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| A business jet, above, and a noisy Italian-made airplane, below, roaring over South Hackensack as they prepared to land at Teterboro Airport last November. |
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| Many of the jets that use Teterboro are flown over residential neighborhoods in Hackensack, Teaneck and other towns on their way to and from the airport. |
By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR
Business jets and noisy single-engine planes roaring overhead around the clock. A Harley-Davidson motorcycle blasting past your house just before 7 in the morning.
Roads so antiquated that many lack turn lanes or proper drainage, leading to flash floods that threaten to swallow luxury SUVs (see Page 1 of The Record today).
Even though Bergen County residents pay some of the highest property taxes in the nation, their quality of life often sucks, and The Record could care less.
Today, the Local editors celebrate a charity run by hundreds of lawbreakers riding motorcycles modified to make as much noise as possible (L-1).
If police can set up checkpoints to catch people who don't buckle up, why can't they do the same to cite motorcyclists for violating anti-noise ordinances?
One reason may be that many Harleys are owned by cops and firemen, both active and retired.
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| Members of Fourth Watch, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle club exclusively for emergency medical personnel, firefighters, members of the military and police officers, at Englewood's Memorial Day Parade. The roar from their bikes was defeaning, and their fumes filled the air. What a poor example to set for spectators, including children. |
Your assumption that police officers don't give tickets to Harley owners because they might be active or retired cops or firefighters is ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteYou would have a hard time proving your claim, in view of all of the loud Harleys that continue to assault our ears and foul the air. A ticket is useless, if the violator is allowed to continue riding a bike deliberately modified to be fast and loud.
DeleteI am not saying that the bikes aren't loud. They are loud. But you said many of the bikes are owned by police and firefighters. Is that a fact? Are most bikes in this area owned by police and firefighters? How did you come to that conclusion ?
ReplyDeleteIt was common knowledge and there may even be a Harley group of law enforcers and firefighters.
DeleteAh..now I know why you think all cops and firefighters ride all the Harley Davidsons in the area...you went to the Memorial Day parade in Englewood and took a picture of a motorcycle club 4th Watch...I am sure the members of that club do not make a a majority of Harley owners in the area...so your going to have to come up with a better reason as to why police don't enforce local ordinances pertaining to noise..
ReplyDeleteQuality of life offenses aren't a priority. It's the same reason landscapers who work on Sunday and barking dogs, two other noisemakers in my neighborhood, are ignored.
DeleteI can't say for sure if quality of life issues are or not enforced.. I just don't care for statements made that can't be backed up by fact (ex. The only people who ride Harley's are cops and firefighters)
ReplyDeleteI said "many" cops and firefighters, not "only" cops and firefighters.
DeleteYou and others have jogged my memory about a trip several years ago to NJPAC in Newark or I might have been going to eat in the Ironbound.
When I came off the ramp from Route 280, a cop stopped traffic to allow literally hundreds of Harley riding cops and firefighters to pass on McCarter Highway in an annual charity run I only learned about when I listened to the news later in the day. This group was specifically for first responders.
I sat in my car for 15 minutes to 20 minutes as the parade passed, and fumed like the rest of the drivers held up by that noisy rabble.