Hi all,
I just heard from Brian Block from Sound City Planning about work they’re going to be doing in the neighborhood tomorrow and Saturday. They’ll be collecting data at a few locations and are also hoping neighbors will be willing to answer a survey about our experiences during the data collection days. I guess Bowstring will be having their last big shows this weekend.
I don’t know when/how the survey will get sent out but wanted to give everyone the heads-up. I believe any input would be very useful for them and for the city with determining what Bowstring’s permits will look like going forward.
Cheers,
Lauren
Sent from the Oort Cloud
Hi Neighbors,
Please be on the lookout for a new noise survey regarding this afternoon’s music. It will be coming later tonight (the sound engineer is on his flight home now).
Please observe and take any notes this afternoon both inside and outside your homes, as this will be very useful.
Thanks!
Lauren
Dennis Ave.
Sent from the Oort Cloud
Hey neighbors!
If anybody sees our wegmans groceries delivery let us know!
They supposedly dropped it off but not at our house.
Thanks,
The Medfords
980-275-1307
Sent from my iPhone
Hi all,
Here is the survey from the sound engineers:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/17_i6zL3Ten7k4QJXOeaR6b8tfgJkwK3QcC1P9YK5tO…
It focuses on tonight only. There might be another one for tomorrow. It will be really helpful if you can spend some time this evening during the three sets answering a few questions.
Thank you!
Lauren
Sent from the Oort Cloud
Same!
Someone from the city left a message in my voicemail about Bowstring and wanted more information from me. That must be in conjunction with this survey.
Denis
-----Original Message-----
From: <kpadge(a)gmail.com>
Sent: Nov 13, 2025 9:09 PM
To: Lauren Markley <antigenre_arts(a)yahoo.com>
Cc: kpadge via BPW-Action <bpw-action(a)eastraleigh.org>
Subject: [BPW-Action] Re: Noise survey
Lauren, I’m happy to meet with anyone. Please let us know what you hear. I have also followed up with Corey Branch’s office about how we will be moving forward. Will let you know what I hear back.
Krista
> On Nov 13, 2025, at 2:44 PM, Lauren Markley via BPW-Action wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I just heard from Brian Block from Sound City Planning about work they’re going to be doing in the neighborhood tomorrow and Saturday. They’ll be collecting data at a few locations and are also hoping neighbors will be willing to answer a survey about our experiences during the data collection days. I guess Bowstring will be having their last big shows this weekend.
>
> I don’t know when/how the survey will get sent out but wanted to give everyone the heads-up. I believe any input would be very useful for them and for the city with determining what Bowstring’s permits will look like going forward.
>
> Cheers,
> Lauren
>
> Sent from the Oort Cloud
> _______________________________________________
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If you are hearing the unreasonably loud music tonight, please call in a noise complaint to 911 for "1930 Wake Forest Rd (Bowstring Music Venue)"
If you have been told by Raleigh Police Officers that the noise ordinance in Raleigh was suspended on August 8th, that is NOT TRUE! There was a lack of communication within the police department and the officers have now been instructed that they must enforce the current noise ordinance and not allow unreasonably loud noise from a business or a bar.
If you're hearing the noise in the neighborhood, THAT is Unreasonably Loud. Please report it.
Susan on Dennis Ave
Hi All, After calling in a complaint about the exceptionally loud noise last night from Bowstring, I was quite shocked when Officer Peterson of RPD told me that the Raleigh noise ordinance was suspended on Aug. 8 due to the city being sued by business owners, and police were not enforcing any noise ordinance until the new noise ordinance takes effect January 1st. I sent an email to city council members for verification (and an explanation if it is true that Raleigh is functioning with NO noise ordinance until January). I received the following reply from council member Megan Patton:
Hi Susan,
I think there has been a misunderstanding. The noise ordinance was not suspended due to litigation. The litigation has caused the suspension of a certain night life permit. I’ll forward this along to the Chief for consideration. It is true that the new noise ordinance goes into effect on Jan 1st.
Best Regards,
Megan
--
Megan Patton
Raleigh City Council, District B
I was the second person to call tonight. Hoping others will as well. I am wondering if they’re feeling emboldened because it’s as loud as it has ever been. My son was afraid of it and he had to turn on a noise machine for him to go to bed. We can hear it over the TV.
Sarah on Fenton
Sent from my iPhone
Hi, all.
Several of us had a productive meeting with the owner of Bowstring, Council
members Corey Branch and Christina Jones, the associate city attorney, city
attorney, and assistant city manager on Tuesday. Our focus was to educate
all parties about the ways in which a decibel-only requirement for
amplified music will likely still result in our being able to hear
Bowstring bands at audible levels from many different points within our
neighborhood.
The Council voted on the ordinance later that day which passed and has an
implementation date of January 1, I believe. An article is here.
<https://www.cbs17.com/news/local-news/wake-county-news/turning-down-the-vol…>
The Council also voted to approve hiring a sound engineer to advise on
noise mitigation approaches for Bowstring and other establishments. Corey
Branch noted that since Bowstring has known noise complaints they will have
to mitigate the issues to get a sound permit which would allow them to
amplify noise to a level above the 70 decibel limit in the newly approved
ordinance. We expect to be able to hear music played at 70 decibels at the
source but have committed to working with Bowstring and City staff to
understand the impact of different decibel levels and mitigation approaches
on how and where we hear music in the neighborhood. We will keep you posted
as we know more about a plan for that and will need your help.
Corey Branch emphasized that Raleigh is only on its third iteration of a
noise ordinance and that for other cities many more iterations have been
required before getting to one that feels like the right balance. I believe
the Council expects this will not be Raleigh's last iteration.
I have heard neighbors say that they have found Council members to be
unresponsive. I am personally willing to take the efforts of Corey Branch
(who represents our district) and Christina Jones (who represents the
district that Bowstring is in) at face value for now and work with them to
try to address our current issues as well as inform future iterations of
the noise ordinance.
FYI, Mark, I will send this same update to the main listserv and invite
anyone who wants to be part of this effort to join this action listserv.
Krista
Midwood & Dennis
