A woman who moved into an apartment a half block from Neighbours, a
gay dance club that has operated on Broadway since the early 1980s, has
called 911 “once or twice every night” for the past 21 months to complain about noise, she says. Her
calls began in June 2007, shortly after she moved into a new low-income
apartment building owned by the nonprofit Capitol Hill Housing at Pine
Street and Broadway.
The 56-year-old retired nurse, who asked not to be named, calls
herself “an old rock ‘n’ roll queen from way back when.” Her
one-bedroom corner apartment looks south onto the roof of
Neighbours—and, indeed, the howl of ambulances and the rumble of
traffic are plainly audible inside her living room on a weekday
afternoon.
“If it was just music I was hearing, it would be fine,” the woman
says. “But what we hear is bass and bass only. And it has been so loud
in the past that the windows rattle.” The cacophony from drunken
throngs in the alley, she says, also penetrates her fourth-story
windows.
On a typical Saturday night last month, the woman called police
shortly after 2:00 a.m. The responding officer noted in a report that
the woman “calls nightly to complain about music from this club… She
has told officers in the past that she wants to close this club down
and will call as many times as it takes to accomplish this.”
The woman denies wanting to shut down Neighbours. She says she just
wants the club to close by 2:00 a.m. (it is open until 3:00 a.m. on
Thursdays and until 4:00 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays). She also
thinks club security should usher people into the alley down to Pike
Street, away from her building.
The hundreds of calls to police raise questions about whether city
noise laws should specifically accommodate noisy clubs that were in the
business districts first—and whether new residents who choose to
move near noisy clubs should have to accept it.
“Clearly the noise ordinance is not [working], or else the city
would be fining Neighbours $1,000 a week,” the woman says. The city
fines bars and clubs that violate the noise ordinance $1,000 for the
first violation and $2,000 for subsequent violations, or it requires
the establishments to invest that money in soundproofing. But the city
has not penalized Neighbours in response to the woman’s complaints.
The noise ordinance, which the city council passed in December 2007,
applies to bars and clubs that have amplified noise that is “plainly
audible” from inside nearby buildings.
The term “plainly audible” is vague, acknowledges city council
member Sally Clark, who sponsored the noise legislation.
The city council–appointed Nightlife Advisory Board has
proposed setting various noise levels for different portions of the
city, but the council hasn’t done anything with the board’s
recommendations. As it stands, the noise ordinance allows new residents
to challenge noisy bars—even bars that have operated for decades,
like Neighbours.
Bars, unlike apartment buildings, can only exist in business
districts. So it seems like exempting long-established bars and clubs
from residential noise rules makes sense.
But Clark disagrees. “To me, it doesn’t necessarily matter who got
there first,” she says. “I don’t know if I subscribe to the idea that
there are entertainment districts with different noise thresholds.”
Clark suggests that residential builders should be required to
include sound insulation in homes built in business districts; however,
Clark, who is chair of the city council’s planning committee (which
would handle that type of legislation), hasn’t introduced any bills
requiring developers to do that. She also says club owners should
install sound insulation and use other noise-mitigation techniques: “I
don’t think I buy that the ‘boom, boom, boom’ has to get out of the
building,” she says.
Nightlife advocates say the kind of insulation Clark is talking
about would be prohibitively expensive.
“If we were to spend that much money insulating sound, we wouldn’t
be able to survive as viable businesses,” says Steven Severin, an owner
of Neumos, a venue a block from Neighbours on Pike Street.
John Kmetz, who has managed Neighbours’ sound and lighting system
for the past 15 years, says that the club has tried to address noise
concerns. In mid-
January, he says, Neighbours installed sound
insulation on the ceiling, covered skylights, installed double doors,
and capped the sound system’s volume—and the woman continued to
complain about the noise. A police report says no one else in the
apartment building near Neighbours complains, but the woman who lives
there says the sound from Neighbours bothers others in her building,
too.
David Meinert, a band manager and nightlife advocate, says, “We live
in a city, and in the city there is noise. And if you want to live in a
city without noise, you are going to live in a boring,
cultureless city.” He adds, “Politicians who are against nightlife are
listening to the people calling the police 500 times instead of the 500
people a night at that venue.” 
#37 – her refusal to move to the other side of the bldg. is in a letter supporting Neighbours – cirulating among the local Dem District … I was emailed a copy in the past days.
It makes sense, I am sure building management wants this to end and the cops to feel free to do the their jobs and not hold hands with this neurotic lady … maybe that is it, she likes to fuck cops … 56 years old and horny for cops … very possible
There’s housing for poor folks in quieter neighborhoods like Lake City or Greenwood. If she wants to milk the system, that’s fine – all public housing is pretty much a sham – but don’t bitch about the charity you’re getting.
This is CAPITOL HILL YOU FUCKING IDIOTS. If you don’t like noise, if you don’t like nightlife, if you don’t want to participate in weekend activities, if you don’t like to drink, then DON’T FUCKING MOVE HERE. People like you are RUINING OUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
If the noise is more than conversational volume right next to the club, the owner needs to fix the problem instead of expecting to impose the cost of his own bad decisions on the entire neighborhood. In effect, he’s partially taking over other people’s property because he’s unwilling to pay for what he wants. That’s neither reasonable nor moral.
Why should the neighbors, who are quiet and bothering no one, be the ones to bear the cost (suffering, sleep deprivation, inability to use one’s own home or office, expense to insulate against unreasonable noise, taking on the work of trying to get the city to enforce its own ordinances, etc.)?
The City Council is partly to blame. They changed the zoning to allow residential development in the Pike/Pine business district. I appreciate the lady’s desire to get a good night’s sleep. However, she knowingly moved above a night club that has been there since at least the early 80s. It’s classic “coming to the nuisance.”
Alan, you have it backwards. The night club was there long before that residential building. Their needs and use come first. Not the residents. Like another poster said, you can’t move into a place on Melrose above I-5 and then complain to the city about the freeway noise.
Put another way, the residents, well this one in particular, are the ones who are bothering business owners, and as the new comers, should bear the brunt (and costs) of their decision to move into a neighborhood with an existing, vibrant neighborhood.
oops, i meant to write “move into a neighborhood with an existing, vibrant nightlife.”
I should go get some coffee.
The city needs a common-sense group against loud, obnoxious drunks.
Wait- I know, why doesn’t she move into one of the open Ballard condos? Not only will she not have any loud neighbors, but really, no Neighbours at all!
This building is hard to get, so she really tried to move into it. Ask CHHIP(the agency that manages the waitlist for all of it’s low income housing). They have buildings in much quieter parts of town that are always available. When I was on the waitlist with them they told me that this building is the most desirable because it was new. This building was her choice, she wanted this.
As for Sally Clark, what a shame. Going against your own people? If she is such an advocate for noise, how about requiring better construction quality and better zoning for residential building. Where was she when the city issued the permit for this plywood residential box? From second floor up this building is made of stitched cardboard, remember when it was under construction? It’s a miracle this building is still standing.
Alan – the two building are NOT next to each other – opposite ends of the the north/south block.
There are several buildings between them.
She has problems, needs meds and therapy about her life.
Key words: “low-income housing”. She probably doesn’t have much of a choice about where she lives. It is also likely that she did not know about the club noise until she had spent her first night in the place, after she had moved all of her stuff an laid out the cash for deposit and first month’s rent.
Noise hurts peroid.
To prevent a Asperger’s syndrome {form of Autism} meltdown from the screams and vibrations feels physically painful as much as novacaine shoved agaisnt my will.
Even if it’s a city it comes down to one basic human need sleep.
I’m sure even the nightclub owners needs sleep. he forgets in his quote.
If he didn’t have sleep he couldn’t run a nightclub.
If people aren’t getting sleep, it would make the atomosphere of a city seem angry.
The impact of noise on mental health should be considered.
Just because someone can do something doesn’t make it right.
The sensitive hearing people are ignored sadly seems discriminating to me.
Lynn
Way late to the comment swarm, but it’s clear that the poor woman is delusional. Calling 911 so many times expecting a different result. Whoever is responsible for subsidizing her apartment needs to step up and find her another place to live. George Freeman wouldn’t have let this go on if he was in charge.
Johnny Kmetz is a personal friend who I have known and respected since the tail end of the 1980s. He really knows his craft. I have no doubt he has done everything reasonable accomodate the crank although his primary responsibility is ensuring that the sound and lights at Neighbours is fabulous. That’s what John does. He’s a diva. Love and respect John. You’re the best.