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Re: Who Uses The Term "Sleepers"? And what does it mean when Nimby;s hearr train horns... We did a little horn experiment once upon a time....
Author: BOB2
Date: 09-30-2019 - 07:15
Heard them "evil" SMART train horns and the train rumbling on the concrete sleepers, four mile away...?
This kind of reminds me of the "horn" controversy we had when building the Gold Line, with Mousse's tiny cadre of fellow professional train haters in Pasadena.
In response to the Nimby's we decided to do three horn tests in Pasadena to determine what people heard. We notified residents and businesses about 5 blocks either side of the route adjacent to Arroyo Parkway, where the three grade crossings were. Then we conducted the first test, and nobody reported anything, just a handful of folks from the businesses, who reported it wasn't that loud. So, of course, the Nimby's complained that there was not enough notification given, to too few people, too "close" to the line (and the sound waves????).
On the second horn test, we sent out a lot more notices, to about twice the distance, and still had only a handful on nearby business folks and residents reply, and they didn't think it was too loud. So the Nimby's complained that not enough notification was given, to too few people, too close to the tracks (sound familiar????).
On the third horn test we sent out notices to the entire west side of the City of Pasadena, including to folks, in some cases (West Pasadena Residents Association) well over two miles away, all of the way on the other side of the Arroyo Seco to City line with LA, this time with several thousand of notices, sent to all residents and businesses in this huge area.
Unfortunately, for the third horn test, the equipment was not available, and so it had to be postponed, without warning, after we'd sent out the third notification of the horn test to the entire west side of Pasadena.
Which test got the most complaints, you ask?
We received the most reports, with the most people reporting that they had heard the LRT horns, and the most folks complaining that the train horns were "too loud", for the test we had to cancel. And, one of the other interesting facts of that test of the "horns that didn't blow" was that the further away we got from where the test was "NOT" conducted, he greater were the number of "complaints" (almost all residents of West Pasadena) about "how noisy" it was.
We rarely get to do this kind of "double blind" research using a "placebo" to test behavior in transportation planning, but we got to this time, by accident. But, this one was "eye opening" to many of our elected officials who were being pestered by hysterical Nimby's, who realized this was all being "ginned up" by a couple of folks out to stop the LRT.
This "experiment" was a classic case of propaganda "induced" mass hysteria, resulting in what was essentially a mass "hallucination". Nimby's, who were whipped up into a frenzy, by one of the more hysterical members of the anti LRT crowd (also rich Pasadena "money", and a funder of the anti-vaxxers, and a funder of the anti 710 tunnel crowd, in addition to fighting the "evil" "killer" Gold Line) had contacted hundreds of West Pasadena residents, in order to "warn" them about the "evil" "killer trolley" horn tests, and to make sure that the folks on her distribution lists "participated" in the scheduled test....which was then cancelled, without notice.
Like with Mouse's more recent delusional fixations with "evil" SMART, these Nimby's opposing the LRT went nuts, just a few weeks later, when the Star News did polling and found something like 87% of Pasadena folks supported and wanted the train, and only about 10% were opposed.
And, my usual disclaimer, in case I may have angered the good folks at PETA with this "double blind" test, by using "live" animals to do this "experiment": "At no time were the upright walking hairless hominids used in this experiment in any real danger, nor did any experience hearing loss as a result, of hearing the horns that were never blown."
This kind of reminds me of the "horn" controversy we had when building the Gold Line, with Mousse's tiny cadre of fellow professional train haters in Pasadena.
In response to the Nimby's we decided to do three horn tests in Pasadena to determine what people heard. We notified residents and businesses about 5 blocks either side of the route adjacent to Arroyo Parkway, where the three grade crossings were. Then we conducted the first test, and nobody reported anything, just a handful of folks from the businesses, who reported it wasn't that loud. So, of course, the Nimby's complained that there was not enough notification given, to too few people, too "close" to the line (and the sound waves????).
On the second horn test, we sent out a lot more notices, to about twice the distance, and still had only a handful on nearby business folks and residents reply, and they didn't think it was too loud. So the Nimby's complained that not enough notification was given, to too few people, too close to the tracks (sound familiar????).
On the third horn test we sent out notices to the entire west side of the City of Pasadena, including to folks, in some cases (West Pasadena Residents Association) well over two miles away, all of the way on the other side of the Arroyo Seco to City line with LA, this time with several thousand of notices, sent to all residents and businesses in this huge area.
Unfortunately, for the third horn test, the equipment was not available, and so it had to be postponed, without warning, after we'd sent out the third notification of the horn test to the entire west side of Pasadena.
Which test got the most complaints, you ask?
We received the most reports, with the most people reporting that they had heard the LRT horns, and the most folks complaining that the train horns were "too loud", for the test we had to cancel. And, one of the other interesting facts of that test of the "horns that didn't blow" was that the further away we got from where the test was "NOT" conducted, he greater were the number of "complaints" (almost all residents of West Pasadena) about "how noisy" it was.
We rarely get to do this kind of "double blind" research using a "placebo" to test behavior in transportation planning, but we got to this time, by accident. But, this one was "eye opening" to many of our elected officials who were being pestered by hysterical Nimby's, who realized this was all being "ginned up" by a couple of folks out to stop the LRT.
This "experiment" was a classic case of propaganda "induced" mass hysteria, resulting in what was essentially a mass "hallucination". Nimby's, who were whipped up into a frenzy, by one of the more hysterical members of the anti LRT crowd (also rich Pasadena "money", and a funder of the anti-vaxxers, and a funder of the anti 710 tunnel crowd, in addition to fighting the "evil" "killer" Gold Line) had contacted hundreds of West Pasadena residents, in order to "warn" them about the "evil" "killer trolley" horn tests, and to make sure that the folks on her distribution lists "participated" in the scheduled test....which was then cancelled, without notice.
Like with Mouse's more recent delusional fixations with "evil" SMART, these Nimby's opposing the LRT went nuts, just a few weeks later, when the Star News did polling and found something like 87% of Pasadena folks supported and wanted the train, and only about 10% were opposed.
And, my usual disclaimer, in case I may have angered the good folks at PETA with this "double blind" test, by using "live" animals to do this "experiment": "At no time were the upright walking hairless hominids used in this experiment in any real danger, nor did any experience hearing loss as a result, of hearing the horns that were never blown."
