LOWER COAST POST

Please read from bottom up:

I have just gotten off the phone with our Mechanical engineers regarding the fan noise, we have redesigned the fan system in an effort to quiet down the hot air exhaust from the Parking Garage. The redesign is in the hands of the contractor for contractor identification and pricing. Once we have pricing we will go ahead with installation. We recognized right away that we had a noise problem and started working immediately to remedy the situation.
Jo Best wrote:

good morning all,
i hope you had a great holiday? i'm very excited about the new year and
wish you and your families great happiness!

business:
i received an e mail from the central offices and thought that you
may be interested in it.
i have receive many calls since arabella opened; concerning the
noise and crowded streets. if there is any information that you can
provide me, so that i may have an educated response to pass along to the
live calls i receive, i would be very grateful.
as of now, it is my understanding that the store is implementing a
public transportation reimbursement program to encourage our tm's at
arabella to utilized public transportation and car pool. which is a
fabulous solution/idea, but unfortunately only covers one aspect of the
complaints we are receiving.
any help or information you may have will be greatly appreciated.
thank you for your time!
jo

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Subject: [Fwd: New Orleans Noise]
Date: Fri, 27 Dec 2002 09:05:55 -0600
From: CEN Reception
To: JoJo
CC: Lourdes Zarate



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Subject: New Orleans Noise
Date: Thu, 26 Dec 2002 22:22:19 -0600
From: ''Kirk''
To:

Dear Sirs, I live right next door to the Magazine Street Whole Foods Market that opened a month ago in New Orleans. This store shows a blatant disregard for the residencial neighborhood which it has raped. I mean specifically of its peace and quiet. Right now it's ten o clock PM. I am sitting here listening to the loud fan in the parking garage that is under a metal hood, and which in the otherwise quiet of the night sounds like a huge idling truck outside my home...continually...constantly, non-stop. It is driving me totally crazy. I have called Tarak Zada the general manager of the store ten times over the last month and he has merely given me skullduggery and hot air. Nothing has been done to solve the problem. My wife the attorney is looking now into local statutes regarding noise pollution and the local neighborhood association headed by a criminal attorney will soon probably be filing some class action suit against you. Apparently you all enjoy this sort of thing and are used to raping neighborhoods of their peace and quiet. Nevermind that the neighborhood is historical and has third, fourth, and fifth generation families living in it, who once took for granted a quiet night wherein they could get some rest. But you all have completely destroyed the ambience here and you couldn't care less. Not one iota. All I have gotten from you all is lip service from the store team here. Yes, from the general contractor, to the general manager and store managers. Thank you ever so much for destroying my life. Sincerely - Kirk Bernhardt

Cont...

There was a typo above in my email. The one below is correct.

I don't know who Michael Hruska is but he answered my complaints at Whole Foods corporate so he seems to know what is going on. His email is hruskam@wholefoods.com . I also wrote different TV and news services about the problem and something may come of it.

The general manager Tarek Zada of our local Whole Foods email is:
tarek.zada@wholefoods.com .

My last message to them on this topic was:

Kirk, it is not quite that simple the exhaust fans in the garage are exhausting
hot air that is expelled from the refrigeration system. If we shut the fans off
the Refrigeration System will shut down and we will loose all the refrigerated
product in the store. We are working on a solution and with in a short period
of time should have the noise level dramatically reduced.

Kirk wrote:

> For a month it has effected my sleep. I am dull during the day and not
> being very happy. The least that your local people can do is turn it off
> when noone is at the store. Is that really too much to ask? It has run the
> last week uninteruptedly, even on Christmas when noone set foot in the
> place. That is mere unconcerned oversight on the part of your local
> managers, who again, show no compassion or caring for the local enviroment.
> What does it take to flip the switch when people leave for the night?
> Obviously an entirely new management team of trained PHDs who know how to
> use flip switches.

Less noise?

Has the fan noise diminished in the last week? It seems so to me - a great improvement...