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Noisy graduations
kill late-night peace

Question: On Tuesday night, June 7, there was a graduation at the Blaisdell Center. I am flabbergasted that a bus company (and police escorts) thought it was a great idea for the bus drivers to continuously blast their horns after 10 p.m. in celebration of the graduating seniors. You could hear this train of buses for 15 to 20 minutes while the blare echoed off the buildings. Doesn't it matter that there are two hospitals in the area? Can we file a complaint against the bus company for disturbing the peace? I'm not against the seniors celebrating, I just think there's got to be a better alternative.

Q: Can you find out which school graduated at the Blaisdell Center on Tuesday, June 7, and why they had to ride on yellow school buses down Pensacola, onto Kapiolani, up Ward, down King, back up Piikoi and onto the freeway, all the while blaring the horns after 10 p.m.?

Q: On Saturday, June 4, at midnight, graduating seniors piled onto seven or eight long school buses, then took off from the Blaisdell Center constantly tooting all their air horns, incredibly loud. Then they went around the block tooting all the way down King Street and back, then started all over again. The hospital was right there. I thought it was against the law to make unnecessary noise. Then on the following Tuesday night, the same thing happened at 10 p.m. A high school graduation got out, six buses continuously tooted out of and around the Blaisdell, waking everybody up. People have to go to work. Not only that, they had a police escort. Will they keep doing this all the time?

Answer: This is the first year we've received any complaints, let alone three, about noisy celebrations following graduation ceremonies at the Blaisdell Center.

But it appears various factors were at work this year to account for the late-night -- and weekday -- noise.

Spokespersons for the two schools involved -- Castle High School in the Tuesday graduation and Punahou School in the Saturday event -- apologized for the disruptions.

But they hoped people also could understand the students were celebrating a momentous achievement in their lives and were being escorted to school-sanctioned non-alcoholic events to cap the nights.

But first, Section 41-5.1(c) of the Revised Ordinances of Honolulu does say it is unlawful for any person driving a vehicle to "make or create unnecessary noise" when passing any hospital building "with a capacity for treating not less than 36 patients."

However, spokeswomen for the two nearby hospitals -- Straub Clinic & Hospital and Kaiser Permanente Honolulu Clinic -- say their facilities were not affected by the post-graduation noise.

Kaiser's Honolulu Clinic, at the corner of King and Pensacola, does not have any hospital beds and basically closes at 5 p.m., said spokeswoman Lyn Kenton.

Straub, just mauka of the Blaisdell complex on King Street, also apparently wasn't adversely affected, according to initial checks following our inquiry.

Capt. Frank Fujii, spokesman for the Honolulu Police Department, also apologized for any disruption or inconvenience caused by buses being escorted by off-duty officers.

He noted that the primary responsibility for such officers is "for safety, of pedestrians as well as vehicular traffic, so their attention is very much focused on the traffic."

Your complaints were brought to the attention of the officers involved so that they would be more cognizant of such concerns next year. If this occurs again, Fujii said to call police when the noise is happening.

He said he also would like readers to know that officers escorting new graduates from various high schools to after-graduation parties often volunteer their time, because HPD supports and encourages the safe, nonalcoholic celebrations.

Meanwhile, Castle Principal Meredith Maeda explained that graduation ceremonies normally are held on the Kaneohe campus on a weekend and normally would have been completed by 6:30 p.m.

But because the school field and bleachers are being renovated, an alternate site was sought. "We tried to find a new venue in September, but everything was booked already," Maeda said.

The Blaisdell eventually was chosen, but the only appropriate date available was the Tuesday night. On top of that, because it was a work day, the ceremony was scheduled later than usual.

Maeda said that Castle students, like those at many other schools, participate in Project Graduation, the all-night celebration sponsored by parents. The tradition at Castle for the past 10 to 15 years is for the new graduates "to be sent off by the parents and the community to this nonalcoholic celebration."

In Kaneohe, parents would line up outside the school. This year, "our parents and community lined up around the Blaisdell Center," Maeda said. "The (six) buses went around the Blaisdell Center and as they went around the Blaisdell Center, the celebration was on."

Maeda acknowledged that, "unfortunately," this happened late on a weekday night.

"I apologize," he said. "But this was our way of making sure that our students were honored and celebrated in a nonalcoholic venue. We hope the public understands."

Laurel Bowers Husain, communications director for Punahou School, also apologized for the late-night noise.

"Obviously, we're very sorry if it was an inconvenience to people," she said. "For these 18-year-olds and their families, high school graduation was a huge thing to celebrate. It is unfortunate that it sounds like it got out of hand."

Punahou has held its graduation ceremony on a Saturday night at the Blaisdell for years. Bowers Husain noted that, probably because of sewer work being done at Kapiolani and Ward avenues, buses leaving the Blaisdell had to take different routes than usual.

That may have contributed to the noise problem, she said.

Punahou graduates also participate in a school-sponsored post-graduation party, where "the goal is to facilitate the celebration, but keep it safe."

That celebration usually is held at a different site. But this year, it also was held at the Blaisdell.

Graduates still piled into the buses and left, but then returned after the center was cleaned and set up, Bowers Husain said, which accounted for the late hour.

Typically, as the buses leave the Blaisdell, parents will honk their horns, then the buses would honk back "in an exchange," she said. But that happens every year, without complaints, she said.

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