Hi, neighbors.

There are 41 of us on this ‘action listserv'. If each of us signed a petition and got a handful of neighbors to do the same, we could easily have a list of 100 people to share with the city staff and council members before they vote (or decide to send the draft ordinance for more work) on Tuesday. 

That would make a huge impact!

From what it took to prepare to speak at the public hearing, I have distilled in a petition my best effort to represent what would address the neighborhood’s needs related to amplified noise. Thank you to Lauren, Erin, and Malcolm for helping me try to capture something that could continue to educate city officials who are involved in creating a new ordinance.

Please consider signing it and asking five of your neighbors to as well. I have provided cut and paste language below that you can use to pass it along. If I can give you anything else to make this easy for you or help you answer questions, let me know. 

Krista

Midwood and Dennis

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CUT AND PASTE LANGUAGE:

As you may know, about 25 neighbors attended a public hearing on a new noise ordinance on Tuesday of this week. We are now trying to deliver 100 signatures to our Corey Branch, our City Council representative by Monday. This petition is an attempt to represent what would address the neighborhood’s needs related to noise that carries directly into our neighborhood from Bowstring Pizza. Will you sign it by clicking here? You can read about the issue below. 

Even if you do not hear music from Bowstring, please consider signing it. Why? The ordinance will apply across the whole city and, with the amount of development happening around us, it is likely we will have more music venues within earshot soon.

The purpose of the petition is to try to educate city officials about why the draft ordinance will not change our hearing music at loud volumes and far distances from the source. It is the culmination of months of conversations with neighbors, reading all the material provided ahead of the public hearing and participating in it. If you would like to be involved with 41 neighbors who are working on this issue, let me know and you can join a listserv subthread dedicated to the topic. 

About the Petition

Click here to access it.

The phrasing of the petition is meant to match that of the draft ordinance and the sound consultant’s report which informed it. If you would like to read through the draft ordinance, it is attached here. 

Here’s the basics: 

  • The draft ordinance has requirements for how many decibels amplified music can be played at when measured from its source. 

  • The problem is that the topography between Bowstring and this neighborhood is ideal for carrying sound - we are each on ridges with a creek corridor in the middle at a lower elevation and there is nothing in between to absorb, reflect, or reduce the sound except the friction of air. 

  • It’s a difficult situation for everybody involved but what we are trying to avoid is a noise ordinance that would give us no recourse if Bowstring, or any other venue that is currently or will in the future be around us, decides not to try to address the effects of the landscape

  • With the sound ordinance the way it is currently drafted, when I hear live music from my bedroom (which I do), I can complain (which I hate spending my time on) but as long as it is measuring at an allowable decibel level at the source, it will be allowable under the ordinance. 

  • The ordinance as it is currently drafted also allows venues to apply for a permit to go to a higher decibel level.