EDMONDS, Wash — Jerry Hardie loves the sights and sounds from his Edmonds condo — the birds, the ferries, "it's all good sounds," he said.
Except for one.
Train horns from the Dayton Street crossing below blast all day and into the night.
"It's pretty annoying," said Hardie.
There have been rumblings about the train noise issue in Edmonds for many years.
About five years ago, the city declared the waterfront a "quiet zone" and installed what are called "wayside crossing systems" at two downtown intersections.
They alert conductors not to sound the train horns because less noisy wayside speakers will alert drivers a train is coming — making things much quieter for neighbors.
But the crossing system at Dayton Street has been broken since December.
"There has to be someone who can fix it," said Hardie, "and it has to be a priority."
The city paid more than $400,000 for the systems and now, the city said it can't find anyone to repair them. According to the city, the manufacturer went out of business and finding anyone who knows how to fix them has been difficult.
An Edmonds spokesperson said the problem lies in an electrical issue that shorts out the horns when it rains.
The city's public works director Oscar Antillon said it is a work in progress.
"We had a contractor and our City electrician work on the horn system and they have identified several potential issues," Antillon said. "The current plan is to rewire sections of the system. We will continue working on it until we figure this out."
The Edmonds spokesperson said they have received recommendations from other cities for outside contractors with specific experience "with these relatively rare wayside crossing systems," adding that the city is committed to "finding a permanent fix for this frustrating issue."
When that might be is anyone's guess.
"I have to believe somebody knows how to fix that. There isn't just one person in the world who knows how to fix that," said Hardie. "Bottom line, it is what it is, but I hope something can be done about it."
For now, Hardie tries to drown out the train sounds with a white noise machine in his bedroom. He said he's frustrated the city had a solution to the horn problem, but that it's having a hard time following through.