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At BC, even the on-campus parties cause problems
By adamg on Wed, 10/14/2009 - 8:14am
BC official apologizes to residents for Saturday party that was supposed to end at 11 p.m. but instead raged on through the wee hours, the Globe reports.
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Comments
Whew
Glad I wasn't going crazy and it wasn't someone's house in my neighborhood that I couldn't find! I heard that party as if it were less than a block away while sitting in my house. Their subwoofers were so heavily powered that my windows were acting like amplifier ports and transmitting the music straight into my house and I live just over a MILE away near Washington and Comm Ave! I thought it was so close that I needed to call the cops if I had the address.
I drove out to see if I could find the house it was coming from but there was nothing on Union and I could hear it coming from past there. I went up onto Nottinghill Rd, but still nothing specific. I went to Wallingford, still no sign and it was as loud as ever. I started to think it was some cruel physics experiment to see how far someone could take a house party and bounce it through off the sides of apartment buildings and hills to hit my house directly! But it was still so loud that I figured it had to be a really professional setup and that meant only BC as far as I could tell. When I finally made it out to around Comm Ave and Foster, I gave up and looped around to go home. You couldn't hear it around Lake and Washington, which was weird.
So it was definitely a combination of extremely LOUD and high-powered speakers and subwoofers AND the fact that it was coming down from Heartbreak Hill just grooving in the cool crisp night air right between a few hills, off a few buildings, and RIGHT into my house, amplified by my own living room windows. It was crazy how crystal clear the sound was...I would have sworn it was coming from 2-3 houses away if I didn't drive over there and hear for myself.
Professional Job
I attended last night's neighborhood meeting, and BC reps came and apologized. They did appear sincere about their apology. Apparently there was a professional dj hired, who brought in the rock concert-grade sound machines. The event should have ended at 11 PM, and that did not happen until 2 AM. One person said the called BC Police, who told her that the event was until 1 AM. The BC reps said that was for the Police detail. Anyway, they did apologize and we can only hope that this does not happen again.
funny
I was walking Wallingford and it was loudest at the corner of Melton, can't figure out why it was so loud there. There was a house party on Chestnut Hill Ave, and I figured it was from there, but no dice. Good to know I wasn't losing it.
Ha!
Did you see a guy on a scooter stopping every block to listen? Heh. Yeah, it seems like that was the perfect tunnel for the music to come through what I call Notting Hill and Academy Hill...and my house is right on the other side of those two hills from BC...so it was funneling right at me.
OK, I need to stop paying so much attention to local politics
Because when I read your first sentence, I immediately thought of Doug Bennett puttering through the neighborhood looking for the party.
I think so.
I was out walking a golden retriever. If I wasn't so tired I would have investigated further.
It reall was strange how you could walk 50 feet and no longer hear it...
Yeah, if it's professional equipment
I can make out Fenway Park concerts well enough to identify what song is being played, and I live close to the mosque near Roxbury Xing, so also about a mile.
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of course there should be a bit of a difference
between a little tent party and a concert at fenway park.
Only difference is they have a permit
Otherwise, both kinds of noise annoy people equally.
(The concerts don't bother me personally, but just saying. They don't seem to need the approval of neighborhood associations a mile away in order to play music that's recognizable in our living rooms, and that seems a little effed up.)
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BC and Noise
I live south of BC in the neighborhood across the D-line tracks. I could hear the party, and even commented about it to my wife, but it was not really any louder than the D-line is or when the BC marching band practices on Thursday nights. It did, however, go later than those two events do.
I have lived around BC for more than a decade (in various locations) and this is the first time I can remember this happening. The BC folk appear to be taking it seriously, so I am not going to excited about it.
Interestingly, I think that this particular incident may have been aggravated by something that I think was an unintended consequence. Others might call it a poetic irony.
I am not a physicist, architect, nor sound engineer, but I think that the construction and orientation of some of the new high-rise dorms (built largely to heed the "get the students out of the neighborhood!" cry) has resulted in the deflection of some campus generated noise out toward the Brighton side of the campus. My experience is that this shift is a bit more pronounced under certain atmospheric conditions.
sound travels further
on damp cool days. I forget why, but someone explained to me the reason once.
new dorms
The new dorms have not been built yet, and no construction begun on the Chestnut Hill Campus, so your "poetic justice" comment is uncalled for.
The noise was what it was, an admitted failure on the part of BC (and I commend them for their post event handling of this) of a large scale (1500 student) event. The permit was for a party that would run until 11pm, not 2am. The BC Police showed horrendous judgement in not shutting the party down at that hour.
Tom Keady has stated bluntly that this is a BC screw up and that it WILL NOT HAPPEN AGAIN. I am willing to take his word for it.
Video of the party
By a not very happy Brighton resident; includes an "interview" with one BC cop, before he's kicked off campus by other cops:
Event goes to 1:30am
this event regularly goes to 1:30am each year, anything about an 11pm end time was just wrong. it is unfortunate that the music this year was too loud though. it really is a great event for the students and keeps them out of trouble in the neighborhoods. hopefully next year they will be more mindful of it.
as for this video the guy just makes himself seem like a creep with nothing better to do...
permits
Either you are incorrect or Tom Keady and Bill Mills were not telling the truth when they stood in a full room of press (including the Globe, Tab etc) and stated publicly that the permit for the party was for 11pm.
Tom Keady said that he and Bill Mills are in total control of pulling and filing permits for these events, and that the party was to end at 11pm. Keady to full responsibility for the breakdown of what occured and said it would never happen again.
He apparently sees no reason to defend what happened, or make excuses for it. I would suggest that other BC Alum and students take his lead on this.
No wiggle room, no excuses. An outside party of 1500 people with loudspeakers in a residentail community does not run until 2am.
Heights article
http://media.www.bcheights.com/media/storage/paper...'
in it the student in charge is quoted as saying: espite a report by The Boston Globe that the entertainment license obtained by the University mandated that the event end at 11 p.m., Paglia said the dance has always lasted until 1:30 a.m.
the globe article says: The university had an entertainment license for the party that ended at 11 p.m., BC officials said.
while it directly quoted keady, it didnt for this statement which makes me think that neither him, nor bill mills said this. someone at BC was clearly wrong or the Globe was.
also the heights article says this about alcohol at the party:
Students who were at least 21 years of age and had previously validated their student IDs with Student Services were permitted to enter a police-manned tent in which beer and wine were served.
the globe article says this:
The Undergraduate Government of BC sponsors the annual dance, which includes food and soft drinks, but no alcohol, BC spokesman Jack Dunn said.
so again, someone is clearly wrong here. this event has normally gone on until 1am in the past, albeit with better control of the noise - so something is going on here...
and i agree the guy with the video is kind of a creep...