INDOOR sound ordinance?

[cthetranspire]

Here's the deal. I'm at the practice space the other day, and the newsletter is out. Basically it says, in a nutshell, that the Chicago authorities have established a limit on indoor sound. This includes... ANYWHERE. They can waltz into my jam space, hear me playing too loud for *their* tastes, and fine me. Seriously.

"off the record" (which doesn't exist in my book), a city official was cited that the music business is "dead", and Mayor Daly wants to be associated with forward thinking business, not "lurching dinosaurs".

Does this exist in any other cities? Cause I'm pretty raged about this over here.

[dagosto]

Perhaps this is just another scheme by the city council to collect bribes from businesses they don't necessarily like. Hopeful;ly the owners of the space can afford it.

[Jared Kubokawa]

I don't know, do you think those stapled fliers at the space were for real? Or just trying to scare people. Something seemed shifty about it.

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't put it past the city in a second. They would do anything for money and to get rid of unmentionables.

But still...

What about Chicago blues? Have as anyone ever been to Mama Rosa's on Armitage? It's a touch expensive but it's the real deal. Would cops give Mama Rosa a ticket? Or just house shows.

http://www.rosaslounge.com/

[cthetranspire]

I mean, it may be a scheme. For sure. I may have just gotten a scare.

But they compared it to the ban on 'fois gras', so if they want to ban eating certain things, I couldn't see how they wouldn't want to... do something else really unintelligent.

[smopo24]

Originally Posted by cthetranspire

I mean, it may be a scheme. For sure. I may have just gotten a scare.

But they compared it to the ban on 'fois gras', so if they want to ban eating certain things, I couldn't see how they wouldn't want to... do something else really unintelligent.

Well, from what I know about City Hall's stance on music these days is that it's more tolerant than it has been in the past - by a long shot! Now this city has more "Rock-centric" outdoor festivals than ever! Lollapalooza, Pitchfork, IntoNation (R.I.P), The Hideout's block party, and a million smaller block-party/neighborhood festivities - not to mention the Taste of Chicago! It's a well-known fact that the mayor famously withdrew permission for the Smashing Pumpkins to play a free outdoor concert many years back (somewhere around 98' if memory serves), because he was afraid of moshing and other unruly behavior by rock fans. A few years ago, seeing that this was an un-tapped source of revenue, the city appointed a position to handle "artist affairs" in the city; they relaxed policies on venues, and outdoor fests and other musical ventures. It's doubtful that the city can do, or would do something like this:

1. It would push back their agenda of being an "artist-friendly environment" in the hearts and minds of thousands of chicago musicians. It would destroy years of good faith that the city has tried to cultivate with chicago's artistic community in weeks, just from word of mouth.

2. It seems entirely un-constitutional; this is your house, your rules. If you aren't torturing someone with Vic DaMone records at 120 db; as long as it doesn't disturb your neighbors, who cares what volume you play at?

Although, this is "mayor for life" Daley we are talking about; what Richie wants, Richie gets. Don't get me started on the CTA, nepotism, and our great history of kickbacks though.