Police officers REPEATEDLY find bar noise IS NOT plainly audible

St. Petersburg Fl
Public Opinion by author: Robert Neff

While the proposed noise ordinance's Section 11-50 Penalty states SHALL be enforced, police officers repeatedly find the noise DOES NOT rise to the level to be “Plainly audible.” This can easily explain why there is an extremely low citation rate — less than 1% with over 2,517 calls in 2018.

Without a warning and a citation, there can be no penalty to stop bars, restaurants and cafes with repeat calls from encroaching on resident's quality of life. The proposed noise ordinance tips the scales so much to businesses that Mayor Kriseman and City Council decisions have residents' feet dangling in the air !

Proposed noise ordinance has serious issues that are not being addressed:

• Mayor Kriseman is not enforcing the noise ordinance. Why? Below is Mayor Kriseman's April 11, 2017 email to Police Chief Holloway where Mayor Kriseman asks Chief Holloway to enforce the noise ordinance for two weeks!

Residents need to call Mayor Kriseman's Action Line at 893-7111, and email City Council to insist the police enforce the noise ordinance 365 days a year.

• City Council Member Kornell worked with police Community Service Officer Kelly, and Flamingo Resort owner and Board President for the Skyway Marina District to develop a strategy to deal with a resident.
• There is no process in place to track the number of warnings that the proposed noise ordinance states.
• Mayor Kriseman and the police force’s refuse to issue citations for plainly audible noise to select bars with high repeat call rate, while issuing citations to one or two bars.
• Residents and motor vehicles outside downtown are more likely to be issued a citation than a downtown bar.
• City has no benchmarks and timeline to measure success or failure for the noise ordinance's revision.

Proposed noise ordinance has not fundamentally changed, except for the penalties and motorboats were added. The City expects the penalties to decrease the high repeat calls for bars and residences, which is 55%. But, if the police do not issue citations to all bars, then the two years to revise the noise ordinance will be a wastes effort.

• In 2017, there were 2,535 total calls for noise. Of those 1400 were repeat calls
• In 2018, there were 2,517 total calls for noise. Of those 1407 were repeat calls. 

The police continually asked the same establishments to turn down the music. The police have even stated if they have to come back out again, they will issue a citation. Police have noted issues with speaker placement and have not notified codes.

There were more citations outside of downtown in the neighborhoods than downtown.

In 2017 and 2018, data analysis and records review supports a high repeat call issue with bars and residences.

• Residences and vehicles were twice as likely to get a ticket for noise than a bar. 
• City has no cost data on what it costs to have officers respond to noise calls the police will not enforce.

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