But the folks who live above the clubs in condos and apartments are miserable. Belltown residents are upset about what they call mayhem at the neighborhood's popular spots. They say that the places are loud enough during regular businesses hours (especially on Tia Lou's outdoor deck), but things get even crazier after closing. Fights in the street have become common--two weeks ago, several residents called 911 while about 30 people were reportedly brawling in the middle of First Avenue--as well as drunken patrons loudly stumbling to cars. Folks who live around First Avenue say loud lines of bar hoppers, rowdy crowds that spill into the street after clubs close, and patrons partying on large restaurant balconies are ruining the neighborhood.
"I lost two tenants to the noise," says Concept One Apartments Manager Debbie Tellez. Her Second Avenue building looks down on Tia Lou's deck, which opened last summer. "It's harder to rent the apartments on that side."
The bars at the center of the residents' woes acknowledge that they create noise. But they say it's part of doing business. "I've heard a lot of people are unhappy with how loud the deck is during the summer," says Tia Lou's owner Greg Contreras, who adds that residents aren't complaining directly to him. But his deck, he says, has "made all the difference business-wise. Belltown's starting to pick up, and it's great."
While an apparent gang-related shooting outside Belltown's Fifth Avenue I-Spy over a week ago has dominated news coverage, residents say the day-to-day carnival atmosphere along First Avenue is a bigger concern. The people who caused the I-Spy ruckus (i.e., black rap fans) aren't the usual problem: It's white twenty- to fortysomethings, most of whom don't live in the neighborhood, causing the disruptions. "We're being invaded by the weekend warriors who come in for the cheap alcohol," says Jacob Norris, who's lived in Belltown for three years with his wife. (She's lived there for 10 years.) "It's not the people who live in Belltown who are causing these problems, it's people from the suburbs who treat Belltown residents as poorly as possible."
The folks complaining about the noise aren't who you'd expect. While many, like Contreras, say Belltown's newer residents--the folks who moved in during the area's recent real-estate boom--aren't justified in complaining about the noisy neighborhood they moved into, the residents with the loudest complaints about the bars and clubs have lived in the area for years. And even if they choose to live in a bustling downtown location, those residents say, they shouldn't have to put up with noise at all hours.
Shani Dirzhud-Rashid, who's lived in Belltown for 10 years, currently at a high-rise apartment on First Avenue, has a clear view of the street. "The energy is absolutely frenzied and insane, Wednesday to Saturday from midnight to 3:00 and 4:00 in the morning," she says. "After we're inside at dark, we don't go out again."
Besides holing up in their apartments, residents are taking their frustrations a few steps further. The Downtown Seattle Residents Council, which represents folks who live in Belltown and other neighborhoods, invited City Council Member Jim Compton to their September meeting to discuss the issues. Compton, chair of the city council cop committee, says police resources in the downtown area are spread thin, though bike patrols were added in mid-July.
But residents still complain that cops aren't responding when they call: During the October 3 First Avenue street brawl, residents who called the police say officers didn't break it up. "[The police] just stood around and did nothing. I watched them just stand there," Dirzhud-Rashid says.
