The February 2008 issue of "Carousel News & Trader," in reporting on
page 7 about renovations at Tilden Regional Park, Berkeley, Calif.,
says that the North Tonawanda band organ on the Tilden carousel will
still be played only on Sundays.   It has been playing only on Sundays,
and then not before noon, because of noise complaints from area
residents.

When Tilden, now closed, reopens in July 2008, it will have to have
passed new California ride laws, which contain a decibel-level
restriction.  The CN&T thinks this will mean placing the organ in
a box, as has already been done with the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
Wurlitzer 165 and the Golden Gate Park band organ.

I wonder if the same decibel restrictions apply to the sound systems in
those California motor vehicles that rattle your ears when they pull up
next to you at a stoplight?

Matthew Caulfield
Irondequoit, New York