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The Washington Post reports a groundbreaking revelation today: some residents of the U Street corridor are growing weary of the late night noise. According to the 2007 D.C. Economic Partnership report, the area houses more than 26,000 renters and owners, and the WaPo asks if a better live/play balance can be found in the neighborhood.
While the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration does patrol the area for noise violations, the WaPo also spoke to Councilmember Jim Graham, who states:
"The noise laws are not well enforced," said D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), who wants better enforcement. "We try to work with those that are the source of the sounds, but it's been very frustrating." Graham's office has received noise complaints about the neighborhood for years. "It's a challenging terrain," he said of the council's efforts to balance residential and entertainment interests. "We have to deal with it and come up with some new answers."
Some of the residents featured in the article have purchased new condos at Langston Lofts, Union Row, and other complexes as far back as 2003, and claim that the area's noise pollution has worsened, and worry the worst is yet to come, with new restaurants and bars opening monthly. Others living in the same complexes have the attitude that noise comes with the neighborhood, and try to work with restaurant and bar owners in person when they have a particular problem.
As someone who formerly lived on U Street across from the Pure nightclub, this writer can empathize with both sides. Noise violations occurred well past 2 a.m. on weekdays, and despite frequent police presence at the club, the constant loud music and rowdy patrons outside of that establishment never lessened. As a renter, I was able to move a few blocks away from the noise without much hassle. But with the constant changes in the U Street corridor, buying a condo seems more than a tad risky; who knows what will pop up next door.
Do we just chalk this up to the age old Adams Morgan argument: if you choose to live there, stop bitching! Or, is it possible to find a middle ground? After all, how many Adams Morgans can one city tolerate? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
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Can't wait for the perfuctory chorus of if you don't like noise move to (insert DC Metro suburb here) in the comments.
My bigger beef is incessant sirens. There can't possibly be as many genuine emergencies as the constant stream of sirens around town would suggest.
Oh right . . . guess I should move to (insert DC Metro suburb here)
The suburbs have that problem too. There are way too many cops out here than are necessary, and they tend to abuse their siren-blaring, light-flashing privileges (probably for no reason other than it's fun). I can't tell you how many times I've had those bright, obnoxious blue lights flashing in my window for a solid 20 minutes because a cop decided to pull someone over in a residential area, no doubt for something extremely minor.
Not a day goes by in Arlington where you don't hear a fair amount of sirens, though the noise level is faily low in my hood.
Though some don't call Arlington the suburbs. Those people are communists.
I concur - there's a high frequency of sirens, plus helicopter noise, along the Orange Line corridor in Arl.
But, this is no big surprise, since that area is among the most densely developed/'urban' parts of the DC metro area.
There are several contributing factors, but if nightclubs make a neighborhood residentially desirable, residents must know what to expect when they move in.
When ANCs act as music critics, they often forbid premises to feature live music, not realizing that today's recorded music, played back through powered subwoofers, will carry much further.
DCRA needs to establish and enforce acoustic construction standards for all restaurant sites, since effective noise abatement measures really cannot be added as a retrofit.
I like the construction standards, but come on, when has DC EVER enforced any construction/zoning standard against developer objections.
They don't even have them established.
whoa, whoa, whoa, lynne. jim graham is no representative. don't go conferring titles and giving the man a bigger head than he already has...
Ah yes, you are so right. Silly me to think we have a representative!
if you don't like noise move to Arlington!! (How is that?)
Seriously-no sympathy. You see this with airports, farms, gun ranges, etc. are already there.
Arlington has its share of noise. See my comment above.
Some of the residents featured in the article have purchased new condos at Langston Lofts, Union Row, and other complexes as far back as 2003, and claim that the area's noise pollution has worsened, and worry the worst is yet to come, with new restaurants and bars opening monthly
Really? Isnt that why these people moved to14th and U - to be close to the U Street bar and restaurant "corridor"? I recently purchased a condo in this area and I damn well expected noise and people and sirens and what have you. The urban city noise and experience is why you live there. These new construction places are way overpriced and certainly no one HAS to live there.
I can imagine the phone calls to friends "Hey come visit me in DC - I live right near so many bars. it's craaaaazy. we can get jumbo slice after we go out too."
Give me a break and get a life.
It's not like U Street's popularity has hit overnight - it's been turning into the place to go out all decade. Just as Adams Morgan did in the 90's and Georgetown in the 80's. Though new residents would have paid prime $$$ to move into one of those condos on U in the past 5 years. Eventually drinkers will find a new neighborhood.
How do DC's entertainment corridors compare, residential-noise-complaint-wise, to those in similar sized cities?
Caveat emptor. Before anyone buys or rents, if you are local, visit the area late at night both on the weekend and a weekday if possible. I am opposed to the limiting of music and live entertainment especially in an area know for such activities for longer than most of the newer residents have been alive.
There are flaws in this idea though. I lived in the same building for 3 years on U street with no issue with noise. Thinking the windows, etc. must be good enough to withstand it, I moved into a different apartment in the same building, and the noise level was completely different inside the apartment. Since it's not too likely anyone is going to let you stay overnight in a unit before signing on the dotted line, I don't see how some issues can be avoided entirely.
"Caveat emptor?" You're talking about people who buy condos sight unseen (but those brochures sure were snazzy!).
I am talking about people who only look at a place during daylight hours without consideration of what a neighborhood is like at night or worse yet those who rent/buy a place, have kids then complain how loud the neighborhood is and I say this as someone who has a couple of kids. I don't expect one to sleep overnight but do think that it is important to check out a neighborhood at all times. Neighborhoods do change but I have been drinking and seeing bands in the U St area since the 90's. It was not quiet then. JMO
To my mind, the distinction between what is there and what is added has to cut both ways.
ie- don't bitch if you move to an airport, but feel free to complain if a new airport opens or pre-existing airport decides to run 30% more flights per day or keep the runways open hours longer.
No body should get a pass- not Harry/Harriet Homeowner, not Air France.
I lived at 17th and U until February 2008; the street noise from sirens...necessary evil. The frequency with which motorcycles would shake my entire apartment as they ambled by baffled me. As if douchebags on harleys need more props that scream "please look at me and judge how cool i am...please?"
Harley's suck. They don't go fast, turn fast, or stop fast. But they're loud.
And expensive.
I rarely see Harleys on U Street. What I do see are legions of rainbow-brite crotch rockets. I'm no Harley fan, but I'll take one any day over those day-glo pieces of shit.
As someone who's lived on V Street for 8 years I'll take the noise and the trash over the drugs and gun play any day.
Isn't moving to U Street and complaining about the noise sort of EXACTLY LIKE moving to D.C. and complaining about the tourists? Just sayin'.
I'm sure the sound of barking dogs left tied to parking meters outside the stores contributes to the noise.
Every sane person expects a certain level of noise in an urban environment, and I hate to agree with Jim Graham about the lack of noise enforcement, but part of the problem is that an 80 unit condo that's partially occupied is gonna be a lot quieter than when it's 100% occupied. And once all the friends of those residents start seeing that you might actually be able to walk back to your car at night without getting raped, then you start adding more people to the noise equation. But none of these people think that THEY are the ones actually making the noise, even though they probably are, it's just that they're not making the noise when they're sleeping. It's kinda like porn: what YOU look at is porn but what I look at is "erotica."
In other words, I blame illegal immigrants.
History seems to smile on amnesty. Or is that genocide. I get confused.
Actualy, I look at porn. "erotica" is for sissies.
I used to live on 15th and U - right behind CakeLove across from the gas station...from 2004-2006. The only bad noise at the time was from the fire truck sirens going down U st. Still not too much noise from the hooligans and such at that point. Was actually worse in the building I moved to on Tunlaw up in Glover Park (2006-2007).
Ain't nothing better than movin' on up to living down by the river. MacArthur Blvd. FTW.
Down by the river? I live in a van down by the river too! Is that panel van with the whitewall tires yours? Sweet. We should share a poached rabbit sometime.
Not everyone in the U street neighborhood moved there five years ago to occupy a swank new condo. (Or the Adams Morgan neighborhood for that matter). Are you saying people who've lived in the area for 20 years should have predicted the nightlife evolving, and therefore aren't allowed to complain?
It makes much more sense to require ultra-soundproofing a few clubs and restaurants than to make every residential unit do so. And no one has a "right" to scream like a drunken idiot and keep everyone within a 3 block radius awake, just because they're in a particular part of town. I want to see the Loud Drunk Asshole Arrest Squad out in force...
"And no one has a "right" to scream like a drunken idiot and keep everyone within a 3 block radius awake,"
It's those few that do (and the horn blowers) that cause 90% of the problems.
What kind of douche moves to U Street or Adams-Morgan and then complains about noise? I'd be more sympathetic to long-term residents, but I'd really be surprised if most of these complainers fell into that category. And they'd have to be really long term... U Street has been a drunken noisefest since the 1990s. And before that it was a cracked-out crimefest.
I've lived in Adams Morgan for 16 years and no, I don't have a problem with the noise from clubs, restaurants, bars, etc., because you have to accept that as a part of the experience of living in an urban environment, but I do get pissed off at the people who feel it necessary to yell, scream, sing at the top of their lungs on their way back to their cars/homes at 2am. Knowing better than to buy directly on 18th St. above an establishment, I live on a side street, purely residential, and not one of the main ones between 18th/Columbia. I know these people are drunk, but that's not an excuse to become a total asshole and not be aware of the time/one's surroundings (oh, wait, I forgot, apparently it is...)
Wait a minute...you purchased a condo smack in the middle of one of the city's busiest commercial corridors, and then complain about having to keep your windows closed at night because of the noise?
Oh, the humanity!
Hint:
If you do not like noise or are sensitive to it, DO NOT MOVE to a major entertainment corridor (Adams Morgan, M Street, U Street, certain parts of 14th Street, Gallery Place).
I am sick of all these people moving into the "cool" area, and then complaining it is too loud. If you want quiet, move to a residential only area. I lived in Adams Morgan for years and I then decided to move to a quieter area. Guess what, I didn't move to a major entertainment corridor looking for a quiet place.
Too solve all this incessant whining I think maybe certain neighborhoods should be zoned for STFU about the noise.
Well, I told you people it was a big mistake to get rid of all those abandoned properties. Now you have to deal with all those people walking around, spending money, creating foot traffic, and generating tax revenues. Back in the day, you only had the soft music of bums fighting over pork chops or the soothing sounds of guys in diapers making sweet, sweet love to eachother in exchange for crack. Now those urban lullabys are a thing of the past, gone the way of sanitary napkin belts, Hot Fudge Holy Moley, loveboat, and Marion Barry's dignity. Ah, both money and time behave like loose quicksilver in a nest of cracks. When they're gone, we can't tell where they went--or what the devil we did with 'em!