How to pack City Hall
The first time we encountered the kind of standing-room-only crowd seen at Old City Hall on Tuesday occurred 20 years ago for what was in fact our very first journalistic assignment in Key West.
Headlined “The Bands Play On: A Big Noise About Sound,” the story was published on March 24, 1994, by Island Life and featured a photo of musicians David Goodman, Chris Clifton, Robert Hutto and Big G, all of them putting a forefinger to their mouths.
Leading the story was a quote by that very noisy if not noisome author, the now late Norman Mailer: “There are no solutions, only exceptions.”
The slant of the story, reporting the news that the city commission (which included Jimmy Weekley) had unanimously passed the first reading of a noise ordinance that included amplified music, was whether the Conch Republic would “remain both habitable and prosperous or if one must be at the expense of the other.”
It is of historical interest that back in 1994, Michael Halpern, speaking on behalf of nervous Duval Street bar owners, invoked, of all things, the specter of “revenge actions by disgruntled employees.” And bar owner Mark Rossi, not a commissioner at the time, was quoted as admitting, “We all know how hard it is to get our musicians to turn it down so they can even listen to the manager.”
Also mentioned 30 years ago is a matter of fact that echoes all too loudly today: “Violations of the current ordinance are committed daily and nightly by motorbikes, scooters, car radios, garbage and recycling trucks. There is no limit to the number of horn-equipped scooters that can be rented by individual businesses. And musicians are asking, why is amplified music now being discriminated against when air conditioners and refrigeration units are not?” None of any of it, naturally enough, included the worst violator of the lot, which is aircraft noise.
More history: Open-air entertainment in Key West began with bars like the Blind Pig at 428 Greene St., which had no doors because it never closed (it later became Sloppy Joe’s and then Capt. Tony’s). Servicemen’s brawls between the wars were tolerated and contained and so bars felt no need to be enclosed. Hence, ultimately, the unconfined noise of music downtown.
The Island Life article reminded readers that back in the 1980s, Commissioner Jimmy Weekley was instrumental in getting a growth management ordinance passed that won an award for excellence from the Florida chapter of the American Planning Association. It was designed specifically to “protect the character of Key West in the face of rapid economic and social change.”
Evidently we’re all still at it. During the city commission meeting last Tuesday night, Weekley made a big noise about his fellow commissioners not getting anywhere with the proposed revisions to today’s existing ordinance, an outgrowth of that 1994 engagement.
Commissioners took three tries to get something going with suggested minimal decibel units for commercial and residential units, but it came up with a 3-3 tie (Commissioner Clayton Lopez absent). The vote to postpone ended up as 4 to 2 and Commissioner Teri Johnston then rescinded her vote, calling for the other commissioners to do so, too. None did, coming up with another 3-3 vote.
The commission will try again at its March 18 meeting.
Last word goes to Commissioner Rossi: “I’ve been battling this battle for 20 years.”
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thanks for the perspective
I live and work in a beach commmunity on Florida’s gulf coast. We are currently faced with a similar situation in regard to noise ordinances. Can you please tell me what the current dB limits are and what the proposed limits are. We also have a big meeting about this on March 20th. Thanks.