Quote:
Originally Posted by IluvATX
Lol. If you live downtown, get used to it.
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Actually, you're wrong on this. It's a complicated issue that goes back to the way sound is measured. People make comments like your's that have the effect of vilifying people that live downtown with a reasonable expectation of peace and quite in what should be Austin's most vibrant urban neighborhood.
Downtown Austin's noise ordinances around entertainment and construction are antiquated and need to be moderinized. They are vastly more lenient than more cosmopolitan cities that successfully foster urban residence. Despite the economic incentives for maintaining our downtown entertainment scene, the city's
Music and Entertainment division consistently works with venues to improve noise insulation through a low-interest loan program because our ordinances are inept. Ok, so why not correct them? It's a complex issue that would be political suicide when critics over simplify the argument (e.g. SkyScraper page commenters)
The root of the issue is that the noise ordinance was written with the dbA measurement type instead of the dbC measurement type. Because of the logarithmic nature of sound waves, this loophole allows for low bass sounds to be virtually unregulated. When you see people complaining about noise downtown, many times you will hear of objects being vibrated off of tables and counters specifically because of this loophole.
The Austin Music office knows this, but because of those politics preventing the correction of the the noise ordinance, they have instead developed relationships with the venues and have a sort of gentlemen's agreement that keep the worst offenders under check. The city has done this to maintain balance with downtown residents and neighborhood associations, despite the ineffective noise ordinances.
This means that noise violations can't be immediately ticketed by enforcement officials and must "boil over" to high level of complaints before they get attention. This obviously creates frustration for residents (which you hear in the media) and is not the right way to run a noise program. The Austin Music office reads all of the downtown noise complaints, but they are, of course, resource limited.
Even if the dbA and dbC situation was fixed, another reason the noise ordinance is exacerbating the problem is location where noise levels are measured. In our antiquated ordinance, the noise levels are measured at the edge of the property, typically by an enforcement officer at street level. In downtown Austin, this is pointless because roof music is often aimed up or out without directly exposing the street level properly line to the full extent of the sound.
Measuring at the source is aptly called source-based monitoring--but the noise at the source doesn't really matter. More modern noise ordinances uses receiver-based monitoring which measures sound level at the receiver using computer modeling and real-time proxy measurements to verify levels are in check.
Again, the city knows about this and it was used to establish
sound operating limits for Stubbs BBQ outdoor stage. While this may not make sense for the dense districts like 6th Street, it would make a lot of sense for areas that are not designated entertainment districts, where residences commingle with venues.
Finally, music doesn't have to be loud to be live and enjoyable. Why is it considered necessary for the music scene to amplify music so much? People that want music turned down aren't trying to get rid of music, they're trying to minimize the egregiously loud music late at night (after all, they did want to live downtown).
Saxon Pub is one of the best sounding venues in Austin and I bet they've never had complaints because they have reasonable sound levels and focus on sound quality at reasonable levels. "Old school" Austin didn't have ultra loud shows roof top dance clubs--they had smaller intimate shows for the most part. The reason for the increase in noise complaints in the past few years is just as much due to louder shows as it is due to increased downtown residence. Also, and I am a huge EDM fan, but it is also frequently over-amplified in live settings.
I hope that people who make ignorant statements like "downtown residents should sign agreements not to complain" will take some time and properly educate themselves on the actual problem before jumping to conclusions, because frankly, you're just making a complicated problem even worse.
Sources:
http://austinnoise.org/,
Austin Noise Ordinance, meeting/interview with Austin Music staff
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