Comments on: Noise vs Neighbors

By: Lauren

Lauren — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:25:31 +0000

FWIW, I was talking about 45th. Which I don’t consider residential and wish was more urban.

By: SeattleAlan

SeattleAlan — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 06:02:45 +0000

Interesting.
People are considering Wallingford “dense urban living”, and therefore it is o.k. for LOUD noise through the night.

Where does the idea that Wallingford is a dense neighborhood come from? “Densely packed – high density” We have “small?” lots (40′x100′), but we are not a dense urban living situation. Try Pittsburgh with their row houses…front doors at the sidewalk. You can stand between some houses and touch both houses – some are right against each other. That is dense.

Wallingford is a residential neighborhood, which happens to have a couple of streets in it that have some businesses on them, some stores and restaurants on them. We aren’t a loud nightclub neighborhood. If someone wants to go to a nightclub, well, go to Belltown – it has been a nightclub area for decades. A vibrant nightlife doesn’t have to mean loud through the week and doesn’t mean very loud on the weekend. When people buy a house in a residential neighborhood, like Wallingford, they shouldn’t have to put up with loud music late at night.

I’m just glad that I’m not close enough for the late night noise. I don’t hear the nightclubs, just the roar of the freeway. Sure sounds like Sea Monster Lounge, Rain & Babalu need to abide by the noise abatement ordinances or be fined – each and every time they don’t control their noise limit…

By: J

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 22:18:15 +0000

Most of Wallingford is residential, single-family homes, albeit densely packed. Calling Wallingford “urban” is a stretch and should not be an excuse for treating neighbors disrespectfully. There’s no slippery slope of being awoken at 3am by neighbors who do not have the self-control to play music at reasonable hours at reasonable volumes.

At the same time, we have chosen to live in a high-density area which means we need to be more tolerant of city noise – sirens, road noise, airplane noise and neighbors. Wallingford may not be Issaquah, but it is also not Belltown so don’t expect your neighbor’s tolerance to be unlimited.

By: Lauren

Lauren — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:03:43 +0000

I guess that’s my point. What is reasonable to one person might not be reasonable to another person. And where do you draw the line? I know you were being extreme with the question about standing outside someone’s bedroom window at 3:00 AM banging on drums, but how would you feel if someone was playing drums inside their space at 3 AM and you could hear them? Is that reasonable? It’s a slippery slope.

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:40:51 +0000

Lauren, Maybe not everyone has the same vision as you do for what they want in an urban environment. Yes, noise is part of living in the city but what’s considered “reasonable” to you may not be to others. How would you feel if I stood outside your bedroom window at 3:00 a.m. banging my drums? Is that reasonable? Or, should you just accept that as part of urban living?

By: Lauren

Lauren — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:59:44 +0000

I’ve been thinking more about this. Why is it that we try to take an urban environment and make it something it’s not. My relatives who live in the country complain about life in the city all the time. But you know, their life in the country wouldn’t exist without the city being there – to provide all the services their communities can’t or won’t. Let’s stop trying to make our urban areas quiet neighborhoods.

By: Flash

Flash — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 07:01:56 +0000

Bars bring in money to Wallingford. As a friend of many local business owners I see no problem with them. Bars play loud music. If you don’t like loud music don’t live by bars. What are you? New?

By: Lauren

Lauren — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:58:31 +0000

I think one of the problems with high density living is that you’ve got people living on different schedules. 1 AM may be late (early?) to others, it is the only time they have to enjoy going out. Do I like everything that goes on around me? No. But it is my choice to have it that way because it is not acceptable to me to have to drive to get around just to live in a quiet residential area. I don’t want to do anything about it.

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:33:51 +0000

Why can’t we have a thriving business district AND businesses that are considerate of the neighbors that live in close proximity. It seems that many of you are saying that this is just life in the city and loud music blaring at 1:00 a.m. is the price you pay. If you lived a few doors down from these businesses I’m guessing you’d change your tune (no pun intended). I do not live close enough to these businesses to hear the late-night music but I know people who do and they have lived there longer than Sea Monster or Babalu have been around. Imagine if a business set up shop across the street from your house and started blasting loud music every night keeping you awake until 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. Would you just accept it as “life in the city” or would you try to do something about it?

By: Lynne Freeman

Lynne Freeman — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 07:52:16 +0000

As a trusted helper/friend to both Rain and Seamonster, I will pass on
your concerns, especially about music past 2 a.m., which should not be
happening. Both establishments are very community based and I will post
owners personal phones for complaints very soon. Lynne

By: wandermom

wandermom — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:54:24 +0000

We live around the corner from Murphys on 45th. We expect to hear stumbling drunks on Saturday evenings and usually they’re not too loud. Things are usually worst on St Patrick’s day – and it would be rich for us to complain about that really (being escaped-from-Dublin Irish). The loud bass coming from Babalu can be annoying, but really, it’s only a problem in the summer when windows are open at nght.
Love the Drunk Flusher idea.
Would be even happier if the drunk who stole our Skel-amingo lawn ornament last month could kindly return it

By: RT

RT — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:36:31 +0000

We live very near the SM and Rain. Seamonster and Goldies are one thing. They are pretty much built for the noise. Rain on the other hand is not. When they open their windows and let the music blast at 3:00 am; that’s a little much. As for drunkards urinating on a property? Complete disrespect. Man, I am glad I dont live THAT close. I would be spraying those MFer’s with a hose. “See how fun it is to drink and dance soaking wet dirtbag!” We just get an occasional beer bottle or two.

By: Mimi

Mimi — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:35:10 +0000

Hey, love your blog and thanks for all the work you put into it. I have to say though that I find the white on green really hard to read, so I never read the comments.
I agree that urban noise is something you kind of have to live with, but 4AM seems like it’s going a bit too far.

By: brady

brady — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 01:50:22 +0000

We live near Kate’s Pub, but they were there before we were so we knew what we were getting into. Earplugs takes care of most of the problem.

By: Wallyhood

Wallyhood — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 22:58:03 +0000

I think eM has struck a perfect Wallingford entrepreneurial collaboration: Stone Way Hardware / Tweedy and Popp should team up with Not a Number / Archie McPhee to develop and market the “Drunk Flusher”: a motion sensitive device hooked up to a hose to sprinkle the sprinklers.