Unnecessary Train Noise
I am a realtor and a resident in the Cottage Grove area of the city. That would be the Washington Avenue Corridor. There has been a large amount of new construction in this area. The Houston City is collection a lot a tax revenue from these homes and unfortunately we (the residents of this area) are being bombarded by train horn noise at all hours of the day and night. The city has somehow been able to get a quite zone for West University, Bellaire, and the Galleria area I.E. (no horn blowing), But we the residents of the Washington Avenue corridor are somehow not it the loop for this same consideration. I have written to the city council starting Jan 25, 07 complaining about the unneccessary noise, inviting members of the City Council and the Mayor to come to home and experience first hand the noise levels. In April there was an article written in the Houston Chronicle by (mat.stiles@chron.com) requesting that a 16 foot wall be built along I 10 to reduce the traffic noise so that the users of Memorial Park would not be bothered by the noise. (cost as much as $ 480,000) Excuse me but the users of Memorial Park are not there all day and all night. The homeowners and high tax payers are along this route all the time. I wrote Mr. Stiles with no reply but again he is representing a special interest group. I wrote another letter to the Mayor and City council Feb, 22,07 about the unneccessary noise from the trains, again no reply. I wrote again Aug 12, 07 spelling out the problem for the homeowners along this track. I recieved a letter signed by Bill White indicating that the complaint was be sent to Terence Fontaine, Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations. We are still waiting for a response from this person. Since the opening of the new terminal on the ship channel we are overrun by trains and the noise that follows day and night and Sunday nights are usually the worst. But the City is making money from the new terminal on the ship channel and from the homeowner tax payers and we are putting up with the nose with apparantly no help from the city. Today the Houston Chronicle (Dec. 28, 2007) has an article by Eric Hanson (eric.hanson@chron.com) about the city of Sugar Land attacking this same problem, I can only hope that the city council members and the mayor of Houston will read it and maybe do something for us along the train route of the Washington Ave. Corridor. If other owners in this area would like to have some input please write to the following.
Terrence Fontaine
Deputy Chief of Staff for Operation
Office of the Mayor
P.O. Box 1562
Houston, Texas 77251
and send a copy to Shiela Jackson Lee, since she is on the Railroad commission perhaps something will be done in our collective lifetimes
Gary Bergner
Century 21 Brooks Ballard
4150 Westheimer Rd. Ste 120
Houston, Texas 77027
(4 votes, average: 4.25 out of 5)
Loading ...
I just recently moved to the area. About a block away from the RR crossing at Heights Blvd. I knew the train track was there, but had no idea the trains were allowed to generate those loud train horn noises at all hours of the night. Surely in that densely populated of an area, they’d have to tone it down at night while people are trying to sleep, right? Wrong!!!!! It seems absolutely ridiculous to me that, with all the people living around there, this train can come through at 3:00 a.m., 4:30 a.m., 5:10 a.m., etc. and blast these 150+ db horns. Isn’t that a violation of the city noise ordinance in and of itself?
http://www.nonoise.org/lawlib/cities/houston.htm
I sleep with earplugs (30db reduction) and I STILL get woken up 3 to 4 times per night by the horns. I haven’t had a decent nights sleep since I moved in. AND I often oversleep my alarm clock now since it isn’t near as load as the train horns (really!!).
I should mention that I’m really getting sick of hearing people say or reading that “oh, you’ll get used to it”. If this was a faint horn noise off in the distance, then yes, I would get used to it. I did get used to living north of IAH when I was younger and hearing all the planes, but this is a different story. As I mentioned, it is extremely loud. Imagine your radio or iPod alarm clock cranked all the way up and going off 3 or 4 times a night. Would you “get used to” that? I didn’t think so.
If you are planning on moving to this area, reconsider until this nonsense is taken care of. This, of course, probably won’t happen until after 2010 or so (if ever).
I am in negotiations with a builder to buy a house in the area referred to above. I visited one new house and was told by the sales person not to worry about the train tracks as they are no longer used.
Is there any future plans in place by the council to do something about this noise?
Are there any suggestions that I could make to the builder to hlock out this noise?
Any help/suggestions would be appreciated.
I sent in a blog in Dec. concerning the noise from the train and attemps by me and the city to establish a quiet zone. A plan was adopted by the city but unfortunately, we were put on a level three (the lowest) I would urge all those living along the Washington Ave. Corridor to start sending in their concerns about this unnecessary noise to the city and others who can do something about it. I am listing the e-mail address for those in City Hall who have been made aware of this problem by the meetings that I had with them. Please send your complanints to the following:
jesse.bounds@cityofhouston
david.worley@cityofhouston.net
rhonda.sauter@cityofhouston.net
terence.fontaine@cityofhouston.net
Joeadams@up.com
drhill@up.com
billwhite@cityofhouston.net
People the only way that this can get done is for all to send in their complaints to the city.
You may also write the following:
Congressman Sheila Jackson Lee
2435 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515 or send an e-mail to the following:
yohannes.tsehai@mail.house.gov
To: Those living in the Washington Ave. Corridor and don’t like the unecessary train noise (horns) Please see the above blog to those than can do something about it. YOU WILL HAVE TO SEND YOUR COMPLAINTS IN ON A REGULAR BASIS TO GET ANYTHING DONE.
Gary Bergner, ABR, GRI, QSC
Broker/Associate
Century21 Brooks Ballard
Houston, Texas 77002
Gary,
Thanks for putting this information out there. I very recently moved to the Area (north of Washington and south of I10) and I would have never thought the train noise would be SO horrible. I can’t sleep at night! I appreciate your efforts to bring this situation to the attention of the appropriate officials within the city of Houston.
Are you aware if there was an application submitted for the Quiet Zones Program for our area? (http://www.publicworks.houstontx.gov/traffic/programs.htm). I unfortunately moved in after the submission deadline. I will, however, be sending official communications to all of the contacts that you have listed above, and I would encourage ALL of our neighbors to also do so.
Please let me know if there is anything that I can do to help with your efforts. Has there ever been an effort to combine the efforts of the Rice Military, Camp Logan, and Washington Corridor Neighborhoods to create a larger campaign?
OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! Could it be any louder!!! We just moved into the area and I have not had a decent night sleep since. I never thought a train horn could be sooooooo loud!!! Thanks for the info and we sure will start the letters and emails.