Code Offers Relief from Restaurant Racket

QUESTION: I've had a problem for three months with the restaurant underneath my apartment playing loud music. The owner and I went to a mediation and came to an agreement that he would monitor the music, especially in the evenings during the week. The music keeps my five children awake and sometimes they cannot get up to go to school. I have spoken to the community board, the police, and my councilman, but the problem persists. Can you help?

ANSWER: Our phone conversations revealed that inspectors from the city Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) came out and, using sound-level meters, measured the music from the restaurant in your apartment at 42 decibels. Since this is below the 45-decibel limit in the section of the Noise Code regulating commercial music, the inspectors were prohibited from issuing the restaurant a notice of violation or so-called summons. There's still reason to be hopeful, though.

First, DEP assured me they will contact you and reinvestigate the restaurant. Second, your precinct's community affairs officer -- whose attitude and attention since the start of your problem has been exemplary -- is more than willing to ticket the restaurant. Only problem is, he believes he must know how to operate a sound-level meter. Here's the proof to the contrary that I promised to provide him with so that he can get cracking.

A Police Department training memo, Patrol Borough Bronx No. 95-2, issued as part of Bronx Executive Order No. 8, still in effect, advises officers addressing unreasonable noise complaints: "The only time a sound-level meter and specialized training is needed is when commands are seeking to remove and voucher vehicles that are causing unreasonable noise through the use of sound reproduction devices."

However, department documents (e.g., Police Academy Training Memo 97-19) disclose one other situation requiring sound-level meter training: issuing a notice of violation of section 24-241.1 of the Noise Code to a restaurant, bar or club for music at or in excess of 45 decibels measured from inside a residence.

Also attached to Bronx Executive Order No. 8 is a Legal Bureau memorandum (LB#404/94) that states: "Regarding social clubs, bars and other semi-private places where the general public is invited, a police officer may legally seize the sound reproduction device after issuing a summons to the operator." (Italics mine) A restaurant being a semi-private place, your community affairs officer can issue a summons to the restaurant with the blaring jukebox.

My inference is seconded by Lt. Richard Gribben, chief of special operations at the 52nd Precinct. "He can do it [issue a summons] without a sound-level meter," Gribben said. "It's a little better to use it. It bolsters the testimony." But, explained the lieutenant, as long as the officer himself hears the jukebox music in the complainant's apartment and believes it to be unreasonable, that would make a sustainable case during an Environmental Control Board (ECB) hearing. The officer would issue a notice of violation of section 24-220 (a), making unreasonable noise with a sound reproduction device.

What about seizing the jukebox? "The offense must be egregious," Gribben said. The owner has to have been warned several times, added the lieutenant. Confiscation then becomes "a judgment call" on the part of the officer.

Although seizure is "easier with a commercial establishment as opposed to a home -- you pull out the plug and throw it [the jukebox] in a van," Gribben stressed that covering all of one's bases first is critical in this worst-case scenario, because the officer exposes himself to a personal lawsuit. "I would contact a superior first to verify the decision and even have him or her present," Gribben said. "Then you have the power of the sanction of the department. Also, two heads are better than one."

With the lieutenant's blessing, I'll be putting your community affairs officer in contact with him so that the lieutenant can further fill the officer in on addressing your problem. After they talk, the lieutenant said he'll confer with the special operations chief of your precinct about anti-noise strategies. How about a reasonably loud round of applause for the lieutenant and the community affairs officer?

Ed. note: John Dallas, who is founder of the Bronx Campaign for Peace and Quiet and a regular columnist for the Norwood News, is looking for a quiet, temporary apartment. Readers that may know of such a place can email Dallas at norwoodnews@bronxmall.com.

Recent Sound Advice Columns include:

• In Doing Good, Modesty is the Best Policy

• Dealing with the Dreaded Door-Slammer

• Post-Holiday Calm Cause for Celebration

• Honkers Need Their Own Wake-up Call

• Is Loudness in the Ear of the Beholder?

• For a Community, Silence Isn't Always Golden

• Bringing in the Middle Man

• Getting the Runaround on Office Sound

• State, Feds Don't Pay Attention to Office Noise

• Working It Out With Noisy Colleagues

• The Big Screen Becomes the Big Scream

• Another Problem With Noise: It's Depressing

• Gadgets Have Them Confined to Their Cells

• Neighbors' Practice Not Always Perfect

News | Opinion | Schools | Features | Ongoing Story | Home
About Us | Past Issues