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Mr. Softee Song Annoying? You Don't Say!
By
Jen Chung
Published Jan 27, 2005
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Jan 27, 2005
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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The biggest revelation from yesterday's City Counil hearing on the noise ban was that even Mr. Softee owner James Conway Jr. thinks the Mr. Softee song is annoying! He told the City Council, "I have four children, and if you pull up a truck in my neighborhood, I wouldn't want it to be there playing music over and over again, either." The NY Times calls the Mr. Softee song a "flashpoint" in the noise code debate. Conway is offering to turn the jingle off in the trucks once they are parked for a period of time, linking the playing of the song to his company livelihood, saying, "Does it get stuck in your head occasionally? We hope so. But the Mister Softee song as a threat to the health and welfare of New Yorkers? I don't think so." Yes. Gothamist would rather start a ban on "Who Let the Dogs Out" during baseball games, because that song kills us. Anyway, one city councilman said that not playing the song would traumatize children (ahem) and the Mayor didn't have a response but his press secretary told the Post: "The mayor likes Mr. Softee's ice cream and his attitude." And what an attitude it is - that saucy "come hither and try my ice cream" stare... oh, wait, does Mayor Bloomberg like Mr. Softee the imaginary figurehead of the company or was he calling Mr. Conway Mr. Softee? So many questions!
Other people were questioning the noise, including club owners, but Gothamist was tickled by this description:
City Council member Margarita Lopez, who represents the Lower East Side, a neighborhood in which the concentration of bars and nightclubs is among the heaviest in the city, asked darkly: "Don't you understand that you are threatening the fiber of my community?"
That's it: The fiber of the Lower East Side Community is made up of alcohol and music.
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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