Comment:
My husband & I lived on Ewa Beach Road for 11 years. Various efforts were made in that time period by concerned neighbors to address issues such as illegally modified motorcycles (year-round) and illegal fireworks (seasonal). Neighborhood Watch groups were started twice. The 1st time, it was disbanded when the main contact person received death threats, from a known drug dealer, whose now-adult sons use those noisy bikes, often stolen, to peddle their wares. An occasional (rookie?) HPD officer would show some initiative & enthusiasm for protecting the rights of law-abiding tax-paying citizens but the general disregard and seemingly [unmotivated] police force ultimately led us to the conclusion that nothing would be done & that our personal safety if we continued in our efforts, would be jeopardized. We sold our dream home, picked up the pieces of our broken hearts, and relocated to California, where we have yet to hear a single firework or "bomb" go off & here it is 12/11!
Quieter O'ahu Response:
Aloha,
We share in your very clear frustration. We, too, occasionally receive less-than-politely-worded emails sharing negative opinions of our efforts. And why? For simply informing the public of the sources of noise, their impact on health and quality of life, and what options are available to combat the noise. We also are apparently not always viewed as friends by HPD, who challenge our numbers of noise and related citations issued, https://www.quieteroahu.com/hpds-poor-record-of-enforcement.html, but offer no statistics from 2009 forward to show that enforcement is better than we have published, only 4/10th's of a citation per officer, per year, or approximately only eight (8) noise citations per officer per 20-year career. We would gladly publish more up-to-date numbers, but when we last asked HPD to provide these statistics we were told that the administrative cost could be over $5000.00. Unaffordable for most, certainly unaffordable for Quieter O'ahu. So, with respect for HPD's counter-position, we stand by our statistics which were originally provided to the Honolulu Star Bulletin Kokua Line in March 2009 and shown on our website at the previous link. As referenced in Ewa Topix in the following link, and the 86 comments posted to their article, most appear to agree with our conclusion of poor enforcement (http://www.topix.com/forum/city/ewa-gentry-hi/TJ77LCMS2TH7CGUVF). And yet we still in good faith recommend that our readers contact HPD when confronted by noise abuses that are counter to Hawai'i noise ordinances and statutes. As enough people report the violations, we hope to help change, and sharply increase, HPD's responsiveness to this very real problem.
But most of all, we are sorry to hear that you felt you had no alternative but to leave paradise, but happy to hear that you feel your quality of life is improved. Thank you for your note.
Mahalo,
Quieter O'ahu
My husband & I lived on Ewa Beach Road for 11 years. Various efforts were made in that time period by concerned neighbors to address issues such as illegally modified motorcycles (year-round) and illegal fireworks (seasonal). Neighborhood Watch groups were started twice. The 1st time, it was disbanded when the main contact person received death threats, from a known drug dealer, whose now-adult sons use those noisy bikes, often stolen, to peddle their wares. An occasional (rookie?) HPD officer would show some initiative & enthusiasm for protecting the rights of law-abiding tax-paying citizens but the general disregard and seemingly [unmotivated] police force ultimately led us to the conclusion that nothing would be done & that our personal safety if we continued in our efforts, would be jeopardized. We sold our dream home, picked up the pieces of our broken hearts, and relocated to California, where we have yet to hear a single firework or "bomb" go off & here it is 12/11!
Quieter O'ahu Response:
Aloha,
We share in your very clear frustration. We, too, occasionally receive less-than-politely-worded emails sharing negative opinions of our efforts. And why? For simply informing the public of the sources of noise, their impact on health and quality of life, and what options are available to combat the noise. We also are apparently not always viewed as friends by HPD, who challenge our numbers of noise and related citations issued, https://www.quieteroahu.com/hpds-poor-record-of-enforcement.html, but offer no statistics from 2009 forward to show that enforcement is better than we have published, only 4/10th's of a citation per officer, per year, or approximately only eight (8) noise citations per officer per 20-year career. We would gladly publish more up-to-date numbers, but when we last asked HPD to provide these statistics we were told that the administrative cost could be over $5000.00. Unaffordable for most, certainly unaffordable for Quieter O'ahu. So, with respect for HPD's counter-position, we stand by our statistics which were originally provided to the Honolulu Star Bulletin Kokua Line in March 2009 and shown on our website at the previous link. As referenced in Ewa Topix in the following link, and the 86 comments posted to their article, most appear to agree with our conclusion of poor enforcement (http://www.topix.com/forum/city/ewa-gentry-hi/TJ77LCMS2TH7CGUVF). And yet we still in good faith recommend that our readers contact HPD when confronted by noise abuses that are counter to Hawai'i noise ordinances and statutes. As enough people report the violations, we hope to help change, and sharply increase, HPD's responsiveness to this very real problem.
But most of all, we are sorry to hear that you felt you had no alternative but to leave paradise, but happy to hear that you feel your quality of life is improved. Thank you for your note.
Mahalo,
Quieter O'ahu