SHHH! From motion sensors to car engines, Minneapolis noise pollution can be hard to ignore and harder to stop

When was the last time you heard noise? Not light music drifting through your window mid-morning, or kids laughing in the street after school, but some good, old-fashioned noise.

Your neighbor’s leaf blower powering up at 6 a.m.? That’s noise. A car revving its engine as it blasts down your street past midnight? That’s noise.

Most of us seethe silently at the invasion of our sound space. But what can you do when the noise gets too loud, too frequent, or both?

In Minneapolis, the options for frustrated residents are complex, time-constrained and evolving, as evidenced by a vote expected at City Hall this week about noises made by doorbell cameras. And even when rules are in place, whether they actually limit noise can be a coin toss.

Not all noise – even the really loud stuff  – is verboten. Construction noise in Minneapolis, for example, is allowed from 7 a.m.-6 p.m., Monday through Friday, and on wee...