A massive black binder stuffed with paper labeled “93 Lounge” sits on a row of file cabinets in the Community Board 10 office in Bay Ridge. This collection of paperwork, forms, and handwritten letters marks the beginning of the Board’s involvement in the neighborhood’s decade-spanning noise issue.
“The joke was that there was a bar on every single corner in Bay Ridge,” long-time resident Denise Diacoumakos said of the neighborhood’s past. “The noise used to be part of the summer here. You knew that on Friday and Saturday nights especially that it was going to be really noisy.”
Music blared. While night owls shouted and laughed, Bay Ridge residents lay in bed and covered their ears. It was the price paid for living in an area whose reputation for lively nightlife stretched back to the 1970’s.
But frustrated and sleep-deprived families no longer have to suffer in silence. Since 2012, members of Community Board 10 have worked with Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights residents and neighborhood businesses to combat the noise issue.
“93 Lounge was the turning point,” Community Board District Manager Josephine Beckmann said.
After over three years of complaints from residents about the disturbances that the lounge brought with its opening, Beckmann and Chairman Dennis Rosen of the New York State Liquor Authority worked together to create a list of stipulations to ensure residents quiet nights. Most of these stipulations—such as the requirement to keep windows and doors closed when music is playing—have to do with minimizing noise.
On a wet and windy December night, board members gathered around a small conference table and listened as prospective business owners discussed discussed the futures of their establishments. Architectural drawings, occupancy documents, and a list of liquor-licensed businesses in the area made their way around the table. An eager restaurant and karaoke bar owner hoped to gain the board’s approval to operate at one of the most problematic locations CB10 has ever dealt with. Drug use, underage drinking, excessive noise, and stabbings constitute the spot’s past.
“We understand the community’s concern,” the restaurant’s representative said. “We are more than happy to make accommodations to satisfy the board.”
Since June 2014, the storefront remained vacant. When residents caught wind of a new and potentially noisy business moving into the troubled space, they sent their noise concerns to the board’s email inbox. Some even started a written petition which collected about 100 signatures.
“This is a serious situation,” said Lori Willis, chair of Police and Public Safety at CB10. “We’re dealing with a location with quite an adverse history. We have to make sure that residents are heard.”
After almost an hour of clarifications about the planned security, promises to keep to their proposed plan of operation, delegations about the size of the in-house speakers, and the steps being taken to soundproof the space, board members delivered their verdict. All in favor.
Number of noise complaints filed by Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, and Fort Hamilton residents
Although much is being done to resolve the problem, 2014 saw the most noise complaints out of the past five years according to NYC Open Data. Beckmann believed that this may be due to the instructions posted on the board’s website which explain how to file a nightlife complaint to 311, the New York Police Department, the SLA, and directly to CB10, but the growing economy also may have something to do with it. According to a 2014 Market Watch survey, October marked the sixth straight month of boosted spending at bars and restaurants.
An increase in consumer spending ignites a spark in the hearts of business owners, but the only thing that some locals can do is groan. At a recent CB10 meeting, Tommy Casatelli—owner of the Lock Yard, Bay Ridge’s first and only craft beer garden—was the subject of complaints.
“The doors are always open so that noise is spilling out into the street, and he has music playing in the rear yard,” Marisa Falero, a resident who lives by the bar said. “Our fears are being realized that we’re going to have a backyard nightclub going on.”
Another resident who lives near the Lock Yard voiced minor noise complaints about the bar’s trivia night on Wednesdays which he said he could hear through his closed windows. “In the summer, forget it,” he said. “But I’m here because I just want things to stay calm. I’ve spoken to Tommy about it and we’re working it out.”
Even before its opening last summer, neighbors expressed concern over the possible noise issues the business might bring. Elizabeth Pebian told The Brooklyn Paper that she feared that the bar would cause noise problems and property damage if it opened, and created a petition in order to keep the bar from opening. 29 other residents also signed the petition.
“I have $20,000 worth of soundproofing with probably another $3,000 worth to be put up in my storage room,” Casatelli said. Although he loses seven plus hours of work a week because of the stipulations, he promised that he will continue to make any needed changes in order to comply with residents’ complaints.
“I understand,” he continued. “I’ve dialogued with two or three other residents, one of which has a two-year-old baby. If we need to make further adjustments, we will.”
Despite the petitions, 311 calls, and concerned emails, however, some Bay Ridge residents said they have seen an improvement. “The noise level is down considerably,” Diacoumakos said
And while some might assume that Bay Ridge seniors who account for about 20% of the area’s population are the ones doing all the complaining, Beckmann disproved the old myth about angry retirees.
“Complaints are from young and old,” she said. “Everyone wants to sleep!”
