Neighbors pray Church fixes noise problems
The Boston Licensing Board today urged Church, 69 Kilmarnock St., to install new sound-proofing material in its ceiling to dampen noise from bands - and complaints from nearby residents, who have been complaining of loud noise from the bar for more than a year now.
Licensing Board Chairman Daniel Pokaski said steps already taken by the club, which include curtains around the stage, ceiling insulation and band contracts that let the club turn down the volume on speakers, have failed to reduce the annoyance to Peterborough Street residents.
"I'm not saying put classical music in, but it's got to be controlled," he said. "Obviously the steps you've taken are not working. All problems are solvable, they're all solvable if you put your minds to it."
The club was before the board because of a noise violation issued by police officer who'd been called to a Peterborough Street residence around 10:30 p.m. on Dec. 5. The board decides Thursday what to do about the complaint.
Comments
Is the noise at Church a new problem?
The Linwood had loud bands in that location for years. Did Church's remodeling somehow make it more noise-transparent, or are its bands louder? (Both seem unlikely.) Or is this a case of recently-arrived residents trying to change something that has been in the neighborhood longer than they have, like those idiots on Upton Street in the South End tried to do with halfway houses on the block, or their counterparts over near the South Street Diner who wanted it to cease the 24-hour service it had been offering since 1947? Just curious.
That did come up
A sound engineer hired by the club said the Linwood shows were actually a lot louder. Pokaski, though, talked about changing times and how nearby residents have the right to quiet enjoyment of their homes.
Next up, Fenway Park?
What's next, Baseball fans will have to sit quietly in their seats inside Fenway Park and snap their fingers instead of cheer during the games?
I think I had plenty of
I think I had plenty of reasons to complain about the noise from Fenway when the Red Sox won the World Series. They hadn't done it since 1918, then they went and disturbed me twice in 4 years. WTF Red Sox?
Restaurant Row burns down but
Restaurant Row burns down but this loud, sorry replacement for a much better music venue stays? Peterborough Street can't catch a break.
The right to quiet enjoyment of your home...
makes more sense to me if your neighborhood was always quiet before and suddenly became unquiet. If it has always been noisy and you don't like that, why did you move there? Failure to do your homework? Trying to remold it in the image of the quiet suburb you moved from? I don't have much sympathy for these people: I doubt they were forced to live within earshot of the Linwood or Church, and it is a city, after all. Pokaski is sticking his nose in where it doesn't belong.
The players
It's not clear whether the issue was brought to the board by "new people" (the high-rise next door was converted from rental to condo a couple of years ago) or old-timers fed up with (I assume) noise, traffic and lack of cooperation from the nightclub.
Speaking of unquiet, anybody remember when the Eagle disco sat kitty-corner across that intersection, where Saint Cecilia's rest home sits now? (Another possible source of "concern", btw.) Let's just say that Queensberry and Kilmarnock has never been Louisburg Square.
Hope Church Stays Open
It'd be a shame if this place had to stop having bands. It's one of the few places left in the entire city that has local bands playing original music. It's sad but true that the city that once spawned Aerosmith, the Cars, the Pixies, J Geils... Boston!, etc., now only has a handful of outlets for local live music.