At long last, “b-a-n-d” is no longer a four-letter word at Greeley Park.

Last week, the Board of Aldermen voted 13-0 to approve an ordinance introduced by Alderman-at-Large David Deane that restores the use of amplified sound to the Greeley Park band shell, but only through the existing sound system.

In approving this ordinance, which took effect immediately, the aldermen sent back to committee a competing piece of legislation introduced by Ward 3 Alderman Diane Sheehan that would have set a 65-decibel limit on amplified sound when measured from the rear of the Swart Terrace property line. Swart Terrace runs along the southern border of the park off Concord Street.

Both pieces of legislation had their roots in a report compiled by a nine-member committee appointed this spring by Mayor Donnalee Lozeau. That document, released in mid-July, consisted of a majority and minority report, as well as detailed suggestions for a proposed ordinance.

The majority report called for permitting the use of portable amplifying equipment at the band shell, but would have restricted sound levels to no more than 80 decibels as measured 25 feet from the stage.

It also set conditions for when amplified sound would be allowed – no later than 8:30 p.m. excluding Fridays, when the shut-down time would be 10 p.m. – and would have required permits from the Parks and Recreation Department.

The minority report, which was written by Swart Terrace resident Tracy Pappas, recommended that amplification be restricted to the band shell’s “hardwired amplification and speaker system without the use of additional outside amplification equipment.”

That served as the basis for the ordinance introduced by Deane and approved by the aldermen last week, though he did tack on an amendment that permits the use of audio monitors to create special effects and adjust the balance without necessarily boosting the volume.

Clearly, this approach is preferable to the draconian ordinance adopted in March that banned all amplified sound at the band shell – excluding the city’s SummerFun program and a handful of events that were already in the pipeline.

Some readers may recall we were critical of that decision at the time – “Nothing golden about this silence,” read our April 1 headline – feeling it was excessive to, in effect, ban bands from using the band shell this summer unless affiliated with a city- sponsored event.

While we were sympathetic to the plight of the neighbors, we didn’t believe shutting down the band shell to public use was particularly fair to everyone else in the city.

The real solution, of course, is coming up with the money necessary to bring the band shell up to its original specifications when it was built two decades ago.

Pappas was quite correct when she told aldermen last week that “we don’t have a band shell; we have a band shell frame.” That was the result of the city running out of available funds when the band shell was constructed in 1988 with the financial help of the Nashua Rotary Club.

Chief among that unfinished work was a sound mitigation system, which was estimated at that time to cost about $150,000. For what it’s worth, that is the equivalent of about $270,000 in today’s inflation-adjusted dollars.

So unless there is federal or state grant money available for projects of this type, the options shouldn’t be a mystery to anyone.

Either the city decides the band shell is a worthwhile investment and comes up with a way to fund it, or it reaches out to the community for some financial assistance, an approach advocated by Alderman-at-Large Barbara Pressly.

Or the state’s second-largest community continues to limp along with a second-rate venue for public use.