Life in Trinidad and Tobago is now heavily influenced by a culture of loud music or just the general noise in the atmosphere. A new trend of vehicles with over-amplified speakers or the many bars and shops present throughout the islands that try to capture the attention and interest of potential customers, not to mention the private limes or parties. Through this, it can be said that Trinidad and Tobago has become an entertainment centred culture, with it's major activities and events occurring in the capital city, Port-of-Spain. The city streets are drenched with bars, nightclubs, lounges, multi-storey clubs, theaters, etc. as the entertainment industry tries to meet the demand of the growing population and provide a range of entertainment choices.
The most popular entertainment venue in Port-of-Spain is Ariapita Avenue, commonly called "the avenue" is a street lined with entertainment choices from bars to clubs to restaurants to simple road-side food stalls. This is in the heart of the community of Woodbrook which is also a residential area that contains schools and businesses. The surrounding areas such as St. James and Cipriani Boulevard are structured the same with a mix of urban entertainment and basic residential life. All of these areas are being promoted by the Government and other agencies in an effort to push urban tourism as a way of assisting urban development. The photo on the left shows some of the venues on the avenue, the top left shows how patrons can crowd the pavement or streets at night while waiting to enter a venue or just occupying there with friends. Imagine living in that area, with dozens of people just loitering outside your homes or near to your homes, their consumption of alcohol to "help aid in their experience" would make them loud and disturbing. When you are trying to gain a good night's rest or a child studying for upcoming exams, you are being heavily disturbed by the loud banging from the clubs or the people in the streets talking loudly, or the cars that are fitted with these loud music systems. How are you to be comfortable and not feel uneasy.
Another thing is that most of these clubs are old houses that have been bought over and just fitted with the relevant equipment to provide entertainment, not paying any care towards renovating the old house and upgrading the walls and windows so the sound doesn't escape the building. You would think that they would care enough to keep within the 65 decibel level limit, but they go well above 85 decibels. The old style house structure can be seen in the bottom left and top right photos. The gentrification of these places can eventually lead to the destruction of the community and turn Woodbrook especially into and entertainment area and not so much residential.
The photo on the right (Taken by Jameel Phillip) shows how this loud car trend changes the whole interior of the vehicle. Imagine a couple cars like this parked all over the avenue or in St. James blasting music while friends hang out on the pavement. This person's car doesn't even have a back seat, his trunk is filled with amps and speakers, so the question that is left to ask is where is his spare tyre? How can this be legal? The relevant authorities cannot deem vehicles like these fit for daily commute. They even drive around during the day playing their music at high levels which affects schools in the are a lot, especially during exams. Citizens have a right to enjoy the comfort of their own homes without being bombarded by a parked car playing music or a neighbour doing the same. Other countries do not tolerate any form of noise pollution as they recognise this right.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) advises that noise pollution can cause not only sleep disturbances, but also aggression, hypertension, stress, hearing loss, cardiovascular problems, mental health issues, impaired task performance, learning problems, and negative social behaviour. Noise pollution has been flagged as the second biggest environmental problem affecting health, after air pollution. VS Naipaul wrote that "Port of Spain is the noisiest city in the world," in 1962 when there were less and quieter fetes. Nowadays the frequencies and sound levels of these parties have increased drastically especially around carnival season. It greatly affects urban life as our culture and climate call for open windows at days and nights for those who rather sleep without air condition or cannot afford it.
References
Hall, Tim, and Heather Barrett. 1998.Urban Geography. London: Routledge.
"Keep a Lid OnThe Loud Noise | Trinidad Express Newspaper | Commentaries." Trinidad Express Newspaper. Accessed April 6, 2015. http://www.trinidadexpress.com/commentaries/Keep_a_lid_on_the_loud_noise-131958553.html.
TT Citizens Against Noise (blog). n.d. http://trinbagocan.blogspot.com/.
Urban Cries of Trinidad and Tobago, The (blog). n.d. http://urbancries.blogspot.com/.
Urban Livelihood (blog). n.d. http://urbanlivelihood.blogspot.com/.
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