Domingo Soto: Because Freedom Isn't Dumb

LETTER TO WILLIAM CARROLL
As a resident of the block that seems to be in constant turmoil over the noise issue, let me categorically say to you that I am opposed to a noise ordinance and that it seems unfair to me for you to center on the Music Box based on the complaints of some folks who are all engaged in a long-running psychodrama that predates that business. Before you were a councilman someone else came around here asking for "resident" input about a noise ordinance. When I told them that I was on the other side of that, they left me out of the loop. The city likes to hunt on baited fields it seems so I've made it a point of sticking my nose in whenever the issue comes up.
Over the years I've represented the bar owners on this block from the (sometimes) rightful wrath of some of these residents. The last time - the time you got involved with this mess - I told you that there were two sides to the story. I hope you'll listen.
Don't get me wrong, Jeff has a very valid point but it really smacks of throwing the baby out with the bathwater to start talking about an issue without really looking at all of the root causes and some real solutions.. I've been living in my apartment for at least 20 years. I've had some issues with the noise, especially a few years ago when Irvin Grodsky's teen club tenants were running amok. (Irvin lived in west Mobile. It was only when he moved across the street that he took issue with the noise. But by then his tenants had completely destroyed O'Rourke's by making our block a place to be avoided by patrons and other potential businesses.)
A few years before that, we had a biker bar and they would shoot guns and run their bikes at full tilt up and down the block well into the morning. I complained to the city attorney John Lockett but I didn't expect the the city to enact an ordinance. I just thought some police presence was what was necessary. I still do.
It's easy to center on the Music Box because they have a cast of shrill opponents and, unlike the other places on the strip, it sits on our block isolated. It's easy to pin the blame on them and not the cops who have pretty much abandoned our block. In my opinion the problem has been exacerbated by the city's inaction on the noise issue and, now, you purport to remedy the situation by reacting to these harpees' request that you so something precipitously.
Based on what I've seen and heard - and, remember, I live three doors down from there - it seems especially wrong to me that you would (could?) declare them a nuisance when they haven't broken any laws or ordinances or am I wrong on that?
So, yes, by all means do look at the problem. But don't take the easy way out by scapegoating this business and all of the other businesses in the Downtown area. Look at the noise issue as something that must be dealt with in a responsible manner and belly up to the bar yourself.