Comment:
I'm so glad I came across your site! I thought I was the only one around here who is so sick and tired of all the constant noise on this island.
I live on the windward side in a complex that is near Kamehameha highway. The traffic noise on the road is horrible but I've learned how to tune it out. I'm fortunate to be closer to the beach side but I have some questions about noise enforcement on beaches-
Is there a certain time of the day when noise is supposed to be enforced on the beach? There are many tourists who stay at the complex next door and seem to lose all sense of time when they are on vacation. They will walk on the beach early in the morning to catch the sunrise and you can hear their kids screaming and yelling as they run around in excitement, despite the sun not even being out yet. There are also times at night when people are on the beach making noise. Enforcement is difficult out here since the only police department is in Kahuku and they are handling situations that happen between Kaaawa and North Shore.
I get that it's the beach and people want to have fun but there are also people residing in the buildings on these beaches who also have a right to their peace of mind. Security in our building can't enforce noise that's on the beach either- what can we do when things get too loud? Even though there's no public beach access at the building I live in, many people, locals and tourists, still trespass either through our parking lot or through the church next door. I understand kids are kids but there are also people who work all sorts of different hours of the day and need to sleep. It's often too hot to close all of the windows to tune out sound as well.
Second thing is that there's a church right next door to my building and almost every Saturday, around 6:30-7:00 in the morning, someone is already out there for 3-4 hours at a time mowing the lawn. Is that allowed?
Thank you for running this site!!
Quieter O'ahu Response:
Aloha,
I REALLY wish I could provide some good news, but in this case, don't think I can. Where there's a beach in Hawai'i there's noise. Fact of living in a tourist-oriented paradise. I could cite the Department of Health's administrative rules on established day and nighttime noise levels, they're posted on our site under "the quiet you're entitled to" but that would possibly raise your hopes that something might be done and, regrettably, it won't be. At least not now. We are increasing our lobbying of city council and the legislature for greater enforcement of existing noise ordinances and statutes by HPD, and also trying to make everyone more sensitive to the increasing noise everywhere. Every additional person that we add to our mailing list - and we'll be adding you - is potentially one more email in our upcoming email campaigns to city council and state legislature outlining the problems of noise here on O'ahu and across the state and asking, as a voting block, for action on this important issue.
Thanks for the note, and while we perhaps couldn't help this time, at least you have our empathy. We hate it, too. We will share your thoughts on our noise blog for the benefit of others, without your identifying information of course.
Mahalo,
Quieter O'ahu
I'm so glad I came across your site! I thought I was the only one around here who is so sick and tired of all the constant noise on this island.
I live on the windward side in a complex that is near Kamehameha highway. The traffic noise on the road is horrible but I've learned how to tune it out. I'm fortunate to be closer to the beach side but I have some questions about noise enforcement on beaches-
Is there a certain time of the day when noise is supposed to be enforced on the beach? There are many tourists who stay at the complex next door and seem to lose all sense of time when they are on vacation. They will walk on the beach early in the morning to catch the sunrise and you can hear their kids screaming and yelling as they run around in excitement, despite the sun not even being out yet. There are also times at night when people are on the beach making noise. Enforcement is difficult out here since the only police department is in Kahuku and they are handling situations that happen between Kaaawa and North Shore.
I get that it's the beach and people want to have fun but there are also people residing in the buildings on these beaches who also have a right to their peace of mind. Security in our building can't enforce noise that's on the beach either- what can we do when things get too loud? Even though there's no public beach access at the building I live in, many people, locals and tourists, still trespass either through our parking lot or through the church next door. I understand kids are kids but there are also people who work all sorts of different hours of the day and need to sleep. It's often too hot to close all of the windows to tune out sound as well.
Second thing is that there's a church right next door to my building and almost every Saturday, around 6:30-7:00 in the morning, someone is already out there for 3-4 hours at a time mowing the lawn. Is that allowed?
Thank you for running this site!!
Quieter O'ahu Response:
Aloha,
I REALLY wish I could provide some good news, but in this case, don't think I can. Where there's a beach in Hawai'i there's noise. Fact of living in a tourist-oriented paradise. I could cite the Department of Health's administrative rules on established day and nighttime noise levels, they're posted on our site under "the quiet you're entitled to" but that would possibly raise your hopes that something might be done and, regrettably, it won't be. At least not now. We are increasing our lobbying of city council and the legislature for greater enforcement of existing noise ordinances and statutes by HPD, and also trying to make everyone more sensitive to the increasing noise everywhere. Every additional person that we add to our mailing list - and we'll be adding you - is potentially one more email in our upcoming email campaigns to city council and state legislature outlining the problems of noise here on O'ahu and across the state and asking, as a voting block, for action on this important issue.
Thanks for the note, and while we perhaps couldn't help this time, at least you have our empathy. We hate it, too. We will share your thoughts on our noise blog for the benefit of others, without your identifying information of course.
Mahalo,
Quieter O'ahu