This week the reports have been all over about Freddie’s Place on South First having to finally shut down their outdoor music after receiving a warning from the Austin Police Department for noise violation. The battle between Freddie’s patio music and the surrounding neighborhood has been ground zero in the noise ordinance debate the past few years, and Freddie’s has been careful to maintain a strict policy of no outside music after 9:00pm and that the decibel level doesn’t exceed the traditional level of enforcement for live outdoor music at 85 db. So what went wrong?
Turns out that on February 26, the city council adopted Ordinance No. 20080226-028 (pdf), which set a distinction between outdoor music venues and restaurants hosting live music. As the Chronicle reports today, this allowed for the enforcement of the previously established City Code Section 25-2-808, which set the db level for live entertainment at restaurants at 70. With the clarification, APD was given the power to enforce the 70db limit at Freddie’s. The problem is that the ambient sound level for the restaurant would be between 65 and 70dbs, which effectively nixes any outdoor entertainment.
As the Austinist reported, after being notified of the new enforcement policy, owner Fred Nelson shut down the show and canceled the 83 shows he already had booked at the restaurant. The worse part is that restaurant residencies and gigs are an incredibly important means of support for local musicians, and city hall has effectively just killed that work for already struggling artists. Nelson estimates over 200 musicians are out of gig just from his cancellations alone.
Restaurants located in the Entertainment and Warehouse Districts downtown are exempt, but that still leaves a number of prominent live music locations out on a limb. As the Chronicle notes, restaurants that have become live music mainstays like Jovita’s, the Parlor, and even Threadgill’s are all now subject to the unmanageable 70db level, and certainly the KGSR crowd will be up in arms if Shady Grove’s “Unplugged at the Grove” series gets hit. In effect, City Council just shut down music across a large chunk of Austin. Good job fellas! Way to represent that Live Music Capital mantra!
[...] Update: An interesting post on Austin Sound “Did City Council Surreptitiously Screw Live Music In Austin?” [...]
Meanwhile, if you live anywhere near 11th & San Jac you have to endure the shitty, shitty music they play for wedding parties until 2 in the frakin morning! And then you have to avoid the drunkees as they pile into their cars and run stop signs….
311 is going to be getting a lot of calls from me and all the folks at the Regency apts. You know, the rich, old ones who might actually be listened to. Get the cops out there with their dB meter — they’re right across the street, you know!
The statement “Restaurants located in the Entertainment and Warehouse Districts downtown are exempt” which was obviously quoted from the Austin Chronicle column, is incorrect. Austin Powell and I spoke today, and he is preparing a correction for next weeks edition. I’m asking the Chronicles Editor to post it immediately, as a Letter to the Editor, but that hasn’t happened yet. Here is my Comment, in full:
I believe the following statement may be incorrect and misleading:
“The amendment doesn’t apply to restaurants within the Sixth Street and Warehouse entertainment districts”
IIANM, the Title 25 Zoning section of the Code, where the 70 dB limit for Restaurants comes from, takes precedence over the Outdoor Music Venue Permit Section of the Noise and Sound Ordinance.
Furthermore, the exemption in the Outdoor Music Venue Permit section that you refer to has nothing to do with a distinction between Restaurant Use and non-Restaurant Uses. The exemption simply establishes a later cut-off time, for Outdoor Music Venues, in the 2 Downtown Districts, and “during the annual SxSW music event”.
The questions I have, are:
1. Why this was Amendment passed on an Emergency basis, resulting in immediate adoption and enforcement? (Partial answer - ANC and endorsement/vote gathering, to the detriment of the general music community and music based businesses)
2. What flaw in the process allowed certain Council members, working with certain City Staff members, to stand up before the Mayor and the Council, and downplay the affect the inclusion of this 70 dB limit would have, in order to get this through as a CONSENT Agenda item?
A Consent Agenda item is not really up for discussion, unless someone happens to be keeping up with the minor details of a complicated issue, AND takes the time out of their schedule to go speak before Council. I spoke up, but limited my concern, when actually addressing Council, to the fair treatment for events and venues that had chosen not to pay a fee to the SxSW organization, and were not a part of the SxSW Music Festival, during the Moratorium. I was assured of that fair treatment (and received it, in every way).
Guero’s Owner Rob Lippincott, with sound meters in hand, tried to explain. Unfortunately, Mr. Lippincott touched on points about “operating illegally” that he should have let lie. Council Member Martinez called him on it, and the danger of the 70 dB rule got lost in the flare up, and subsequent cool down, handled deftly by Mayor Wynn. Unfortunately, with the effect of killing the discussion of just how much of a glaringly bad idea this 70 dB limit was, and now, obviously, is.
3. How, again, did certain Council members, working with certain City Staff members, successfully sneak this past even the main sponsor of the Amendment, Council member Mike Martinez?
gary etie
I think everyone is wishing this had not happened, and will just go away. Michael Corcoran, in the American Statesman, posted that he thought venues that did more live music business than food business, would be safe:
“By Michael Corcoran
April 15, 2009 4:13 PM
Stubb’s does much more business as a live music venue than restaurant so it’s dB level is 85, not 70. Threadgill’s South would seem to be in trouble, but there are no residential neighbors within a couple blocks and the ordinance is complaint driven so, barring a Broken Teeth booking they should be fine.”
http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/music/entries/2009/04/15/opinion_freddies_place_is_in_t.html#comment-271736503
Unfortunately, that’s just not the case, and the sooner that is realized, the better. My response:
“Sorry, but wrong on both counts, Michael.
According to the City’s AMANDA database, the 1996 Building Permit, and therefore the current, legal Certificate of Occupancy, for Stubb’s, is for the Use “Restaurant”.
And as for the City of Austin’s Code Enforcement being only complaint driven, that was true a few months ago, but not any more.
When you see one of the Solid Waste Services Smart Cars driving around your neighborhood or business district, it’s because SWS Code Enforcement is now proactively patrolling in search of work without permits, and other Code violations, including the Noise and Sound Ordinance.”
http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/music/entries/2009/04/15/opinion_freddies_place_is_in_t.html#comment-271902803
gary etie
[...] to a minimum. They were eventually tweaked to include specific rules about decibel levels, and recent changes went so far as to define the difference between a “live music venue” and a [...]