Comment:
Hi, I am really glad I found your website. I have been a resident of Oahu for 32 years living at Diamond Head. I am very concerned about the much elevated noise levels and constant disturbances of the Commercial Waikiki Tour Trolleys travelling down our once quiet and peaceful streets. The Waikiki Tour Trolleys operate everyday day 7 days a week, 365 days/year rain or shine. The first Tour Trolley passes by at 6:20am waking both my wife and I up every morning due to the loud exhaust noise. I measured the dB level from these Trolleys and it read between 72-80db at 30ft, well above the acceptable noise level guidelines set by the City for residential neighborhoods during the day at between 50-60db. This doesn't include the noise from the loudspeaker in which the driver narrates the sites to the travelers while they are passing by and also does not include the driver ringing the Trolly bell numerous times. Very annoying and disruptive to do this in a residential neighborhood. There are about 55-60 Tour Trolleys now that transit down our street, up significantly from 0 just a few year ago. I have reached out to both my State and City representative to see if they can pass some legislation limiting this type of commercial activity in residential neighborhoods or at the very least restrict the noise levels of the operators. They both said it will take a long time to do this and there are no guarantees. I also contacted the Dept. of Health and they told me that at the current time they do not have any regulations against this type of noise. I have already presented this to my neighborhood board. Any help to get this matter under control would be appreciated. Feel free to publish this on your website blog to spread the word. Why are we allowing ALL of our residential communities to become commercialized at the expense of the residents who live there? This issue needs to be addressed. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you. -Aloha
Quieter O'ahu Response:
Aloha,
Thanks for your comments. We will most definitely post your comments for the benefit of our website visitors. Looks as though you're covering all the right bases: city council, legislature, neighborhood board, dept of health. A couple comments. As you're doubtlessly aware tourism is BIG business in Hawaii. An interesting pastime would be to look up the parent company of the trolley service and then look at campaign contributors for various members of council and the legislature. Without looking I'm fairly confident that you'll see that company's name appearing frequently. And it's for THAT reason, not difficulty in passing legislation, that it will "...take a long, long time..." to get legislation passed. Too, it's interesting that everyone seems to be telling you that there's nothing that can be done. The dept of health regulates commercial noise and if busses, trucks, trollies, etc., are emitting noise above prescribed limits it is their responsibility to investigate. Also, of the outreach you've performed, the neighborhood board could potentially be the best approach. As the level of city government closest to the community you have the ability to speak directly to the board and others in attendance and share your views in that forum. We're reasonably sure that you'll find like-minded neighbors who will give you their support. When enough voices are raised, politicians DO begin to notice. May take enough voices raised to register their own breach of noise limits, but votes do count - particularly at the council level. Keep pushing; we will, too. We feel the same frustration every day, but occasionally we do register a few gains. We've added you to distribution for our info-sharing.
Mahalo for contacting us.
A Quieter O'ahu
Hi, I am really glad I found your website. I have been a resident of Oahu for 32 years living at Diamond Head. I am very concerned about the much elevated noise levels and constant disturbances of the Commercial Waikiki Tour Trolleys travelling down our once quiet and peaceful streets. The Waikiki Tour Trolleys operate everyday day 7 days a week, 365 days/year rain or shine. The first Tour Trolley passes by at 6:20am waking both my wife and I up every morning due to the loud exhaust noise. I measured the dB level from these Trolleys and it read between 72-80db at 30ft, well above the acceptable noise level guidelines set by the City for residential neighborhoods during the day at between 50-60db. This doesn't include the noise from the loudspeaker in which the driver narrates the sites to the travelers while they are passing by and also does not include the driver ringing the Trolly bell numerous times. Very annoying and disruptive to do this in a residential neighborhood. There are about 55-60 Tour Trolleys now that transit down our street, up significantly from 0 just a few year ago. I have reached out to both my State and City representative to see if they can pass some legislation limiting this type of commercial activity in residential neighborhoods or at the very least restrict the noise levels of the operators. They both said it will take a long time to do this and there are no guarantees. I also contacted the Dept. of Health and they told me that at the current time they do not have any regulations against this type of noise. I have already presented this to my neighborhood board. Any help to get this matter under control would be appreciated. Feel free to publish this on your website blog to spread the word. Why are we allowing ALL of our residential communities to become commercialized at the expense of the residents who live there? This issue needs to be addressed. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you. -Aloha
Quieter O'ahu Response:
Aloha,
Thanks for your comments. We will most definitely post your comments for the benefit of our website visitors. Looks as though you're covering all the right bases: city council, legislature, neighborhood board, dept of health. A couple comments. As you're doubtlessly aware tourism is BIG business in Hawaii. An interesting pastime would be to look up the parent company of the trolley service and then look at campaign contributors for various members of council and the legislature. Without looking I'm fairly confident that you'll see that company's name appearing frequently. And it's for THAT reason, not difficulty in passing legislation, that it will "...take a long, long time..." to get legislation passed. Too, it's interesting that everyone seems to be telling you that there's nothing that can be done. The dept of health regulates commercial noise and if busses, trucks, trollies, etc., are emitting noise above prescribed limits it is their responsibility to investigate. Also, of the outreach you've performed, the neighborhood board could potentially be the best approach. As the level of city government closest to the community you have the ability to speak directly to the board and others in attendance and share your views in that forum. We're reasonably sure that you'll find like-minded neighbors who will give you their support. When enough voices are raised, politicians DO begin to notice. May take enough voices raised to register their own breach of noise limits, but votes do count - particularly at the council level. Keep pushing; we will, too. We feel the same frustration every day, but occasionally we do register a few gains. We've added you to distribution for our info-sharing.
Mahalo for contacting us.
A Quieter O'ahu