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Ice cream trucks, nostalgic or nuisance?

May 14, 2012 @ 7:48 pm (Updated: 4:28 am - 5/15/12 )

Gone are the days when I convinced my kids that ice cream trucks were just "music trucks" that rolled through neighborhoods to make people happy.

A few notes from "The Entertainer" play. Ba da da da, da da, da da.

Kids freeze. Is that? Yes! Clutching $2 they begin running down the block.

A 40 second loop of the song continues. Ba da da da da da da da da da.

Wait, it's coming from the other direction. Hurry, don't miss it.

Michael, Jacob and Emma sprint to a white jeep that's stopped on the corner. Their reward? A Spider-Man popsicle with gumball eyes, an Oreo ice cream bar, and a Drumstick.

The driver, Raheem, says he'll put on over 1,000 miles in Seattle this summer, cruising at a rate of four miles per hour.

While ice cream trucks make a lot of adults feel nostalgic, some think the vehicles blaring "Pop Goes the Weasel" and "Bicycle Built for Two" are roaming nuisances.

IceCreamTruck

Pasco, Washington won't go soft on violations from the mobile ice cream vehicles. After getting "numerous complaints," the city council is looking to have the existing noise ordinance enforced.

"We always, this time of year, do a crack down on noise anyway. A lot of times it's boom boxes and cars, but this year we've decided to add ice cream trucks to our list," Pasco Police Chief Robert Metzger tells us, in an interview with KONA radio in the Tri-Cities.

That means the ice-cream vendor could be cited just the same as the owner of a loud car stereo. It will be up to code enforcement to issue any tickets.

How loud is too loud?

"A violation is, and it's pretty simple here in Pasco, if you can hear it 75 feet away it's too loud," says Metzger.

The Seattle ordinance that regulates food vending on city streets also applies to ice cream trucks. They are required to follow the city's noise ordinance, but otherwise there are no special restrictions for the pricey-tasty-treat delivering trucks.

By LINDA THOMAS

AP file photo

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Comments (25)


  • Add A Comment

  • ron prevost wrote...
    In the 1950's a dime was enough for an afternoon treat.
    May 14, 2012 7:51 pm
    And even into the 80's and 90's 'Pop Goes the Weasel' was the sound of summer for any kid under 12 (or 72). .. How dare any city council quiet this tradition. .. It's a well known fact that you can never be mad at your kids once you hear the ice cream truck.
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  • SickofSeattleite wrote...
    i don't mind the blaring music so much as i live by several parks....
    May 15, 2012 6:17 am
    it would be nice if your ice cream truck looked like an ice cream truck and not something you drug out of a wrecking yard and plastered stickers all over...it would be nice if you didn't play oh Christmas tree in the middle of August...it would be nice if you spoke English. That being said I would rather put the ice cream money towards my own homemade fruit pops.
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  • sportsguru wrote...
    What
    May 15, 2012 6:27 am
    People in pasco need to get a life, sh!!tt, when I hear the ice cream truck, I run my old a55 out the door running after the truck myself, the little kids are chasing me because I am first in line like Ron Prevost is for these threads.
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  • anotherfencewalker wrote...
    Breaking news..
    May 15, 2012 7:36 am
    I'm going to go out on a limb here and publicy state that today is a slow news day at 97.3..
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    You have to wonder about the mental health of the vendors.
    May 15, 2012 7:49 am
    How could you possibly listen to "tink-tinkle, clank-clinkle, dong-dingle all day, distorted-contorted, by lousy PA" and ever get that audio sewage out of your mind?

    I'd rather they fire up an air raid siren for 15 seconds when they stop every couple of blocks. That beats listening to something so awful it wouldn't be permitted in any respectable elevator. The only thing better than hearing the ice cream truck *coming* down the street has to be hearing it fade away in the distance. :-)

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  • hpygolkyone wrote...
    Only My Opinion..........
    May 15, 2012 8:00 am
    When I was a kid, I thought the music stopped when the truck stopped?

    Now, it seems like the music keeps blaring away?!

    It's still fun to see the kids come screaming down the sidewalk with a $20.00 bill in hand, bowling over the old people, to get that "inexpensive" tasty summer treat!

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  • Pete in Seattle wrote...
    What is audible at 75 ft.?
    May 15, 2012 9:11 am
    The major flaw with most noise ordinances is that they don't reflect reality. Most use qualitative terms like "if you can hear it at 100 feet it's too loud". But everyone's hearing is different, some people are more sensitive to the tinkling tones of the ice cream truck while others are more sensitive to booming bass notes from a hip-hop song. How is the noise measured? In the quiet of a park you might hear it a lot further away than next to a busy highway. Trees and bushes might mute the sound while walls of houses and businesses might echo it. I think a more useful noise law would require that the sound be turned way down or off when the truck stops to make a sale. If you hear the same snippet of song more than twice it's a violation.
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  • Driesel206 wrote...
    umm
    May 15, 2012 9:39 am
    Who are the people that complains about ice cream trucks. Seriously!?!?!? I agree with previous commentators, the sound of an ice cream truck still makes me run out of my house with a bunch of quarters, dimes, dollar bills....whatever i can get my hands on. Nothing was ever so exciting as a kid in summer as running after the ice cream truck.
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  • ThomD wrote...
    Still Running For Ice Cream
    May 15, 2012 9:43 am
    When I'm working in my yard on a hot Saturday, and I hear the sweet sounds of the ice cream truck coming down the block, I drop everything and run to the street. How would you know the ice cream man (or woman) is in the area if not for the music? This is the most ridiculous abuse of government power I've heard of, to shut down the ice cream truck for noise violations?!?! I hope Santa leaves a lump of coal under Chief Metzger's Christmas Tree this year, maybe he can light it to warm his cold-blooded heart.
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  • dzwiren wrote...
    Ice Cream Music to my Ears
    May 15, 2012 9:46 am
    These city council people have turned into my grand parents. Party poopers!
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