Photo credit: Shelagh Murphy
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
Reports in The Guardian (United Kingdom) and other news outlets describe how concert noise at Madrid’s renovated Santiago Bernabeu stadium spurred the stadium’s neighbors to action. The stadium is only licensed for sports events, but to help pay for recent costly renovations, up to 20 concerts a year have been scheduled. The noise, which went late into the night or even into the early hours of the morning, exceeded legal noise limits. Police recorded sound levels of 84.9 decibels, exceeding the nighttime limit of 58 decibels. Additional problems included attendees camping out in local parks, drunk people urinating in doorways, smashing glass doors in apartment buildings and littering.
The stadium’s neighbors formed a group and ended up suing the city. A judge ruled in their favor, at least temporarily. Madrid’s mayor is in favor of the stadium continuing as a concert venue, as are music fans, so the stadium’s neighbors face an uphill battle. There’s an old saying here in the United States: “You can’t fight City Hall.” I assume the same is true in Madrid. We’ll have to see what happens there, but we hope the stadium’s neighbors win.
A quieter neighborhood would be part of a quieter, better, healthier world for all.
