Jamestown residents have been complaining about noise in city neighborhoods for decades.

So complaints last week from Lakeview Avenue residents aren’t so much something new as they are the continuation of a complaint that, like a dull toothache, never really goes away. There are just some days where the ache hurts a little less than others.

The city’s noise ordinance has been tweaked a few times over the years in an attempt to make the city’s noise ordinance easier to enforce. Council members approved hiring a nuisance officer in the Jamestown Police Department to devote someone to dealing with neighborhood-level issues like loud music and other nuisance issues. City Council members also passed a nuisance ordinance that will allow city officials to close down homes where there are too many nuisance issues. Now, there is support from City Council members to change city law to crack down further on repeat offenders of the city’s noise policy.

There’s nothing wrong with such a change. It would give city police another tool to deal with nuisance noise issues and perhaps give those with noisy toys something to think about – not that there aren’t enough laws on the city’s books already.

Another new piece of legislation won’t solve noise issues on Lakeview Avenue or anywhere else in the city because police can’t be everywhere. Chasing noise complaints is like playing Whack-A-Mole. For every mole police officers whack, two more disappear untouched. The best fix for the type of noise issues that are annoying Lakeview Avenue residents is an outbreak of common courtesy. Unfortunately, there’s no ordinance for that.