Editor:
When I retired last year I moved to Ladner because I felt it was peaceful, friendly community. This has proved to be true.
I've met tons of great new people, started volunteering for the Delta Hospital Auxiliary and am thoroughly enjoying the area except for one loud problem.
Living close to the fire hall I've become immune to the sirens, but shortly after I moved in, a "rock star" moved in next door.
Repeated calls to the bylaw office have proved to be of no assistance since their response has only been "talk to them about the noise level."
There have been several conversations about the volume level - met with negative responses - the most memorable of which has been, and I quote, "As long as it's daylight, I can be as loud as I want." I find this statement to be grossly unfair to anyone living in the neighbourhood and I'm fairly certain it's not accurate.
I recently wrote a letter to the mother of said "rock star" asking, pleading, begging for the volume to be turned down. I even included $20 to buy headphones for her drummer son.
In my letter I explained I had spent a fair bit of time, effort and money to create a backyard patio that I wanted to be able to enjoy and that the volume, which rattles my living room windows, also made it practically impossible to even comfortably open the windows to get a breeze through the house in the hot weather.
The mother did return the money (thank you if you're reading this) but her response to the request for a reduction in volume was to advise, and again I'm quoting, "He only plays two times a week, sometimes three. So there are four or five days for patio enjoyment." How generous to give me permission to enjoy my own home and patio.
It's not the music I'm objecting to, it's the volume of the music.
I am a little worried about retaliation for writing this but I'm already the bad guy for complaining verbally and recently in writing about this ongoing noise problem so I don't see, at least not yet, how it could get any worse.
Is it unreasonable of me to expect to be able to enjoy my patio and my home on my schedule and not someone else's?
D.S. Galvin
