Noise Ordinance Town Meeting in Red Hook last night 10/24

Gee, I wonder whose pocket that $100K went into...gotta love it. I know several bar owners in the Red Hook area and there are several landlords up the hill from Red Hook that apparently have nothing better to do than to complain about the lifeblood of their island. Honestly, if you want peace and quiet, move to one of the other numerous areas on the island where there isn't a concentrated commercial area. There are few places here where there is any semblance of nightlife, and that is a necessity for this island to survive as a tourist destination. Being in the hospitality industry, one of the biggest consistent complaints by guests regarding the island is "lack of nightlife".

On another note related to Red Hook, I have seen fewer and fewer police officers around the area, particularly later at night...is it going to take a stabbing, robbery, or murder of a tourist or local to put a few cops down there at night? The drug dealers have a larger presence than anyone and are laughably obvious, sitting RIGHT NEXT TO THE STREET peddling weed and coke to every passerby they see. Visitors, in particular those paying Ritz-Carlton money to stay right down the street from Red Hook, are not going to bring their families out or let their kids go spend money in Red Hook when there are 20 drug dealers all over you and not a single police officer to be seen at night. Food for thought.

know several bar owners in the Red Hook area and there are several landlords up the hill from Red Hook that apparently have nothing better to do than to complain about the lifeblood of their island.

This is a problem attitude that some of the restaurants and bars have on stx. There is a simple solution. COMPROMISE! You don't have to play LOUD music all night to get customers. After 12pm take it down to just loud, the kind of loud where people can talk without screaming. Those landlords have just as much right to make an income. On stx it's the hotels that get affected by the loud bars downtown. And now it's hard for any band to get to play downtown late because a few numb skulls ruined it for everyone. You don't have to turn the music off, just down. Never understand why adults can't compromise, aren't we taught that in kindergarten?

I have a free App on my iPhone that is a decibel meter. Did I say free? I check all the time. Maybe someone can get to Craig and have those with smart phones get the decibel App?

I used to be one of those landlords up the hill in Red Hook. I also lived up there. To be honest, we never really had a concern with the music at night. This was several years ago, and maybe now there are more bars, but it used to pretty much just be Duffy's that we could really hear.

What we did have a serious problem with was the preacher on Saturday morning, starting about 6:00, with hugh speakers in the back of a pick up truck, facing the hill. That went on for years. I think finally he got shut down.

How does $100,000 fanish? Wouldn't there have to be a paper trail, if someone really knew how to look? If anyone hears a more detailed explanation of that, please share it.

BTW, what ever happed with the raid on the legislature? I don't read the paper everyday, but I would think it would be big news.

know several bar owners in the Red Hook area and there are several landlords up the hill from Red Hook that apparently have nothing better to do than to complain about the lifeblood of their island.

This is a problem attitude that some of the restaurants and bars have on stx. There is a simple solution. COMPROMISE! You don't have to play LOUD music all night to get customers. After 12pm take it down to just loud, the kind of loud where people can talk without screaming. Those landlords have just as much right to make an income...Never understand why adults can't compromise, aren't we taught that in kindergarten?

I couldn't agree more. However, I was actually at Fatboys when one of the officers came to serve a noise complaint, at approximately 10:30PM, and it was 2 guys playing acoustic/electric guitars which were quiet enough for me to have a conversation with the person across the table on the deck 10 feet away from them. I don't think the landlords are interested in compromise but punishment and whining

I remember that preacher. Oh he was irritating!

I have one every Saturday from 5:30 to 7 Pm. Bad enough they have loudspeakers but they scream in Spanish and then another translates to English. Where they do it, by the Market, is like a bowl and the sound travels up the hill. Don't they know that God can hear them without the loudspeakers?

Saw Craig tonight. Showed him the app on my phone. Hopefully it set of a spark in his head.

Ronnie, with all due respect, Senator Craig mentioned and showed the crowd his APP on his personal phone at the meeting....it would seem to me that the root of the real revelation would be.... where did the hundred grand go that was appropriated to buy the official issue DB meters???? I would be certain that if an officer would use his own, personal smart phone to determine and infraction, such evidence would easily be thrown out on a technically, so whats the use in the idea of using a personal APP on a personal phone?

Perhaps that app could pass muster. With smart phone technology being as advanced as it is, maybe it could be passed as acceptable (after some testing) that the app would hold up in court. Sure worth looking into

Of course....what are the chances the officer will actually be able to get a signal!.

Juanita,

Don't need a signal to use an app like that!

jb

He didn't tell me that he had it. He asked me how to get it. Strange. I suppose a true decibel meter may give you a reading with a time and date stamp, but as a lawyer would probably ask, location? It would have to include a location and possibly a recorded visual. Guess the law may not be too specific. If an officer can show someone how much above the decibel level they are, they may tune it down. I know, in a perfect world, hopeful I guess.