Just another manic Sunday
On a recent quiet Sunday afternoon the Oracle was contacted by a Hamilton Street resident who couldn’t believe what she was hearing coming from near the intersection with Spencer Street.
We sent a photographer with an audio recorder and captured some of the sights and sounds of a contractor cutting through a series solid concrete bollards with a chainsaw concrete saw in the service entrance of the old Canada Wire building which takes up the block of Hamilton between Spencer and Armstrong.
Gina Kalekis told the Oracle she had dialled 311 but “hadn’t been able to persuade them to come out and listen for themselves – and the noise kept coming and going for nearly an hour”.
The Oracle spoke with Cathy McEwen of the city bylaw office who confirmed that other than the bylaw-mandated quiet hours extending to 9.00 am in the morning, instead of 7.00 a.m as is the case on weekdays, for all intents and purposes “Sunday is just another day of the week”.
“If it was going to be a continual thing we’d have some recourse”, McEwen continued, “but for a one-off, well, Sunday is no longer a day of rest and we do let the work proceed”
She did advise Oracle readers that frequent noise from “home garage workshops” can be mediated; the city can compel such operations to install noise insulation if they are continually disturbing residents nearby.
For a sample of the kind of Sunday afternoon noise the city bylaw is unable to restrain, click the audio link below.
Just so we are entirely clear, that is NOT a chainsaw and buddy seems to be entirely outfitted in safety gear.
Maybe you should complain to the owner of the building who obviously asked for these bollards to be removed.
Thanks Kent you are right of course – correction made above.