Night life already disrupts the city

I think it is unfortunate that some city leaders want to liberalize the rules regarding live entertainment in bars and restaurants when the city has shown that it can't adequately regulate the night life it ...

[Debbie]

If you think Boston Street is bad now, wait til Ed Hale builds that new arena down there. It's a joke to think that 17,000 people coming from a rock or rap concert will go directly to 95. Oh no, they will spill out into Canton like ants going to a picnic. There goes your property values!!!

[rob of fells point]

I agree with the letter. I'm in the music field, and also a homeowner in Fell's. Why this bill when there are scores of empty venues and spaces in areas already zoned for them, just sitting there? This plan causes injury to life and property by changing Zoning laws right under our noses, and if it goes forward the City should be sued. Terrible idea, and SRB should be ashamed!

[stu]

part of city life is a vibrant entertainment scene, restaurants, bars, even nightclubs. Too many people forget that these things are what makes cities come alive. If they want to live on quiet streets with no traffic, no people, no noise, they should move to the suburbs

[LEE]

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. I am really getting tired of people complaining about issues like this. If you don't like noise, don't move there. In many instances in Fell's Point, Canton, Federal Hill and other neighborhoods the bars and restaurants were there first. It is the same as the people that live near Merryweather Post Pavilion complaining about noise even though the pavilion was there 2 years before Columbia existed or the people that live near BWI Marshal complaining about the noise from planes landing. Come on people this is ridiculous.

[John P]

I understand the concerns of homeowners as I am one as well. Where I have a problem is people that complain about entertainment venues 'Popping Up' in their neighborhoods (ie. Canton) when what has been popping up are residential developments. The entertainment venues were there long before many of the residents. If you didn't want to be near nite time entertainment activity then you should have bought a home in the country.

[Matt]

You chose to live there. The clubs and such on Boston Street were there before the overpriced homes went in.

Stop being such nerds and only going to places to eat with one 'trendy' name.

[Tom]

Fell's Point, Canton, Federal Hill and Mount Vernon have always been mixed use residential/commercial neighborhoods with a nightlife component. This is city living at it's best. Having people walking around enjoying themselves late night is what makes these some of the safest neighborhoods. The more people, the better. Shops and cafés will stay open later to get their business. There are entirely residential neighborhoods in the city, such as Bolton Hill, where it's completely dead at night. However, It's not a comfortable place to take an evening stroll when you're the only one on the street.

I think the biggest problem is the mandatory 2am closing time. This causes everyone to dump out on the street at once, some continuing the party on the street because they're not ready to go home. If the bars were 24hrs people would stay in the bars until they're done, then filter out gradually and go home.

[Steev]

I live in Canton precisely because I can walk to bars and restaurants. I can not fathom why someone would want to live there if they were not interested in them. We don't have enough live music in Canton. Too often we have to walk to Fells or even take a cab downtown for live music. Bring it on!

[SoBo Lover]

Tom wrote:

Fell's Point, Canton, Federal Hill and Mount Vernon have always been mixed use residential/commercial neighborhoods with a nightlife component. This is city living at it's best. Having people walking around enjoying themselves late night is what makes these some of the safest neighborhoods. The more people, the better. Shops and cafés will stay open later to get their business. There are entirely residential neighborhoods in the city, such as Bolton Hill, where it's completely dead at night. However, It's not a comfortable place to take an evening stroll when you're the only one on the street.
I think the biggest problem is the mandatory 2am closing time. This causes everyone to dump out on the street at once, some continuing the party on the street because they're not ready to go home. If the bars were 24hrs people would stay in the bars until they're done, then filter out gradually and go home.

I agree the "Running of the Bulls" as one friend of mine referred to the stampede that occurs at 2:00 am is the main cause for street noise, fights, drunk driving, etc... If they changed the liquor licenses to allow bars to stay open until 4:00 or later you wouldn't have as many issues. Besides 2:00am is so small town. Buffalo bars close at 4:00am for example. No wonder Aubrey Huff trashed Baltimore night life.

[Margie]

Unfortunately single residents don't make large "contributions" (bribes) to politicos' campaign coffers, so our concerns will always come dead last.

[Jason]

The reason that you house is worth what it is, is due to the restaurants and nightlife in the city. People live in the city to be close to restaurants and bars. What's the difference between a jukebox and a band, it should depend on the level of noise not the type of music. Bringing live entertainment to the city is a great idea as is loosening up regulations on outdoor seating. I am sure that most of the bars on Boston Street were there before you moved into the city. Restaurants and bars provide the city with a lot of revenue as well as increasing the value of your home. I agree that the level of noise should be controlled, but remember that you live in a city. A plethora of residential developements have sprung up around the bars and restaurants.

Jason Zink

Baltimore

[Fells Point]

The problem with this Bill is it changes the rules. Most of us live in the City because we like the action. However, when you buy a house next to a restautant or bar without a live music license you don't expect to wake up one day to find the rules have changed and your house is rocking because of the noise and vibration of live music. The real estate market needs consistency, which it won't have if the rules can change. Let's face it, your property value will change if you thought you purchase a property next to a bar/restaurant just to find out you now have noise issues to have to deal with. It's not fair to changes the rules after the fact. I live in Fell's Point because we love the action, but this Bill goes too far and is not fair to those that they knowingly purchased a home next to a business that couldn't have live entertainment and now can.

[Jason]

Debbie wrote:

If you think Boston Street is bad now, wait til Ed Hale builds that new arena down there. It's a joke to think that 17,000 people coming from a rock or rap concert will go directly to 95. Oh no, they will spill out into Canton like ants going to a picnic. There goes your property values!!!

If Ed Hale build the new arena in Canton, that would be the best thing to ever happen to the area. Look at what happened to Federal Hill after Camden Yards came to the city. Bringing people into the city makes people want to move to the city which increases the value of your house.

[MrEd]

Canton was full of bars and drunks long before these homes were built.

[Jake]

dang republicans

[fells point jane]

Fells Point wrote:

The problem with this Bill is it changes the rules. Most of us live in the City because we like the action. However, when you buy a house next to a restautant or bar without a live music license you don't expect to wake up one day to find the rules have changed and your house is rocking because of the noise and vibration of live music. The real estate market needs consistency, which it won't have if the rules can change. Let's face it, your property value will change if you thought you purchase a property next to a bar/restaurant just to find out you now have noise issues to have to deal with. It's not fair to changes the rules after the fact. I live in Fell's Point because we love the action, but this Bill goes too far and is not fair to those that they knowingly purchased a home next to a business that couldn't have live entertainment and now can.

I agree. This is pulling a fast one, changing the rules and really hurting people who accept that they live in a high traffic area and live with it but for sure didn't expect to have more loaded on them. I also think some folks become philosophical when they don't face the actual effects of a change like this. So people in Fells Point are blamed for living here, though they have stablized the neighborhood and made it comfortable for the folks who now condemn them. They tell me to move if I don't like it--what a nerve. This is my neighborhood, where I have paid my dues, and paid my super-high property taxes, for over ten years. I have no say, no right to protect my investment? Fells Point in the old days was the Foot of Broadway and yes, it was drunks and crime, not a place most would go. Why anyone would be nostalgic for that, or see it as a justification for an anything-goes neighborhood today, lacks all respect for the people who live here.

[LCM]

Nightlife doesn't disrupt the city...it brings it vitality and economic development opportunities. The restaurants and entertainment venues drew the crowds of people that invest and revitalize these neighborhoods. Baltimore is becoming known nationally for its music scene...we should encourage this not discourage it in one sweeping opinion letter. Of course there will be case by case issues to resolve but SRB is correct in fostering a nurturing environment for music in Baltimore...look what that type of policy/attitude did for cities like Austin, Seattle and New Orleans. If you want calm and quiet, move to one of the many serene residential neighborhoods like Oakenshaw, for example!

[DundalkSteve]

2am closing for bars is so provincial.

[Herx]

Agree with so many of you above. If you don't like night life, then why on earh did you buy in fells Point or Canton. Both communities are, and should be, entertainment zones.

If you don't like it, move out to a quiet suburb. If you want a quiet waterfront neighborhood, go to Anne Arundel county. They have plenty of beautiful and boring waterfront neighborhoods.

[zzz]

Aren't there noise ordinances in the city of Baltimore? The problem is the general rudeness of patrons coming out of bars. They yell at the top of their lungs at 2:00AM when walking in residential neighbors, and probably wake up a couple of hundred people in the process. One of my neighbors in Canton lived here for years, within a block of three bars. She never heard people at night because they had respect for their neighbors. Since there is none of that any longer, bars should close at midnight in residential neighborhoods because people no longer know how to be civilized when leaving an establishment.