Denver’s elected officials are masters of appearing open-minded and reasonable while orchestrating the sort of mischief that would do Niccolo Machiavelli proud. Inviting public comment at “courtesy” hearings like the one that preceded final City Council passage of a restrictive motorcycle noise ordinance on June 4 makes a dandy smokescreen to mask a done deal.
Only council members Jeanne Faatz and Charlie Brown had the guts to vote against the new 82-decibel limit on the exhaust noise of all motorcycles manufactured after 1982, measured at 25 feet. Even though the new ordinance raises the level from 80 decibels, it’s an almost impossible standard. And the $500 fine for violating the new ordinance, which takes effect July 1, can be levied on any bike owner who allows someone else to operate a motorcycle in the city.
Ostensibly, the standard applies to vehicles under 10,000 pounds, but the discussion focused on motorcycles. There wasn’t much talk about excruciatingly loud street racers driving imported sports coupes.
During the June 4 hearing, residents of the north Platt Park neighborhood and LoDo described the disruption that noisy motorcycles have caused them. Motorcycle repair and rental shop owners and others were allowed to speak in opposition, so once again the council presented what looked like a reasonable, even-handed approach.
Several dozen bikers showed up to protest, but they were allowed only 3 minutes each for comment. A similar tactic was used in 1989 when Denver enacted its assault-weapon ban: More than 700 gun owners showed up to protest then, but only a handful were allowed to speak. The fix was already in, then, too.
Paul Riedesel of the city’s Department of Environmental Health told the council that the new limit brings the city in line with the federal Environmental Protection Agency standard. That’s not quite right. Ken Feith, an EPA spokesman in Washington, told me on June 14 that the federal limit is measured at 15 meters (or 49.2 feet), perpendicular to the moving motorcycle’s path. Halving or doubling the distance can make a motorcycle 3 decibels louder or quieter, he noted.
Riedesel said he’d informed the Harley Owners Group about the proposed ordinance, but several officers of the Rocky Mountain H.O.G. Chapter that I e-mailed the next day replied that was the first they’d heard of it.
Notice for public comment was short, and the council agenda item about the amendment that ran May 21 described it merely as “A bill for an ordinance amending Section 36-8 of the Revised Municipal Code pertaining to Motor Vehicle Noise.” I learned of the upcoming mischief at Hogley’s, an independent shop on South Broadway, the Thursday before the final vote.
Something needed to be done about the problem, but the innocent needn’t suffer with the guilty. There has to be a balance between being awakened at 2 a.m. by somebody ring-a-dinging down the alley on a crotch rocket or roaring by on a huge V-twin with straight pipes and risking a $500 fine just for riding a motorcycle. This ain’t it. Especially if a particular cop is in a foul mood. Bikers, like Blanche DuBois in “A Streetcar Named Desire,” will have to rely on the kindness of strangers – and the embossed EPA approval stamp on their mufflers.
Some pricey aftermarket mufflers and exhaust systems lack the embossed stamp. One friend gets better performance and mileage – a 5 mpg gain, in fact – with an aftermarket exhaust system and other modifications to his Big Twin Harley. His bike has a distinctive rumble, but my friend doesn’t rev his engine like some adolescent hotdogger.
It should be noted that a little noise can save a biker’s life by waking up a semi-conscious automobile driver who’s got a cellphone clamped to one ear while making a left turn across traffic.
Unless somebody successfully challenges Denver’s new ordinance in court, the best anybody can do is make sure they have stock mufflers on their motorcycle, or avoid Denver entirely, as my well-heeled friend, who lives in a northern suburb, plans to do. No more motorcycle jaunts to LoDo or other city neighborhoods with his missus to have lunch on a pleasant summer’s day. No more shopping within the city limits.
Too bad the council rejected a viable alternative suggested by several speakers at the meeting: banning the deliberate revving of an engine just for the sake of making noise.
Peter G. Chronis is a former member of the Denver Post editorial board.
