Blog Archives

The Blight of Loud Motorcycles on Big Island

10/27/2017

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I no longer live in Hawaii, please remove me from your email list. Thanks for all you're doing to try and make Hawaii a quieter place. I lived on the Big Island and the loud motorcycles turned paradise into hell far too many times.

Peace

Quieter O'ahu

Aloha. So very sorry to hear that you have left the islands. We have unsubscribed you from our distribution list.

Thank you for your comments and support. We continue to push-back against the rising levels of noise we hear all around us and support from folks like yourself make it all worthwhile. And yes, our visits to the Big Island - and everywhere - make it clear that the motorcycle crowd have no cares for your peace and quiet. They somehow have a need to escalate the noise of their motorcycles in some misguided attempt to gain attention. They will argue that loud noise from a motorcycle is a safety mechanism. A fallacious argument debunked and refuted by science and many, many responsible motorcycle organizations (see our discussion at What The Motorcycle Community Has To Say About Its Noise at: http://www.quieteroahu.com/illegally-modified-motorcycle-exhausts.html . Too, at this same link, even the CEO of Harley Davidson makes the point that motorcycle noise has completely gotten out of control. And speaking of safety, we find it ironic that the same crowd that argues "loud pipes save live" refuses absolutely to adopt common-sense and proven life-saving measures such as helmets and bright reflective riding gear. But then, that wouldn't be cool like making noise.

Again, mahalo for your support.
Quieter O'ahu

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Paradise Lost on the North Shore

10/27/2017

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I had finally had enough. The usual quiet here on the North Shore has slowly developed into living next to an airport. 6 private helicopters land and take off repeatedly throughout the day at the stable area at Turtle Bay. Then the military conducts its flyovers throughout the day all over the point. Add the usual Turtle Bay tour helicopters to the mix and I was ready to find some other noise free hideout. Man, what is going on? Are we all supposed to wear ear protection from now on? Thousands of people [residents] here thrive on the tropical, noise free, environment while a few pilots above ruin it for all of us.
Phew!

Quieter O'ahu

Thank you for taking the time to share your observations about escalating noise levels. We completely agree.

We will post your comments to our noise blog. We believe that your comments will be appreciated by others who visit our site and they certainly add to the body of similar opinions that noise is out of control across our island.

Mahalo,
Quieter O'ahu

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Loud Garbage Trucks At 3:30 In The Morning

10/10/2017

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I live in the back of Kilohana Square located on Kapahulu Ave. Their trash bin is located on Kihei Place, which is a residential street. Between 3:30 to 4:30 AM, Honolulu Disposal Service comes to empty the trash bin. I tried calling HDS numerous times to complain. They tell me they will tell their manager about my complaint, but the next morning, they empty the bin at the same time. Is there a time that they need to follow in order to pick up or empty these trash bins? The noise is so loud that it bolts us out of our sleep.

Quieter O'ahu
Aloha,
Pickups at Kilohana Square are, we believe, performed by a commercial refuse service. Here is a link to the current "Noise Reference Manual" for O'ahu where they briefly discuss Garbage Collection noise on page nine (9).

http://www.quieteroahu.com/reporting-noise-violations.html

Unfortunately the scope of the two small paragraphs doesn't seem to apply to your case - it discusses pickups at schools, and pickups by City and County.

However, at page 2 the Hawai'i Dept of Health suggests for noise issues that aren't covered in the manual, and yours is not, that you can write them a letter and they "may" include suggestions for remedy in the next issue. By the way, before the current version of the manual (July 2017) the previous version was issued in 2008 - so they're not updated that often.

At the same link, however, we provide contact information for the Noise Division of Hawai'i Dept of Health, and we also provide a point of contact and email address. You may want to phone/email them and ask what remedy they may suggest. We believe they still have jurisdiction over commercial noise complaints such as this.

At this link: http://www.quieteroahu.com/things-you-can-do.html we provide contact information for local media. You can phone or email them and frequently their civic issues desk will contact residents reporting noise problems and investigate. You may recall that within the last two weeks KHON did an extensive report and follow-up about a loud concert that was held in Kaka'ako. Noise complaints increasingly attract media attention, so perhaps it could in this case.

Otherwise, at the same link immediately above we also list a link to our Neighborhood Boards, and also the representatives of the Neighborhood Boards. You might email your board representative (contact info at the site above) and discuss the problem. Neighborhood Boards actively engage on behalf of residents when there are problems like this and, if it is a problem for you, it is probably also a problem for your neighbors and others as well.

We've added you to distribution for noise-related information that we periodically send out. You can unsubscribe at anytime.

Mahalo,
A Quieter O'ahu

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In the space for "Name" on BLOG Comments you may use your name, initials, or just your location in Hawaii (e.g., Kaneohe).

Author

The author is just another Hawai'i resident who is tired of seeing the proliferation of noise on our beautiful O'ahu going unchecked.