Downtown tower dwellers to Miami dance clubs: Turn down the noise!
Miami Herald
By: Linda Robertson
07 July 2017
Club goers walk towards the parking lots at 5 a.m. last Saturday
morning at a string of downtown music clubs that have drawn noise
complaints from residents of condo towers blocks away. The clubs are
fighting noise violations recently issued by the city.
Bryan Cereijo
Imagine panoramic vistas of Biscayne Bay and the Miami skyline from
your balcony, sipping coffee or cocktails from a breezy bird’s-eye-view
perch that places you in the energizing epicenter of the city you adore.
Then imagine having to abandon that balcony every weekend for the
interior of your condo-turned-glass-cage where you must cower like a
bunker occupant but still cannot escape the aural assault of an
incessant, pulsating, thumping noise.
Turn it off? No. Because while you want to sleep, the patrons of the
nightclubs 50 floors below want to dance into the wee and even
breakfast hours to the driving bass beat of electronic music that
climbs upward, seeps through closed windows and drills into your aching
brain.
It gets louder as it travels up the buildings
“Boom, boom, boom. Nonstop from Friday night to Monday morning,” said
Michael Graubert, who has lived for three years in the Marquis building
at 1100 Biscayne Boulevard, a few blocks from the clubs on Northeast
11th Street. “It gets louder as it travels up the buildings. This goes
far beyond noise you would expect in the urban core. This is noise that
disrupts your life and affects your health.”
Gail Feldman moved from Brickell Avenue to 900 Biscayne in January. She
and her husband were excited by the idea of being downtown, walking
their dog and chatting with neighbors in Museum Park, strolling to
performances, art exhibits, basketball games and restaurants, and
relaxing after a long work week in their home on the 61st floor.
“Never did I think that living in a beautiful penthouse would be like
living in hell,” said Feldman, who recalled being awakened one night at
3 a.m. and traipsing bleary-eyed to the drugstore to buy earplugs that
didn’t work. “I like music, but this is not music. There isn’t one
square inch in our place where you cannot hear and feel the banging,
blood-curdling noise. It doesn’t matter how many pillows you put over
your head. It’s turning residents into lunatics.”
DJs nicknamed Thunderpony and Ms. Mada spinning techno and house from
the rooftop terraces of Club Space, Heart Nightclub and E11even, whose
motto is “Open 24/7. No Sleep.
Tower dwellers along Biscayne Boulevard are fed up with intrusive music
that never seems to stop playing. On the north end, it emanates from
DJs nicknamed Thunderpony and Ms. Mada spinning techno and house from
the rooftop terraces of Club Space, Heart Nightclub and E11even, whose
motto is “Open 24/7. No Sleep.” On the south end, it blares from
frequent Bayfront Park festivals such as Ultra and Rolling Loud and
from nightly live bands at Bayside Marketplace.
When downtown Miami was a barren place that emptied out at 6 p.m.,
nobody cared about the music. The clubs, in fact, were lured to the
Park West Entertainment District in 2000 by the offer of 24-hour liquor
licenses and the city’s hope that they would enliven a blighted,
crime-ridden pocket by the Interstate 395 overpass.
demanding enforcement of the city’s noise ordinance
But as the population has grown to 88,000 in the past decade, so has
the conflict between those who enjoy or profit from loud music and
residents who are demanding enforcement of the city’s noise ordinance
and a reduction of the number of events in the park. Soon, the Zaha
Hadid-designed building with units starting at $5 million will open, as
will the Paramount tower in the Miami World Center complex.
Heart Nightclub
and Club Space, two dance clubs in Miami, draw patrons until dawn.
Residents who live in condo towers on Biscayne Boulevard have been
complaining about all the noise the cluster of clubs make throughout
the night. The clubs intend to fight noise violations recently issued
by the city.
Bryan Cereijo BCereijo@MiamiHerald.com
“You’re talking almost a billion dollars’ worth of real estate
competing with clubland,” Graubert said. “We’ve got to find a way to
co-exist.”
Paula Soares has lived on the 47th floor of 50 Biscayne for four years.
She used to live in central Sâo Paulo, which, except for occasional
screaming during televised soccer games, was “serene” compared with
Miami, she said.
“I’m not here on vacation or able to party every day,” Soares said.
“This is a residential community with working people and families. I
think the city gives preference to the events that bring in money
rather than respect to the citizens who pay taxes.”
Soares tries to leave when Ultra comes to town. This year, the Rolling
Loud hip-hop festival was added to the already jammed calendar of
weekend events. Every night, she can hear music wafting over from
Bayside; on Thursday, it was a grating cover of Santana songs.
Miami’s noise ordinance states that any noise audible more than 100
feet from the source is a violation. For years, it was rarely enforced
at night or on weekends because no code compliance officers worked late
hours. Police could respond but could not issue citations. But in May,
finally answering the complaints of residents, Commissioner Ken
Russell, Assistant City Manager Alberto Parjus and new Code Compliance
Director Orlando Diez made enforcement a priority by shifting staff to
a midnight shift that is deployed throughout the city.
During Memorial Day weekend, Parjus was out on 11th Street when $500
citations were issued to all three clubs on Friday and Saturday night.
If violations accrue beyond two, the city can pull operating licenses.
The clubs plan to appeal and may mount a legal challenge to the law at a July 20 hearing. Residents plan to attend en masse.
Boo-hoo for these rich people who can’t sleep
“We’re prepared for the backlash of ‘Boo-hoo for these rich people who
can’t sleep, and didn’t they realize they were moving next to the club
district?’ ” said Mark Kirby, who has lived at 900 Biscayne since 2010.
“But since the clubs opened, the area has evolved into a neighborhood.
People have a basic right to live in peace and quiet.”
Thumping electronic dance music is a big draw for patrons at Club Space, shown here in a file photo. NAOMI HARRIS FOR THE HERALD
Kirby, an interior designer who moved to Miami Beach
during its renaissance to partake in the party scene, doesn’t want the
clubs to shut down.
“I’ve been there, done that, and have no objection to what’s going on
inside,” he said. “Just put a lid on it. Literally. This isn’t only
about the three clubs. It’s about a precedent and a standard for the
next 20 years of growth in Miami.”
Graubert and a sound engineer measured the decibel level within the
clubs at 110, equivalent to the sound of a jackhammer or steel mill.
Research shows constant loud noise not only causes hearing damage but a
rise in blood pressure, anxiety and aggression. The CIA blasted
Metallica, Marilyn Manson and Christina Aguilera at prisoners during
interrogation sessions.
“They’ve got massive subwoofers projecting into the air,” he said. “It’s low-frequency noise pollution.”
Residents are asking the clubs to enclose or soundproof their rooftops
or move dancing to the ground floor. Graubert cites the example of Club
LIV at the Fontainebleau Hotel, a deafening spot if you step inside its
doors — but it’s insulated so it doesn’t bother guests.
“Walk around Las Vegas and you never hear noise,” Parjus said. “There are ways to mitigate the sound from leaving the premises.”
Residents praise E11even’s recent decision to silence rooftop shows and
its plan to enclose the terrace. The club is also conducting a sound
study in preparation for the hearing and will ask that its citations be
dismissed.
“That building is a rock with noise-attenuation to the max,” said Louis
J. Terminello, a lawyer who represents E11even’s owners. “I don’t think
we’re guilty of any noise violations. There’s a giant municipal water
chiller, a highway and Metromover right there, so what residents hear
is a culmination of noise. If we’re causing a legitimate disturbance,
we want to resolve it. But we also want our business to flourish.”
turning down the volume isn’t an option for DJs
Terminello said that turning down the volume isn’t an option for DJs.
“They are artists who truly believe in the quality of their artistic
presentation,” he said. “The residents will tell you everyone is stoned
or drunk. They don’t see any art to it. They just want to sleep.”
Heart Nightclub has hired an acoustical engineer to examine ways to
reduce noise after an attempt to take measurements from condo units was
declined by residents who would not allow access, said Michael Slyder,
CFO of Heart and president of the Miami Entertainment District
Association.
Heart will “vigorously” challenge the citations but wants to cooperate
with neighbors “while protecting the rights of those invested” in the
district, Slyder said.
After the Memorial Day crackdown, residents say the clubs turned the
music up again. Often, it crests around 5:30 a.m. when a wave of
partiers arrives from the Miami Beach clubs that close at 5 a.m. Club
Space invites guests to “come dance with us as our sound system roars
at the moon and wakes up the sun.”
“Heart and Space are louder than ever. Why be so obstinate?” said
Claudia Roussell, who has lived on the 40th floor of 10 Museum Park
since 2010. She used to live in New York City and South Beach and
doesn’t mind regular street noise. But she has resorted to playing
white-noise recordings of “summer rain” and a dishwasher to drown out
club noise. Some of her neighbors flee on weekends. “You can’t even say
it’s fun music. It’s that penetrating boom, boom, boom.”
In addition to fighting for strict enforcement of the noise ordinance,
the Downtown Neighborhood Alliance is circulating a petition asking the
city to relocate Ultra and Rolling Loud to more “appropriate” open
spaces to the west, said alliance president Amal Kabbani.
Soares has lost hope for peace. She’s planning to move.
“I am very sad because I love this place,” she said with a sigh. “But I am very tired.”
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