Musicians Ask Town To Reconsider Crackdown

Nancy Atlas, a Montauk musician who has performed here for 20 years, strode in front of the East Hampton Town Board at a meeting at the Montauk Firehouse on June 14 and sang an a cappella stanza from “The Star-Spangled Banner” while holding a phone that contained a decibel meter.

Ms. Atlas was among a number of musicians at the meeting who told the board that the town’s noise ordinance had struck a bad chord by defining violations as above a decibel level that is at — or even lower than — common ambient sound. They further charged that a number of businesses had to pull the curtain on live music, at least temporarily, because the town had brought licensing issues to the attention of the State Liquor Authority.

Ms. Atlas’s phone showed a low of 65 decibels “when I was breathing,” she said, with an average of 93 decibels and a peak of 100. She pointed out that the town code states that 55 decibels is a noise violation. “It’s all well and good and funny,” she told the board after her small performance, “except people are getting ticketed.”

After a get-tough stance on quality of life violations by the town last summer, police and ordinance enforcement officials had stopped issuing warnings. “It’s an instant thousand dollar ticket at 55 decibels,” she said.

Violations at local businesses that hold licenses from the State Liquor Authority are routinely referred by town police to the S.L.A., and at a hearing just before Memorial Day it was discovered that the Surf Lodge, which is one of Montauk’s most popular nighttime venues, lacked live music classification from the S.L.A.

  The town then asked the authority to examine the status of other businesses, and it was discovered that a number that have town music entertainment permits did not have corresponding information on file with the state agency and were going to have to amend their liquor licenses. That led to a number of musicians’ gigs being canceled and complaints that town officials had alerted the S.L.A. just before the start of the season.

“I make my living in a very short amount of time, and that’s no joke. It is a tough life to be a musician. I make my living playing in these venues — and now they’re in front of the S.L.A. The environment out here is really bad. Musicians are scrambling; bar owners are scrambling,” Ms. Atlas said.

“Is it possible to explain the timing, one week before the season?” asked Cynthia Daniels, a music producer and performer. “You see the terrible backlash. So how are we going to get this fixed?”

Business owners need to square matters with the S.L.A., Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell said, suggesting they do so “as quickly as they can.”

Several speakers thanked the town for responding to community concerns after several hundred came to a board meeting following an unruly Fourth of July weekend last summer, seeking action against overcrowded rentals and clubs, public drunkenness, and so on.

“We all came together last Fourth of July,” said Anthony Sosinski, a fisherman known as Little Anthony. “We had issues here, major issues, and the town acted.” But, he said, “music brings us together.”

“Is there a consensus that we have a decibel problem with music more than we do with machinery” or other things that prompt noise complaints? Ms. Daniels asked.

Chris Pfund, a sound engineer and Montauk business owner, referred to the town’s clampdown. “That’s just this knee-jerk, bam — we’re going to stop this thing from happening. . . . It’s just a side effect from having too many people here,” he said. 

The 55-decibel property line threshold is “arbitrary,” he said, adding that noise readings should be pegged to a degree of sound above ambient noise, with a certain amount only considered  an annoyance. He urged the board to re-examine a more detailed noise ordinance that had been under discussion some years ago.

What’s happening, he said, is that people are taking the stance that “I can hear something, and I don’t want to hear it. Just because you can hear something and you don’t feel like hearing it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be legal,” he said.

Mr. Cantwell seemed to agree. There are “elements of what the town has that work. It’s not completely broken,” he said.  Music is performed at many places without incident, he said, but at some places “there are problems.”

Of 250 complaints about noise from commercial establishments last year, he said, only 50 resulted in findings that the level had exceeded what is allowed and were ticketed. “That’s a pretty good compliance rate, in my view.”

“I think that it is important that warnings are issued first,” Sarah Conway of Montauk, who also is a performer, said. “People are making a living as musicians, and to be walking on eggshells. . . .”

Bob Stern of Montauk suggested the use of sound abatement technology. “Not only does the town owe the musicians something, the businesses owe the musicians something — which is to be properly outfitted to do their job.” Businesses “should provide infrastructure which is conducive to them to rock out without disturbing neighbors,” he said.

But Kathy Havlik, a Montauk resident, said, “I think the town board was forced to step up and take some action.” Referring her comments to business owners, she said, “You guys have become bad neighbors. I don’t think that this board is trying to shut down live music. I really believe a balance will be struck.”

Alfredo Merat, another local musician, urged the town board to continue discussions with business owners and performers. “Live musicians were illegal at one point,” he said. “We changed it, we addressed it. It became apparent that people were making a living here at it.”

When last summer’s problems erupted, he said solutions were again sought. But the musicians are not the problem. “We’re not — we’re here to be good citizens.”

Of the decibel level that is a violation of the code, he said, “I’m louder when I snore.” Live outdoor music should be allowed to continue past the current 9 p.m. curfew until 11 p.m., he added.

 “The season is upon us,” Mr. Merat said.

“Live music, particularly in Montauk, is an important ingredient, for our visitors and for the Montauk resident, of the Montauk experience,” said Laraine Creegan of the Montauk Chamber of Commerce. “We just want the town board to understand that that’s an important” issue for the chamber. “There’s a trickle-down effect.”

She acknowledged that liquor authority issues had to be solved by individual businesses. “But I think it might have been handled a little differently, because these folks out here lost a lot of money. It did have a great impact on people.”

 Arden Gardell of 668 the Gig Shack in Montauk said he had consulted an attorney who told him that “the fact that the East Hampton Town Board is pursuing the S.L.A. to look into this is almost unprecedented.”

“Your administration continues to try to find the most extreme ways to restrict the business community,” Mr. Gardell charged.

Other speakers brought up the recent Montauk Music Festival, and said the town, in deciding to issue permits for the festival, should take into consideration that performers are not paid and that, for that reason, a number of local performers refuse to participate. Ms. Atlas had complained that the town’s referrals to the liquor authority had not taken place until after the festival had been held.

Ms. Atlas had also summarized her earlier remarks by saying she had received her first-ever noise violation last summer when she wasn’t playing loud rock ’n’ roll, but a song from Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess.”

“So all kidding aside, we have an issue here. There used to be a civility to the process. There used to be a warning. We have to have an open communication between the businesses and the town. We need to start thinking about the families that live and breathe and are trying to make a living.”