We moved here six years ago and love Saugerties. We patronize the businesses here regularly and want the town to continue to prosper and grow economically. Despite increased awareness of Saugerties in the last few years many businesses are still only open 3-4 days a week (pre- Covid). Tourism is so important to the area yet it seems spotty— sometimes the town is humming with activity and other times it’s quiet and calm.
Unfortunately one constant is the endless stream of loud motorcycles, cars and pick-up trucks that repeatedly loop through the main intersection every Friday and Saturday night, gunning it repeatedly to hear their unmuffled exhausts boom deafeningly off of the buildings.
It’s often the same parade of a half dozen vehicles circling through the town, revving and lurching in short bursts of speed.
Simply put- it’s obnoxious. They know it; the business owners know it, the police know it and it’s deafening, disruptive and frankly, illegal.
Pre-Covid, many businesses had small tables set up on the sidewalk; Stellas’s in particular has always had outdoor seating. Now Love Bites, Rock Da Kasbah, The Pig, Slices and many more do too.
The endless parade of bikes and trucks with unmuffled exhausts has to be put in check. It’s only happening in Saugerties by the way, never in Woodstock, Kingston nor Hudson- never. We’re there all the time.
Why? Because clearly the other towns have sent the message it’s not going to be tolerated. I don’t know what these towns have done specifically to discourage and enforce excessive noise but it’s plainly evident that they’ve done something and it worked.
Why hasn’t Saugerties done anything? Why haven’t either the police or the town government enacted some sort of “Low Noise” area on the two main streets in town?
Simple enough and virtually no cost.
Paint some lines in the street; post several signs indicating it’s a low noise residential and pedestrian-oriented area and that fines are applicable and will be enforced for violations.
Have the police in the area on weekend nights (I rarely if ever see any presence whatsoever downtown weekend nights) to discourage and issue warnings for the first 60 days; then start ticketing. I’d be willing to bet the vehicles of the people being ticketed wouldn’t pass state inspection if forced to get a re-inspection.
There are ordinan ces in Saugerties that mandate the hours that construction, heavy equipment and landscaping can occur in the village. Why aren’t any constraints being placed on when unmuffled motorcycles, cars and trucks can blast through the main area of downtown — repeatedly —which in addition to businesses has hundreds of apartments on the second stories of almost every business?
Do we need to get a petition together and start lobbying the local government and or the police?
Andrew Cowan
Saugerties
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