Photo credit: Ramil Ugot
by Arline L. Bronzaft, Ph.D., Board of Directors, GrowNYC, Co-founder, The Quiet Coalition, and Honorary Chair, Quiet American Skies
A while back I wrote a post about a New York City resident, Dietmar Detering, who was able to register complaints against noisy restaurants and bars under the city’s Noise Code, which resulted in summonses issued to these establishments. Not surprisingly, the bars and restaurants were not pleased to receive these summonses.
I noted that the city’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) believed that the section of the Noise Code that allows citizen-issued noise tickets should be changed so that compensation is limited. Furthermore, with many of these tickets related to commercial music, the DEP also asked City Council to make the Noise Code clearer as to which kinds of music should be identified as commercial. I later leaned that DEP wanted Council to set decibel levels regarding commercial music.
I can now update readers on council’s action following the DEP request. Council members have introduced two pieces of legislation regarding citizen complaints about loud music from bars and restaurants. The first bill would “cap the compensation citizen complainants can receive” and the second bill would “amend the definition for unreasonable noise as applied to commercial establishments.”
After my initial post, several people called to let me know how bothered they are by commercial music in their neighborhoods. Thus, I felt obligated to follow up on this issue. I hope that this follow-up will be of interest to lots of people and I suggest that they speak to their Council members and let their views be heard.
