O'HARE — Fed up with the city's rules for filing complaints about jet noise, a member of an anti-O'Hare noise group created a new app to make it easier for residents to file a complaint with city officials.
Darrin Thomas, a member of the Fair Allocation in Runways Coalition, said the free app — Chicago Noise Complaint — is designed to make it easier for people like him who are angry about the racket generated by planes using O'Hare Airport's newest east-west runway to complain to city officials.
“I was so frustrated by the surge in noise pollution and after complaining at the city’s 311 site, I found it very cumbersome,” Thomas said, adding that his quality of life has been "seriously impacted" by the sound of planes using the runway that opened in October 2013.
The app, which allows users to submit a complaint with one click, will "more accurately reflect the lived reality" for residents who live near the new flight path that has sent hundreds of flights every day over Far Northwest Side neighborhoods like Jefferson Park, Edgebrook, Sauganash and North Park, where residents heard little to no jet racket before the new runway opened, according to a statement from the coalition.
Heather Cherone says complaints have reached record highs:
The mobile-friendly app can be used to report noise complaints for planes using O'Hare and Midway airports.
Like the city's website, the app asks for the user’s name, email, street address and nature of complaint. Once the user clicks submit, the app sends the complaint to the 311 site and stores that data for future use.
The city's website forces complainants to re-enter that information every time they submit a complaint, causing people to give up on reporting every time they are awoken by the sound of a plane or forced to turn up the television, according to the coalition.
"Because the current 311 system is designed to minimize citizen participation it does not provide an accurate reflection of the true impact of the flight pattern changes at O'Hare and Midway," according to the statement from the coalition. The app "aims to change that," according to the group.
In November, three congressmen, including U.S. Rep Mike Quigley, D-Chicago, criticized the city's 24-hour hotline — 800-435-9569 — for adding insult to injury for people struggling to cope with the surge in jet noise. The line is staffed by call-takers who just take messages but can't answer questions and don't know the issue, the congressmen said.
In addition, callers often get put on hold and get frustrated and simply hang up before registering a complaint, the congressmen said.
The new runway allows planes to take off and land without crossing paths with other jets while on the ground, which aviation officials said will reduce delays and increase safety.
Chicago Department of Aviation spokeswoman Karen Pride did not respond to a request for comment about the app Monday but has said O'Hare has "one of the most comprehensive aircraft noise management programs in the world."
In November, 30,748 complaints were filed with city officials, fewer than in September and October, but more than the number of complaints filed each month from January to August 2014, according to the O'Hare Noise Compatibility Commission.
Since September 2013 — before the new east-west runway opened last fall as part of the $8.7 billion O'Hare Modernization Program — the number of complaints have skyrocketed approximately 1,240 percent, according to data from the noise commission.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
