A downtown Raleigh bar owner feels he's being targeted by police enforcing a new noise ordinance.
The ordinance hopes to get businesses in areas like Glenwood South to bring down the noise levels, and crackdown on repeat offenders.
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The Raleigh City Council approved an update to the noise ordinance this month, allowing for more enforcement on repeat offenders.
New numbers show of the 123 noise ordinance violations issued in the last year, 43% of them have been on the same block along Glenwood.
Dan Lovenheim, the owner of The Village Nightlife Complex, has taken exception to how police are issuing citations.
The ordinance says if the sound is unreasonable from 150 feet away, police can write a citation. Across the street at the intersection to the north is roughly that distance, but attorney Abe Rubert-Schewel is less concerned about the distance and more about the officer’s discretion for what they decide is “unreasonable” in a busy area like this.
"Glenwood South from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. on a Friday and Saturday, has a very different standard than a residential area of Raleigh," Rubert-Schewel said.
But this area is home to many. There are apartments along the corridor and homes north of Peace Street. Though, residents there feel it's not very peaceful once the sun goes down.
“It’s anything but peaceful when it comes to the sound.”
This resident did not wish to be identified because he doesn’t want to be criticized for his experience living so close to Glenwood South.
“I’d say usually, Thursday from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. Sunday, it’s incredibly loud,” he said. “Some of it is from bars and other establishments and way beyond your standard people having fun kind of sound.”
Rubert-Schewel says the Village Nightlife Complex has been cited several times, though none of those citations were upheld. Police records show in the last year, 53 of the 123 noise ordinance violations were issued on the club’s block. It's why Lovenheim started recording his interactions with police.
In the videos, the owner asks how the officer has issued citations for other businesses. The officer largely doesn't provide any opinions and just states what he's doing in this instance.
To show feels he’s being treated differently after the officer said he did not issue a citation to a different establishment because the bar was "in an education phase."
"By giving a ticket to us, but not giving a ticket to other bars, is evidence of selective prosecution," Rubert-Schewel said.
Discretion is something officers have when figuring out between a ticket and a warning. Think about someone speeding; sometimes people will get a warning and other times, they’re hit with a pricey ticket.
“Police do have discretion in certain instances to decide to give citations to not give citations,” Rubert-Schewel said. “But if they are aware that two people situated equally are both doing the exact same conduct, it is unconstitutional to charge one criminally and then not charge the other.”
WRAL News contacted Raleigh police with the following questions:
- Has Raleigh police allowed flexibility among businesses in regards to issuing the noise ordinances?
- Why has there been an educational phase offered by the Raleigh Police Department?
- What determines if a business is afforded the educational phase opportunity?
WRAL is awaiting a response from Raleigh police.
Rubert-Schewel says his client will abide by the rules and will work with officers to remedy any issues immediately, like the ordinance says.
They just want to make sure enforcement on Glenwood Avenue is a two-way street.
“We do want to cooperate with the city,” Rubert-Schewel said. “We do want to cooperate with the Raleigh Police Department and, per the new portion of the ordinance, it allows for that type of cooperation where they can come to us and they can assist us in adjusting the noise.
“We are certainly open to that as long as it is applied equally and evenly throughout Glenwood South.”