Here's Good-bye to Open Air Speakers on Tour Buses
Legislation to require open-air double-decker sight-seeing buses to install headphone-limited sound reproduction systems is slated for a vote by the City Council on Thursday, April 29th, at 1:30 PM at City Hall. We need your help to make sure this legislation is passed.
This is a vastly improved bill from the bill discussed at the hearing just days ago: it requires full compliance by the end of 2015 – not 2022 – and, more important, gets the conversion of each fleet of buses to use headphones ,10 percent by July 2011, 40 percent by July 2012, 60 percent by July 2013, 80 percent by July 2014, and by July of 2015, 100 percent.
We also negotiated for the bus companies to be penalized if they do not adhere to the law. Speaker Quinn and Council Member Brewer, the bill’s sponsor, agreed. The legislation stipulates fines and suspension of licenses for buses not meeting the compliance timetables. While we strongly support the use of sound reproduction devices on all open air double-decker tour buses, we also strongly support continuing to use live tour guides to give their commentaries by means of these devices. The guides need to be on the buses to answer questions and to give their own unique “take” on NYC’s important points of interest that enriches the experience of the tourists taking the tours.
Our Streets Our Lives, and the community organizations and associations we have worked with to secure this legislation, believe this legislation makes real progress in tackling the problem of noise which the open air double- decker tour buses bring to our neighborhoods and the concomitant decrease in the quality of our lives.
We greatly appreciate the support and involvement of Speaker Quinn and her staff in listening to our voices not only at the hearing on April 12 but also in the negotiating sessions in which the legislation was drafted. We thank Council Member Brewer for her sponsorship of the bill and helping to move it forward. They and the council staff worked hard to make this bill one that brings relief to all residents of NY City.
However, our work is not over until this legislation becomes law. Here’s what you can do: (Refer to bill as Council Member Brewer’s Tour Bus Legislation)
- Write, call and/or e-mail your City Council member to vote YES on this bill on April 29th. A personal letter or visit is an effective tactic.
- Contact the Mayor’s Office, tell him you support the bill, and urge him to sign it into law: Hon Michael Bloomberg, c/o Patrick Wehle, Director of NYC Legislative Affairs, , 212-788-3678, or copy and paste this e-mail address into your own e-mail: pwehle@cityhall.nyc.gov
- Get the word out. Talk to your neighbors and local groups and ask them to join you in supporting this legislation.
- COME to the City Council Meeting on April 29th. We don’t speak at this but our presence will let council members know we want this legislation passed.
We’ve got more to do, of course, including winning legislation to regulate routes. But please help to win this one first. Thank you for all your help so far.
Managing Editor
