Suppose there was a very successful program in the Chicago area that helped improve the quality of life for thousands of families by significantly reducing jet noise inside their homes. Suppose it was a program run by locally elected officials who used a fair, open and straightforward system for determining who received help. It spent millions of dollars, but none came from property taxes.
Such a program does exist. But you wouldn’t know it by reading “City hit on soundproofing near O’Hare and Midway” (Metro, Jan. 5). The story failed to mention the work of the O’Hare Noise Compatibility Commission, which oversees one of the most successful residential sound-insulation programs in the nation.
Since it began four years ago, the City of Chicago Residential Sound Insulation Program at O’Hare has spent almost $130 million, none of it from property taxes. The program will soon sound-insulate its 4,000th home.
This program and all the work of the O’Hare Noise Compatibility Commission are matters of public record and open meetings. The members of the commission are locally elected officials and appointed representatives of suburban communities. These men and women, who are not paid for their service to the commission, live and work in the suburbs affected by aircraft noise. But these officials work to help everyone, even thousands of residents in non-member communities.
The commission’s decisions concerning residential sound-insulation are based on factual aircraft-noise data collected by a state-of-the-art monitoring system. It’s a system that the O’Hare Noise Compatibility Commission independently verified using a nationally respected expert.
The commission has succeeded in expanding the program well beyond Mayor Richard Daley’s original commitment, yet it remains focused on insulating homes that are most affected by aircraft noise, following a policy called “worst first.” By the way, the homeowners who have benefited from this program, with an average of $30,000 worth of improvements to their houses, like the results.
The O’Hare Residential Sound Insulation Program is efficient, equitable and effective. The O’Hare Noise Compatibility Commission is proud to make some noise about it.
