No, it was true. It wasn't so much "noise pollution" as it was viewed by the powers that be (Rudolph Guiliani] that it was a "quality of life" issue. The same way they eliminated squeegee men and street walkers from being visible from the human eye and thus improving the "quality of life" of the city, they too felt that drumming in any public capacity was a detriment. So for a few years, the Central Park tradition was halted. But eventually it made its way back under a new administration. So it's been back on for the last few years. Public spaces like Central Park are really the only locations you can do this. Unless you're in a neighborhood with folks who don't mind the drumming, most residential areas nowadays complain about the "noise." Usually, 'white' folks. There was a whole debate over this around 2006 as more and more "whites" began to infiltrate Harlem and the new housing units that have been built over the years that only such a group can seemingly afford and how they had little sensitivity for the culture and traditions of the neighborhood. Harlem was a drumming haven since the 1940s and maybe even before. Not any more. As more "hipsters" make their way into the area, the cultural landscape is slowly altered. Then again, drumming has always been a sore point for people. I can imagine how many aof the affluent families living in Long Island cringed everytime they heard some kid banging on his drum kit with the rest of the garage band. Drums will always be targeted. Esepcially in the United States. The African was denied the drum by the slave master. Not so in the Caribbean...
