16 Sep
2025
16 Sep
'25
8:10 p.m.
City Council Members,
Please know that Susan Evans who started this email thread is far from
alone in her asking for your help. *There have been 63 noise complaints
about Bowstring between October of last year and the beginning of August
and it seems that RPD in general is not understanding the issue we are
raising* (though a few officers like Lt. Borneo, copied, have really worked
hard to understand what the problem is). Thus we are asking for your help!
In short, *we should absolutely not be hearing music at 4,488 feet from
Bowstring's location when the City's ordinance allows for 300 feet.* We
created this map
<https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/anonymous-edit/1208110:Ipy-LnauBejiqQL_S61jFXmVt0oonPt-4nsIM1Q8sZQ>based
on feedback from our neighbors and presented it to Councilman Branch. You
can see that *homes in our neighborhood are regularly hearing music from
Bowstring at up to 15 times the allowable distance.* We seem to be in the
path of sound from Bowstring that will likely not be solved by moving to a
decibel-based ordinance as the Mayor indicates a desire to do.
*A sufficiently sized sound barrier is needed and the "volunteer
compliance" approach is not working *-- some of our neighbors are hearing
it inside our homes up to 5 nights a week. On the worst nights I can hear
the singer take a breath. This is maddening, especially when we've been
told by RPD to just keep calling it in. No one wants to have to complain
that much. *We want to be able to have live music AND quiet neighborhoods
which the City's ordinance of 300 feet should make possible when venues
manage volume and sound barriers well (or are required to when they don't
do so voluntarily). *
When we call the police, which they have consistently encouraged us to do,
we have repeatedly gotten reports back from officers who go to Bowstring
saying that "nothing nefarious is going on there" or that "without a
decibel meter, there is nothing we can do". Neither of these responses get
to the issue about the distance at which we are able to hear the music on a
regular basis.
None of us wants RPD officers to have to come to our homes so we can prove
to them the level of noise we are tolerating. So when we're asked, "don't
you want officers to be able to focus on other things", the answer is
ABSOLUTELY but thus far the only solution we've been given is to just keep
complaining which is not good for us, the business or the officers caught
in the middle.
Krista Padgett
Belvidere Park & Woodcrest Neighborhoods
On Wed, Sep 10, 2025 at 9:10 AM Lauren Markley via BPW <bpw(a)eastraleigh.org>
wrote:
I get that it is not a big deal for some people, but
we have a real
problem at our house. The sound is simply inescapable. We?ve been in our
house for a decade or so and used to regularly spend evenings out on the
deck enjoying the natural sounds of birds and insects as well as the very
minimal human-made noise.
Bowstring?s noise is now a constant presence. We hear EVERY NOTE of every
concert (even Tuesdays now) and now we hear the MC from the Wednesday night
trivia. We get roughly one night a week without hearing them. My outdoor
space is just as important as my indoor space, and I should be able to
enjoy it without this intrusion almost every evening for hours on end.
Lauren
Dennis Ave.
Sent from the Oort Cloud
On Sep 10, 2025, at 5:39?AM, Sarah England May via BPW <
bpw(a)eastraleigh.org> wrote:
?
?Hey Jenn,
I hear that you don?t mind it. I like energy in the neighborhood too. One
of the weird things about it is that the sound is way louder in some places
than others. In my house it?s so loud sometimes that my children can?t fall
asleep. It?s been so loud that I can?t fall asleep before in early morning
ER shift. My husband has been unable to work at times. I am guessing it?s
not that loud at your house? But it really is a problem at ours. I don?t
love hearing it outside but I accept it. It?s when we can?t escape it in
our own home that?s an issue.
Sarah
< div dir="ltr">Sent from my iPhone
On Sep 9, 2025, at 9:24?PM, Jenn Warren via BPW <bpw @eastraleigh.org>
wrote:
?
I kind of enjoy it every now and then. Brings a little life to our
neighborhood. I have lived in this neighborhood for most of my 30+ years in
Raleigh and there have been only a couple of times where I thought they
could tune it down a notch.
Being so close to down town plus living in an area where you also have a
yard is one of the things I love about our hood(just my opinion)
JK
Rankin St.
On Tue, Sep 9, 2025, 4:16?PM Eric Hill via BPW <bpw(a)eastraleigh.org>
wrote:
Thanks for writing that Susan. Have you heard
back from anyone yet?
On Mon, Sep 8, 2025 at 7:22?PM Susan Evans via BPW <bpw(a)eastraleigh.org>
wrote:
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Dear City Council Members,
I first want to express my gratitude for your service to the
citizens of Raleigh, but I also need to ask for your help with a problem
that is unnecessarily and unfairly making life difficult for me and other
citizens you represent. Complaints have gone to the Raleigh Police
Department but they seem unsure and unable to help because of the city's
policies/standards/laws/ordinances , or whatever the problem is.
It's clear to all citizens of Raleigh that if someone came to my
house, uninvited and unwanted, and threw their pizza & beer into my house
the police would be able to stop that kind of assault. Why, then, is
Bowstrings Pizza & Brewery at 1930 Wake Forest Road
<https://www.google.com/maps/search/1930+Wake+Forest+Road?entry=gmail&source=g>
continuously allowed, uninvited and unwanted, to force their music INTO my
house without the police being able to stop them from this kind of audible
home invasion. On both this past Saturday and Sunday I was not able to use
my back yard, my patio, or even my *living room* *INSIDE MY HOUSE*
because of the excessively LOUD music coming from this business, now called
Bowstrings Brewyard!!!
I have complained to police way too many times for this problem to
persist. I have had Raleigh police officers in my back yard, on my patio,
and even inside my house, hearing for themselves the music I am assaulted
with regularly, and yet they, and the City of Raleigh, have not stopped
this madness!
I don't choose to visit Bowstrings Pizza because I don't want to
listen to their music, which is my right, of course. But, the management
at Bowstrings are literally inserting their music INTO my house and my yard
against my will and I am, apparently, powerless to stop this audible
assault. What can you, as a city council do to protect me and others in my
neighborhood whose lives are being disrupted by this music from a business
that started up long after our homes were built and occupied??
I have lived on Dennis Ave, off Capital Blvd in the Belvidere Park/Wo
odcrest neighborhood for 38 years and I have never experienced the kind of
problem that is going on, and on, and on, and on with Bowstrings blasting
their music into my yard & my house!!! You know this isn't right, and you
are the ones who must protect my right to live in peace in my house (and on
my patio) in Raleigh, without being forced to listen to music that I choose
not to hear. I'm not able to sit and read a book, watch TV, or talk on the
phone in my living room because someone I don't even know is attacking me
with their music which I choose not to hear. Please protect my rights!
The citizens of Raleigh always have been, and are now entitled to
peace and quiet inside our homes. No business should be allowed to take
priority over the rights of the citizens. *PLEASE HELP YOUR CITIZENS*
!!!!!!!!!!
Sincerely,
Susan Riddle Evans
Dennis Ave, Raleigh NC 27604
<https://www.google.com/maps/search/Dennis+Ave,%C2%A0+Raleigh+NC%C2%A0+27604?entry=gmail&source=g>
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