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Can New York’s Streets Be Fast, Safe, and Quiet?
MHNATuesday, September 15, 2026
6:30 p.m. ET | Zoom
New York’s emergency sirens are among the loudest in the country. Ambulances and fire trucks routinely exceed the decibel levels of a jet at takeoff. These volumes take a measurable toll on the cardiovascular health, hearing, and mental well-being of both residents and responders. The justification for sirens has always been safety. Sirens move traffic out of the way so responders can arrive more quickly. But is noise a safety necessity or a workaround for streets that were never designed with emergency response in mind? And more basically, does the difference in speed lead to better clinical outcomes? This panel takes up the question of whether noise-for-safety is a tradeoff New York still needs to make.
The conversation will cover: the public health case against high-decibel sirens; the recent push for lower-decibel alternatives; lessons learned from the experience of other cities; and street-level fixes that might reduce the frictions that justifies siren noise in the first place. Join us as we grapple with the question of whether reducing the siren noise harm means accepting worse emergency outcomes, or whether we can have quiet without compromising safety?
Moderator
Juan Rivero is Special Projects Director at Village Preservation and Chair of the Programs Committee of the City Club of New York
Panelists
Gale Brewer is Council Member of NYC District 6, a former Manhattan Borough President, and the sponsor of a bill on emergency vehicle signaling devices
Jeffrey Malamy is Director of Street Improvement Projects and Chief of Staff at New York City DOT and leads the strategic planning and execution of major street infrastructure enhancements.
Jamie Banks is Founder and President of Quiet Communities. She is a health care and environmental scientist with an extensive background in health outcomes and economics, behavior change, and policy.
