Should Nyack Noise Go Until 2AM?
Residents in Nyack cannot sleep many nights before 2AM due to excessive noise by restaurants-turned-venues.
Are Nyack’s bars and patrons too loud for too long into the early morning hours? Or are there a handful of residents who are using the police to stick it too the late night crowd and their favorite Nyack haunts? The Chamber of Commerce of Nyack brought business owners and village officials together to discuss the issue.
However, what the Chamber of Commerce did not explicitly explain was the fact that all their research involved restaurant owners solely- they did not interview a single resident to see the flip side, in an effort to find a noise-friendly happy medium.
Police enforcement of the current noise ordinance relies on the officer’s judgement to determine if the noise is excessive at a distance of 50 feet away from the venue, anytime after 11PM. If it is, they claim a citation will be issued. However, they do not even own the tools required to enforce the decibel laws, that are on the Nyack law books as well. Nor, do they have a common understanding of what direction the 50 feet rule applies. Is it only in front? The sides? Behind? Wouldn’t you think it would be 50 feet all around? How do they treat condominiums? Wouldn’t the police stop a live band playing at 1 AM in a residential condo? So why don’t they do it now if it is “breaking” a law? The law is the law after all. If we don’t enforce, what does this teach us?
Merchants say that in the past, the police wouldn’t respond until similar complaints were heard from five or more residents about the same noise source. But now it seems like five calls from the same angry person are enough to get Orangeburg’s police involved.
Under current police procedures, a violation is forwarded to the NYS liquor authorities. According to the manager of the Black Bear Saloon, this can get very expensive, very quickly: the legal fees to defend against this action can cost more than $10,000 to defend a baseless charge. Nyack Mayor John Shields promised to meet with police to suggest a “three strikes and your are out” policy which gives bar owners a chance to clean up their act before involving the liquor board.
Village Trustee Denise Hogan recommended a decibel threshold being added to the current noise ordinance as a far way of determining when things audibly get out of hand.
Merchants say they are trying to be good neighbors by lowering the volume. The Black Bear is spending $15-20,00 on building a vestibule and sound boards to keep the noise inside and not out. However, the problem may not be the bars themselves but the hordes who congregate on the sidewalks outside to chat, smoke — and sometimes get rowdy.
I praise Black Bear for their efforts to actually take some action. I think if establishments want to act like venues, they should spend money on properly sound-proofing them like venues. Sometimes a place is just not fit for a venue, especially when there are tenants directly above, paying for a place of “peace and quiet.”
Nyack resident and musician David Reese says “music in Nyack is no louder than it is anywhere else.” Reese spoke to the Village Board last week about how police enforcement of Nyack’s noise ordinance on musical events at establishments like Hudson House and Casa Del Sol are forcing Nyack’s late night venues out of the music business. Nyack resident Adam Blankfort contested Reese at a Nyack Village Board meeting some weeks ago, explaining that he and his neighbors cannot fall asleep before 2 AM Thursday thru Sunday because of excessive routine noise. Furthermore, he asked, “Are these places restaurants or music venues? Should a place like Casa Del Sol be allowed to have live music under a plastic roof less that is about 1 inch thick? The noise radiates so badly, it sometimes can rattle a painting off our wall.”
Chamber of Commerce President Bob Gunderson says in the past enforcement may have been too lax but it is now too strict. “We need to find a happy medium,” he says.
Join us in a very important board meeting on February 12th. The Chamber of Commerce is trying to gather all the restaurant folk together to change the noise law to 2AM when residents think it should start being enforced where it currently sits, 11PM. This is your chance to speak up!
Be at the Nyack Village Board at 7PM on February 12th, 2009.
This excessive noise could also be the cause of late night street rowdiness, where local stores get windows smashed and other residents get bothered by late-night drunk commotion. Another solution…? Ticket cars in the lots, etc., after 12 AM to control the issue and make a little extra bread for Nyack.
Do you mind if I quote a couple of your posts as long
as I provide credit and sources back to your weblog?
My blog site is in the very same niche as yours and my visitors would certainly benefit from a lot
of the information you provide here. Please let me know
if this ok with you. Cheers!
Stop by my page … Pest Control Companies
Those rowdy (bleep) owners of Casa del Sol only care about the money they make. I am an avid supporter of the arts and entertainment, however, there is a line between bringing a positive artistic aspect to Nyack and devaluing its integrity. Let’s face it who wants to see redundant covers of lame top 40′s anyway? Sorry but in my book that’s no thriving music scene Jeff Wilson. That’s a weak attempt on selling more alcohol and feeding the barn animals who are briefly let out of their cages. When I go to a bar it’s to have a drink, not to be poisoned by individuals who can’t accept the fact that no one is going to ever care about how well they can play a sabbath song, you fools disrespect the original music, you’re humoring yourselves, you’re not a teenager anymore, the train left without you, move on and grow up.
Likewise, couldn’t you find a different locale for a vibrant music scene? If you moved to New York City, Austin, or LA, etc., certainly you would find many more options for late night music than in Nyack. Why stay here- why wouldn’t you just move?
The crux of the issue is that certain buildings in Nyack which contain restaurants/bars and residences should not be zoned to contain both unless it is enforced that the music not disrupt the residences past a reasonable hour. If the restaurants/bars are aloud to have music that disrupts the residents until 2am- clearly there is a problem. The music should not be aloud to go until 2am unless major changes are made; wherein buildings which don’t sufficiently insulate the music from adjoining residences are rezoned to only contain commercial space, or are sufficiently sound-proofed, so as to provide a suitable living condition in the residential space.
As far as I know, there is no such zoning category as “residential- for people that don’t mind loud music until 2am.” It doesn’t solve the long term problem to suggest that certain people move out of their apartments, and people that don’t go to sleep before 2am move in. That wouldn’t be an appropriate or long term solution.
Find another apartment!! I see there is a search right from this blog!
I have been a nyack resident, bartender, musician, and patron for almost seven years. In terms of being a resident, I live across the street from a bar that has live music. It does get loud at times, but i turn up the tv or turn on a fan to drown out the music. I understand that when the music gets too much for me to handle, will be the time i look for another apartment.
In terms of being a bartender, I have seen the music scene very much help and possibly save the bar in which I work. Not only does the music scene put more money in my pocket during these tough times, but also strongly helps the bar, which in turn financially helps the town.
In terms of being a musician, Nyack is a place that is very accepting of music. Nyack enjoys art OF ALL FORMS
sorry for the cut off…
making an early curfew would ruin the music scene, which does not typically start until 930-10pm. This is the time, people want to see music and be entertained.
In terms of being a patron, I almost always go to a bar where there is live music to listen to. That is the biggest attraction for me and most of my friends. I would definitely go to bars less often if there were no music.
I, myself, encompass all four of the parties involved and I understand that art and music is part of the fabric of Nyack. Lowering the time in which music can be played will endanger a signiture trait of a town that has helped so many express themselves, as well as hurt the financial situation of both the town itself and the people who rely on the inflow of patrons and money that accompanies quality entertainment.
turn UP the tv or turn ON the fan, to drown out the music?? hmmm, next time my property floods, ill open my faucets and turn on the hose….
EDITORS NOTE: Public comments are permitted, as long as there are no ramblings or profanity. Thanks for visiting and engaging in conversation on rocklandlifestyle.com.
More and More often people are making choices only to later blame someone else
when they don’t like what they did. Hence moving into an apartment ON MAIN STREET surrounded by bars and specifically ABOVE a bar. DUHHHHH! And Shields the “three strike out” man continues to jump the gun.
There are businesses that have live noise, and actually take a step or two towards soundproofing. Years ago, three different people lived in the place that have moved out a year ago, so things are different. We have work schedules in the 9-5 realm.
Why did Black bear build another door? Why did Hudson House invest in extra sheetrock? Why must casa have music under a greenhouse when it can be in the back, with more sheet-rocking, insulation, other deadening material Casa made it sound that the live music was somewhat seasonal, quieter in the wintertime. Then, since the Indian restaurant closed, they took over having Thursday night karaoke, which is just as loud. The problem is they should try this out in the back, where it is not directly underneath bedrooms. Or, they should invest in some soundproofing. A builder inspector would have a field day if he saw how this place was constructed!
This is crap! People who ‘rent’ above an establishment such as ‘casa del sol’, have agreed to live with a place that has live music! So to imply that he was dense enough to not know is absurd.
Condos and apartments who reside ON Main Street are NOT seeking ‘peace and quiet’…they want to be in the mist of things…if they want ‘peace and quiet’, there are plenty of areas in this county that will provide them with what they need…living on a Main Street in a busy night town is NOT where they should be. They could simply move.
In regards to the ‘law being the law’… we still have horse crap pick up laws on the books in Nyack…enough said.
More than likely, all the comments that are in disregard of the noise laws, are intimate friends of the bars, so i am sure their objectivity is skewed, with little regard or none to quality of life issues. Meanwhile, there are many bar/restaurant owners that do care about their venues and have made much effort to subdue the noise and that effort works. Yet, there are also a few “owners” who look to get away with as much and whatever they can, so insulation the depth of tissue paper, or a crappy piece of plastic (a la casa del sole ?), just doesn’t cut it. Im sure that people choosing to live in the village, do enjoy the hum of the town, but certainly no one in their right mind would enjoy an obnoxious noise level waking them up in the middle of the night, yuk. These comments and debate are more entertaining than the music in some cases.