said district resident Sam Portillo. “It has definitely affected my quality of life for years and I am thankful that something is being proposed to address the problem.”

Andrews was expected to introduce the agenda item at the City Council meeting on July 9.

So you decide:

So are these people who are complaining grouchy bastards or merely good-natured citizens wanting some peace and quiet. What do you think?