Amazon delivery drones have made their way to Richardson, with plans to expand to 500 more cities and towns across the country by the end of the year.
While some residents are happy to get their packages quicker, many have major concerns about the noise these 83-pound drones constantly make. In a her latest New York Times piece titled 'It’s Raining Boxes: Amazon Drones Overwhelm a Texas Suburb,' Juliet Macur spoke with residents about the introduction of this technology to their community.
Macur says when she heard residents were complaining of the noises, she thought they were overreacting, until she visited the Amazon distribution center in Richardson to understand for herself.
"I was thinking that people were overreacting, but they aren't," she said. "You could definitely hear when these drones are coming, it's like this very light buzz coming from who knows what direction. Then it just appears over your head and zips on by, and it's pretty loud and distracting."
Residents expressed concerns about the now constant noise, and the new presence of cameras overhead.
"People in the neighborhoods were saying not only do you have this noise buzzing over sometimes every few minutes, but you have these eyes on you," Macur said. "This drone has multiple cameras and they're not quite sure what Amazon is capturing and what they're doing with the information."
One Richardson resident told Macur he feels robbed of his backyard oasis. The drones run from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., but residents are calling for a more restricted timeframe.
Macur says the city of Richardson can't do much to help the community at this point.
"City officials said they can't do anything about it because it's already a binding agreement with Amazon," she said. "When they re-zoned the area, I guess maybe they didn't think it through exactly.
The city of Richardson is seeing other technology pop up too, like data centers and Flock Safety cameras. Macur said residents are concerned with this growth.
"So really, and Richardson, unfortunately, a city that really has a long history of of telecom and tech, they're in a place where they can't get away from it with the data center and the flock cameras, and now drones every two minutes, it's like you can't escape," she said.
These interview highlights have been edited for length and clarity. To hear the conversation in full, click the 'listen' button above.
Miranda Suarez and Ron Corning are the hosts of KERA's NTX Now. Got a tip? Email Miranda at msuarez@kera.org or Ron at rcorning@kera.org.
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