The first thing Dominick Guzzo noticed about San Francisco was the noise.

Six years ago, he moved to the city and found housing in the Mission. But the din of his new neighborhood was so overwhelming that he considered moving back to his hometown in the Philadelphia suburbs.

Car alarms from the nearby Zipcar parking lot kept him up at night. So did drunken brawls on the street below, the neighbors’ shouting, police sirens, fire engines, construction and traffic.

“There’s only so much you can do when there is outside noise,” Guzzo said. “It’s a constant struggle. You have to expect to never have a quiet night.”

With urban life comes noise — to an extent, the din is unavoidable. But for those who expect the city to help when the decibel level becomes intolerable, trying to find a solution can be as frustrating as the sound of that jackhammer that won’t quit.  Read  more here