n505  2217  02 Dec 83
BC-NOISE-12-03
     By Sam Kinch Jr.
     (c) 1983 Dallas Morning News (Independent Press Service)
     AUSTIN, Texas - Gov. Mark White says Texas' governor's mansion ''is
a wonderful place if you just didn't have to live there.''
     White said Friday that downtown Austin, where the mansion is
situated, is so noisy at night that he has complained to city
officials.
     White said his primary complaint was that Austin's street-cleaning
crews awakened him up as early as 4:30 a.m.
     The street-sweeper equipment was bad enough, said White, but ''this
guy with an air-blowing device . . . just moving dirt and leaves and
trash from one place to another'' finally drove the governor over the
edge.
     He said he was awakened by the noise, got dressed, went downstairs
to consult Department of Public Safety officers, then drove around
until he found the street-cleaner's supervisor about 5 a.m.
    ''That guy is starting at the other end of the street now'' and
doesn't reach the governor's mansion ''until a more reasonable
hour,'' White said.
    White said other noise problems, which he hasn't solved, include:
    - City police and fire vehicles whizzing by three sides of the
mansion at all hours to answer emergency calls.
    - Vehicles crossing huge metal hole-covers on busy Lavaca Street,
night and day. Construction work is in progress on the street.
    - Diesel-powered buses that began leaving the downtown Continental
Trailways terminal early in the morning.
    ''Why couldn't they (Continental) have gone on strike instead of
Greyhound?'' the governor asked.
    White said he was investigating of sound-deadening alternatives,
including sound-absorbing curtains for the mansion's windows.
    END
    
nyt-12-03-83 0110est
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