From Pete Stidman of WaxTrax Records: The City’s Department of Public Health & Environment released its ideas on how to change the noise ordinance last month, and Denver’s City Council is set to consider the changes next week. The proposal is a mixed bag. It does speak to events similar to Wax Trax’s summer sidewalk shows (only allowing an arbitrary 8 such events on private property per year) and raises the allowed decibel level to 85 decibels for those events. However, it removes any requirement that a complainant prove that they are harmed by the sound, and also puts vast rulemaking powers in the hands of the DDPHE, including a provision that they can ignore the 85 decibel limit if they choose to.
This could mean they would have the power to arbitrarily shut down events regardless of their sound level–essentially choosing which ones they like, and which ones they don’t.
Read below about how to contact your city councilor today.
It does not, as many comments in the public process recommended, include any provision that the DDPHE consider the public good when prosecuting events, nor does it define how sound is measured. Theoretically, any person can complain for any reason, shutting down events that hundreds of people benefit from, as long as DDPHE agrees with them (and they’ve never seemed to question any complainant’s words before).
Given that the DDPHE’s noise investigators have gone after free jazz events, the City Park Jazz Festival, Wax Trax’s free shows, and other free outdoor events around the city in the past –in some cases without a complainant at all, in others with the complainant blocks away– it does not seem like a good idea to trust the DDPHE with all this power without any check on them at the ordinance level.
The city is granted its “police power” from the state on the idea that it serves the public good, and that its rules are enforced reasonably. The DDPHE has done neither in Wax Trax’s case, and shouldn’t be trusted to make their own rules up as they go, particularly if there is no provision in the ordinance that clearly reminds them that they need to consider and balance the public good. Free music is a public good, as it clearly brings joy to people’s lives, builds social connections, and improves community and mental health.
Contact your city councilors ASAP and let them know how you feel. You can find your district councilor by clicking on your neighborhood in this map, also please reach out to your citywide councilors Sarah Parady and Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez.
Sarah: https://www.denvergov.org/Government/Agencies-Departments-Offices/Agencies-Departments-Offices-Directory/Denver-City-Council/Council-Members-Websites-Info/ParadyAtLarge
Serena:
https://www.denvergov.org/Government/Agencies-Departments-Offices/Agencies-Departments-Offices-Directory/Denver-City-Council/Council-Members-Websites-Info/GonzalesGutierrezAtLarge
For more info, read the ordinance changes here, the redline document is much more informative than their summary (note how the removal of the changes to the definition of noise are at the bottom of their summary, so you’re less likely to see them).
https://www.denvergov.org/Government/Agencies-Departments-Offices/Agencies-Departments-Offices-Directory/Public-Health-Environment/Public-Health-Investigations/Healthy-Families-Healthy-Homes/Noise-Program
https://wastedenergy.co/2024/03/07/health-dept-advances-noise-ordinance-revamp/
Pete Stidman of WaxTrax Records gave us permission to reprint his article! Thanks, Pete!
Photo: WaxTrax band
March 14, 2024| Music-Related Business| Barb Dye