The Brief

The wail of emergency sirens. The roar of garbage trucks. The hum of gridlocked freeway traffic.

Living in a noisy neighborhood can be annoying. It can also be harmful to your health.

Chronic street noise — from sirens, traffic and construction — is more than just a nuisance, it’s a growing health hazard, health experts say. In recent years, research has shown that consistent exposure to noise may be linked to a host of conditions, including cardiovascular disease and stroke.

A study released in May in the journal Environmental Health found that long-term exposure to traffic noise has been linked to increased mortality rates in people with diabetes.

Los Angeles County — with its vast network of freeways and its notorious traffic — is one of the loudest in the U.S., according to the Department of Transportation. Areas close to major airports or highways are most impacted, according to the department’s interactive noise map.

Many of these areas also tend to have more lower-income residents, and more people of color, than other parts of the county.

“Loud noise produces a stress response, even you don’t notice it and it’s sort of this background hum,” said Charlie Roscoe, an environmental health researcher at Harvard University. “Over time when your body is flooded with stress hormones, that can lead to inflammation and, ultimately, disease.”

Further research shows a link between exposure to traffic noise over time and obesity.

“Noise pollution basically has the ability to negatively affect all of the mechanisms to do with your cardiometabolic health,” Roscoe said.

Who is most at risk? 

The Department of Transportation map shows, in hues of dark blue, purple and red, that many of the noisiest places to live in L.A. County are clustered around airports, business and shopping hubs, and areas surrounded or transected by freeways, including downtown L.A., Inglewood and Glendale.

The health effects may be worse for people of color and those in lower income brackets who are more likely to live in heavy traffic areas, some researchers say.

“Especially in America, rail lines, highways and airports often border neighborhoods that tend to be where the most underserved communities live,” Roscoe said, nodding to the racist history of redlining and highway placement across many U.S. cities.

“People who are already probably experiencing some social risk factors and stressors on their health are the ones who are both experiencing the most noise pollution and most vulnerable to the negative health effects,” she added.

The same inequities apply to children. According to a 2019 study of more than 94,000 U.S. schools, those with a higher percentage of Black, Latino or Asian/Pacific Islander students, as well as students who qualified for free or reduced lunches, were significantly more exposed to street noise.

Noise exposure for children has been linked to lower reading scores, hyperactivity and heightened stress hormones.

How loud is too loud? 

Highway traffic noise ranges from about 70 to 80 decibels at a distance of 50 feet, according to the Department of Transportation. A typical emergency siren measures roughly 124 decibels — louder than a jet takeoff.

Noise levels over 70 decibels can provoke a stress response in many people, spiking cortisol, adrenaline and other stress hormones, according to the National Institutes of Health. The agency also warns that two years of regular exposure to 90 dBs can produce hearing loss.

The World Health Organization found that average road traffic noise above 53 dB is associated with adverse health effects.

In L.A. County, neighborhoods around LAX and the Burbank airport experience average noise levels above 80 dBs, along with Commerce and much of Inglewood, according to the noise map.

A couple of weeks after Lily Niewald moved into her one-bedroom apartment in the Mid-City neighborhood of Los Angeles — two blocks from a fire station — she realized there would be a problem: the sound of sirens thundering from firetrucks and emergency vehicles roaring past her ground floor, street-facing apartment countless times a day.

“You not only hear the blaring sound, but you can also feel the vibration,” said Niewald, a 26-year-old student and barista who chose Mid-City for its relative affordability. “It’s stressful and upsetting, but it’s also distracting because I constantly have to stop whatever I’m doing.”

Nighttime noise is more problematic, experts say. The World Health Organization recommends less than 40dB as an annual average of nighttime noise outside the bedroom to prevent sleep disturbances and other health issues.

Niewald, said the constant sound of sirens outside her bedroom window takes a toll on her sleep. She described being jolted awake night after night.

“Your body thinks that there’s some intense danger or something serious happening,” she said. “Even if I’m able to go back to sleep, I feel extra fatigued and have more brain fog the next day.”

Niewald grew up in Manhattan, where there’s plenty of street noise, but she said she now places greater importance on living somewhere quieter.

“Now even when driving I get a whole wave of anxiety throughout my body when a siren starts,” she said. “It sort of makes me hate cities. I definitely value quiet spaces now more than ever.”

Compounding effects of noise 

Traffic noise may be particularly harmful to those struggling with mental health conditions like post traumatic stress disorder, experts say.

“Loud noises especially in the night, you can imagine how that would be triggering for people with PTSD,” Roscoe said. “It's not that everyone is going to experience noise and develop a mental health issue, but if you already have that susceptibility the stress response has been shown to be even greater.”

Prior noise exposure may prime the body to overreact to sounds later, producing a compounding negative effect on the body, Roscoe said.

Studies show that emergency responders are 150% more likely to experience hearing loss over time than the average population, and roughly 26% of firefighters in the U.S. report suffering from tinnitus, or ringing in the ears.

But not all city noise is harmful.

Psychologist David Hindman, former president of the California Psychological Association, said noisiness can also point to a sense of togetherness and liveliness in a community that outweighs some of the negative effects. 

“It’s more complicated than just all noise is bad,” he said. “Often the nosiest areas also have elements of community and engagement that have been shown to be very important to mental and physical health.”

Urban areas are generally associated with higher depression risks than rural ones, many researchers say, but some studies have found higher rates of depression in sprawling suburbs versus more densely populated city centers. They cite more opportunities for social networking and interaction.

Hindman, who worked at a South Central LA health clinic for 15 years, said an abundance of street vendors, churches, holiday festivals and other community gatherings throughout the area created an overall sense of “aliveness.”

Fighting against urban noise 

Local officials try to curb noise in neighborhoods through a variety of tactics. Residents can report excessive noise caused by individuals, businesses and construction sites, by calling the local police department or other designated complaint line.

The county Department of Public Health noted that each jurisdiction is responsible for enforcing its own noise rules.

Workplaces are required to adhere to state noise regulations. For problems with excess noise at work, employees can make complaints to the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, known as Cal/OSHA.

Highway sound walls are also part of local efforts to dampen the impact of traffic noise.

Last year, Atwater Village secured $2.5 million to build a “living sound wall” made of dead plant matter, which is said to be an effective way to block out noise.

“As someone who lived in a city with a highway running through it, I’ve always been aware of the noise pollution that comes from freeways in this city,” said state Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-Glendale), who requested the funding from the state. “Folks that live near noise-generating situations have been very expressive to me throughout my tenure in public office."

Portantino authored a state bill, which became law in 2022, directing the California Highway Patrol to test noise-detecting cameras. The idea was that the technology would eventually allow for violators to be automatically ticketed, like a red light camera.

That's a sign of progress, Portantino said, but there is more to be done.

“California is having such a proliferation of freeways, general traffic and noise and impacts quality of life,” he said. “We need more sound barriers throughout the city, and also more parks and green spaces. Just an emphasis on a more tranquil life in L.A. County.”

When someone goes through a mental health crisis, their loved ones are thrown into a maze of urgent, high-stakes decisions.

Where to get care? How to deal with insurance? When to call 911?

For those in L.A.’s large Chinese immigrant community with limited English, helping a loved one can be especially challenging and isolating.

Starting Monday, a new Mandarin-language family support group in the San Gabriel Valley aims to provide a much-needed resource, coordinated by the National Alliance on Mental Illness in L.A. County.

Monthly meetings will be at the Holiday Inn in El Monte, held at night to accommodate people’s work schedules, and open to anyone from the region.

“For recent immigrants, but also even long-term residents who just aren't comfortable communicating in English the way they are in their native language, it just made such sense for us to do it,” said Richard Tom, president of the San Gabriel Valley chapter of NAMI.

Years in the making, the support group happens to be rolling out at a time of heightened anxiety for immigrant communities amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Tom said providing support in Mandarin could help lower barriers for those who might hesitate to seek help.

“Obviously, right now, with immigration an issue, there is also a sensitivity to access in-language for folks who might otherwise be frightened of going to places where they're going to perhaps be misunderstood,” he said.

Removing stigma

Tom said the support group not only removes the language hurdles but also recognizes the cultural stigma many participants may be navigating.

“There’s sort of what you expect in a lot of cultures, which is sort of an embarrassment and shame associated with having someone who has a mental health issue,” Tom said.

Organizers say that despite L.A.’s large Chinese-speaking population, no consistent, in-language family support group has existed locally in recent years.

Seven facilitators were trained to lead a Chinese-language support group in the San Gabriel Valley.

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NAMI San Gabriel Valley

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One of the biggest obstacles has been finding Chinese-speaking family members and friends able to go through the two-day-long facilitator training and commit to leading the support group indefinitely — all the while caring for someone struggling with mental illness.

At the same time, the concept of peer support — turning to others with lived experience rather than professionals — is still unfamiliar in many Chinese immigrant communities, said Nancy Eng, a NAMI SGV board member.

But, “one of the reasons that the support group is so great is it gives a visual and also the sense when you're together in the room, the headaches that you’re dealing with — the exhaustion, the frustration — you're not alone,” Eng said.

Trying your best

The Chinese-language program is launching with seven facilitators, all of whom have personal experience supporting a loved one with mental illness.

Support groups can normalize the idea of seeking professional help, coordinators say, acting as a bridge to therapists or psychiatrists for both the person experiencing crisis, as well as for their loved ones.

Fellow members can also share their experiences with painful decisions such as seeking involuntary treatment or watching a loved one enter the criminal justice system.

In a support group, Tom said, families hear something they rarely hear elsewhere: that they are doing the best they can.

“There’s an element of validation that is very powerful for people,” he said.

Mary YanYan Chan, who is coordinating the Chinese language program, said her own experience in a support group has helped her deal with a sister with untreated bipolar disorder.

“I'm just kind of following the steps, and in the interim, I'm going to help others behind me, to bring them forward, because this is really community work,” Chan said.

A grant from Cedars-Sinai is helping to support the initial rollout through the summer. But organizers say its future will depend on participation and securing a long-term space, hopefully with a community organization.

Details

When: Mondays on a monthly basis, from 6:30 to 8 p.m.
Where: Holiday Inn, 9920 Valley Blvd., 1st floor, El Monte
Info: mchan@namiglac.org

It’s been more than a year now since the Eaton Fire devastated Altadena, destroying more than 9,000 structures and killing 19 people.

A group of about a dozen fire survivors said they were excited to get back to something they’d been doing together for years: a weekly informal pickup soccer game at Loma Alta Park.

But what they found was a ballfield battle they weren’t expecting.

Getting through hard times 

On a recent sweltering Sunday at Loma Alta, the park was abuzz with life: kids playing on a large jungle gym and parents sitting and talking on the grass.

That afternoon, the park was just a bubble of normalcy. All around were the stark reminders of the fire that tore through Altadena — rows and rows of flattened and dusty lots, melted gates and charred trees.

About half of the dozen or so Altadenans who say they’ve been meeting here for the past eight years appeared from different corners of a large grass field at the park, empty save for a few signs that read: "This field is designated for baseball and softball only."

But this group of friends, including several dads, said since 2018, they’ve bonded playing soccer here.

The Loma Alta soccer crew From L-R: Bryce Nicholson; Graham Fortier; Mike Lazzareschi; Alan Matthew Ruiz; Patrick Connor; Nicole Casburn; Gareth Casburn; and Joel Zobrist

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Robert Garrova / LAist

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“Finding these guys and this game is really what brought me into the Altadena community in a lot of ways,” said Graham Fortier.

“This is kind of my backyard. I came here with my son... They grew up here,” Patrick Connor recalled.

“It got me through a couple of hard times already, before the fire,” Mike Lazzareschi said.

All three and their families lost homes in the Eaton Fire.

Bryce Nicholson’s family’s home was spared. One of his children was just 2 months old when the family had to evacuate.

“There’s something kind of symbolic and hopeful about coming to your only park left and talking about where people are at with their rebuilds or what’s going on at the local school district,” he said. “Or just to make fart jokes.”

The group said they were excited to get back to their weekly tradition last summer, months after the fire was extinguished. But in December, they said an L.A. County sheriff’s deputy told them they couldn’t play soccer on the field anymore.

They were shocked.

‘I think it’s ridiculous’ 

Fortier said they feel like the goal posts have been moving on them as far as justification from L.A. County staffers goes. They said officials cited reasons including grass mutilation, needing a permit and that the use is ultimately up to the park director’s discretion.

“To tell us that we can’t play a game that we’ve been playing in eight years at our park — our only park that didn’t burn down — I think it’s ridiculous. And I’m gonna keep playing until they kick me off,” Fortier told LAist.

In a statement, L.A. County Parks said designated baseball fields are for the “exclusive use of baseball, softball, and youth sports. They are not soccer fields.”

In “the near future” the county said it will be able to offer a multi-use field at the nearby Charles White Park, where a variety of sports, including soccer, will be allowed.

“Our goal is not exclusion — it is stewardship and safety. We remain committed to working with all park users to ensure safe, fair, and sustainable access for everyone in our communities,” the statement added.

Joshua McGuffie, a longtime member of the soccer crew who grew up in Altadena and saw his parents’ home destroyed in the fire, said the county’s previous requests to obtain a permit and to stop playing with cleats were inappropriate.

“It feels like the county parks coming in and saying, like, ‘Look, A, You need to pay and, B, you need to play unsafely.’ It’s just mystifying to me,” McGuffie said.

He and other players feel the insurance and other costs associated with getting a permit are prohibitive and their informal group of far fewer than 25 players shouldn’t be required to do so.

The group said they have a meeting with Supervisor Kathryn Barger’s office next week to discuss their situation.

In the meantime, they’ve circulated an online petition that has over 1,100 signatures.

Healing through sports

Patrick Connor said it’s painful to be turned away. And he said he feels like it’s intervening in his healing, his recovery from the fire.

“People ask me: ‘How are you doing?’ I’m not doing that great,” Connor said. “I had, like, serious insomnia after the fire... And the thing that was really good for me was exercise and being with fire victims.”

Several in the soccer group were cited by an L.A. County sheriff's deputy on Sunday, March 15.

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Photo courtesy Graham Fortier

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Later that afternoon at Loma Alta, Bryce Nicholson said he and several others in the group were cited by the sheriff’s department for playing soccer on the field.

Nicholson said he’s digging his heels in because he wants a better explanation from the county.

“Because this is a good space for people that don’t often have many spaces, and a community that has been through so much,” Nicholson said. “Why can’t they just meet up at a park and play a game like they have for a long time?”

Organizers behind the No Kings protests are forecasting their biggest showing yet on Saturday against the policies of President Trump, energized by issues including the administration's immigration enforcement tactics and the war in Iran.

"March 28 will be the biggest protest in US history," the group, which comprises a progressive coalition of activists, wrote on its website. "Find your local No Kings event to make it clear that America rejects the regime's brutality at home and abroad."

Organizers have planned more than 3,000 events in cities across the United States, with several more planned abroad, including in Mexico and Canada.

This is the third series of nationwide protests organized by the group, which says Trump's actions in office are more akin to those of a monarch than a democratically-elected leader.

In response to a request for comment about the planned protests, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson dismissed them as "Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions" and listed what she said were some of the campaign's g "major leftist" financial backers.

"The only people who care about these Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them, said White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson.

The last round of protests, this past October, saw some 5 million attendees spread across about 2,600 demonstrations in the country, according to No Kings.

Bill McKibben is the Vermont-based founder of Third Act — a No Kings-affiliated group comprising people who are 60 years old and up.

He says intergenerational solidarity is a key part of the movement and that there are many older people willing to take to the streets alongside their younger compatriots.

"If you've been to any of the No Kings protests that have happened so far, you'll see a lot of people with hairlines like mine, which is to say, scant," he joked.

"People of all kinds are outraged by what's happening in the country right now, but older people have a particular role to play here."

He says that for older Americans, who have lived through several presidencies, describe the current one as the closest the country has come to authoritarian rule.

"This is a very weird moment in our political history," he said. "Look, there have been plenty of presidents in my lifetime I didn't much like or didn't agree with politically, but there's never been any that I thought were fascist, and I think that that's very clear what we're now starting to deal with in this country."

President Trump has said repeatedly that he's not a fascist or a king and has previously scorned the protests.

"I think it's a joke," he said last year of the October demonstrations. "I looked at the people. They're not representative of this country."

He simultaneously leaned into the royal comparisons, even while mocking critics, posting an AI-generated video of himself wearing a crown.

Visibility Brigade leader Dana Glazer, who is based in the New Jersey suburbs, similarly likened Trump's politics to fascism, which he said thrives when people are isolated from their communities.

Coming together in protest, he said, helps combat that social seclusion. Glazer and other members of his group plan to protest Saturday in Paramus, where the organization was founded.

"We are a force of treating people with individual human dignity and respect, and connection," he said. "And that's what brings us together. That's why this kind of event is powerful, is that people suddenly go, 'Oh wow, we have some power.' "

He said he hopes that people will see events like No Kings and be inspired to peacefully protest even when there aren't huge events planned.

"The reason why we're in this mess is because there has been a lack of civic engagement overall because people have been trained that just by nature of voting every two to four years that they're doing their civic duty," he said.

"We're obviously in a state of crisis right now, but we're in that state of crisis because of this."
Copyright 2026 NPR

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Imagine MacArthur Park without a road running through the middle. That’s what most residents who live around the park say they want.

This is according to preliminary findings from the Reconnecting MacArthur Park project, an effort studying whether the busy roadway between Alvarado Street and Carondelet Street should be closed off permanently. Under this proposal, the park’s north and south sides would be rejoined to form one large green space.

The idea is to turn the major traffic corridor into usable park space in one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in Los Angeles.

Maria Ortiz, 59, who has lived near MacArthur Park for 30 years, welcomes closing off Wilshire, if it improves the area for families like hers. She is a grandmother to three granddaughters.

“Hopefully they can close it so there’s more space for kids to play, more surveillance and fewer homeless people,” Ortiz said. “Right now, the traffic is also bad, it gets really congested. People also don’t respect when the buses are coming.”

For her, the park is important because it’s the only one she has close by. But she added that changes should go beyond closing the road. 

She remembers a different MacArthur Park when she was raising her children, one that felt more welcoming for families.

“There were a lot more events at MacArthur Park before, there were contests, they would give gifts to kids,” she said. 

She joined her neighbors to participate in a public forum to explore the proposal.

The Central City Neighborhood Partners surveyed more than 1,500 people from August to December and asked them to weigh in on five possible options:

• Remove Wilshire entirely through the park and expand green space
  
• Remove Wilshire entirely and keep the short block between Park View Street and Carondelet Street open to cars
  
• Close Wilshire to all cars and turn it into a public space
  
• Close Wilshire only on weekends
  
• Allow only buses through Wilshire Boulevard

More than six in 10 survey respondents supported removing Wilshire and reconnecting the park. Keeping things as they are drew the least support.

The project now moves into the next phase, where the five concepts will go through an environmental review. The city and project partners will also develop design concepts and estimate costs to build.

At this juncture, there is no available funding for any construction.

“What we’ve been able to hear from the community was really that everyone wants to see a change in MacArthur Park,” said Diana Alfaro, associate executive director of Central City Neighborhood Partners. 

“Everyone in this community is excited or wants to be able to see new amenities,” she said, including better lighting and park infrastructure. 

In a February interview, Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez said the neighborhood doesn’t have enough parks or green space, adding that MacArthur Park alone isn’t enough for a densely populated neighborhood like Westlake.

“And that’s why I’ve been moving with my team and pushing for reconnecting MacArthur Park and closing down Wilshire Boulevard in that area to begin to create more spaces, more pedestrianized spaces, more opportunities for green space,” she said. 

At the same time, the city is moving forward with a separate plan to install fencing around MacArthur Park. The plan would add a wrought-iron fence around both halves of the park.  

Officials say the fence will allow the park to close at night and give them time to clean the space overnight. Their goal is to address safety and quality-of-life concerns.

That fencing project is not part of the reconnection study, but Alfaro said it will affect it. According to a report of the survey findings, any redesign of the park will have to factor in where the fence goes, and whether parts of it would need to be removed or rebuilt if the park is eventually reconnected.

City officials have not decided which option, if any, will move forward.

“At the end of the day, there are a lot of changes coming to MacArthur Park,” Alfaro said, “and I think it testifies why there needs to be some more attention around reconnecting or really just adding more green space for the community.”

Alex Lacayo, 35, supports closing Wilshire if it helps improve conditions at the park.

The lifelong Westlake resident often feels the park is “dirty and filthy” when he passes through. 

“If there’s a way to make the park a better place for more people to come, then I feel like it’s a good project,” Lacayo said. “We get a lot of tourists, so improving the park I think will improve the image of Los Angeles.” 

Because of ongoing concerns around homelessness and drug activity, Lacayo often avoids walking through the park. But if conditions improve, he said that could change and he would visit more often.

Alfaro believes the fencing plan and the reconnection project are both responses to those same concerns.

“The purpose of it is to ensure that the park is being well kept and maintained,” she said of the fence.

“I think all of it kind of adds to the same reason why we are doing this project to begin with,” Alfaro added. “Which is to ensure that the park itself is a park that families could use, youth can use, seniors can use.”