To the Editor:
Growing up in Westport, we took vacations with Mortimer Levitt and his family. He was an honorable and gracious man who loved Westport, hence his gift of the music pavilion.
Unfortunately, his dream has failed to manifest, particularly since the redesign, the way he’d envisioned. And Mortimer would roll over in his grave of he were a half mile away as I am tonight.
Families have had to check into hotels because they couldn’t get their kids to bed. When I along with two others who reside in downtown Westport met with the first selectman, chief of police, the man who runs the soundboard at the Levitt, and the two women who administer the Levitt, they promised to monitor the noise level. We told them all that story of families faced with an untenable situation.
The administrators said they’d not yet acquired the decibel monitor, and I shared with them an app on my phone which does just that. This summer new guidelines were instituted. Supposedly. Those guidelines and monitoring should have happened from the day the Levitt opened.
When you get stonewalled by Town Hall, meaning no response in following up to meetings, and the police are ineffective in keeping sound levels at reasonable levels, it makes you unhappy to live in this beautiful town I’ve been proud to call home for 60 years.
There are communities all over the world from Australia to Alaska that work reasonably with all who live there (and pay millions In taxes) together with acousticians and theater designers to abide by precedents for noise guidelines that are now industry standard.
What happened with Westport? What can we do about this persisting problem?
Peace on earth and in our town.
Lorraine Schwarz,
Westport
Thank you for your letter Lorraine. We need all the help and support we can get to fix this untenable situation. You are right.
Best,
Carol Buffinton