June 17, 2010-This morning I read an article on the San Francisco Examiner “Complaints tune out merry music makers” and I just had to caulk this up as another fine example of the powers of the San Francisco Police Department.
“A large Chinese philharmonic ensemble that serenades the public in the afternoon at a major intersection connecting Chinatown and North Beach is vulnerable to a police crackdown.
A group of up to 20 musicians who sit at a new public plaza at Broadway and Columbus Avenue and play their wind instruments, usually on Friday afternoons, have been cited for the noise. Neighbors have made several complaints to the local police station, and officers have no choice but to break it up, police Lt. Franklin Lee said.
“I’m not sure how many or where they’re from, I just know they’ve been getting a lot of them. The dispatchers tell us where to go,” Lee said.
The mysterious complainers could cost the classical orchestra its permit for playing in the public space while police consider the impact of their tunes. The orchestra already canceled last week’s concert for fear of another ticket.
Organizer Howard Wong co-chair of the coalition A Better Chinatown Tomorrow---helps book the events that have gone on since May 2009.
“They’re not making money off this,” Wong said. “They’re just there to enhance cultural ambience.”
He said he has welcomed a conversation with whoever is irked by the sound, and at the same time tried to quiet the orchestra down by restricting amplifiers…”
The whole incident seems very odd to me, since the intersection of Broadway and Columbus is a very busy and noisy area. Four way of heavy traffic flows which includes the occasion car horns and the shrieking tires; MUNI buses, tour buses, delivery trucks, fire trucks; this is the entrance to the nightclubs area---bright neon lights, gunshots several months ago, car chasing incidents, rowdy partygoers. What about the several months last year when at the very same intersection both Broadway and Columbus had underground street repairs, which included the development of the new public plaza in question…why the neighbors did not complaint about the constant jack-hammering? Maybe the truth is someone just doesn’t like Chinese music!
I can recall one weekend I encountered the orchestra setting up at the plaza, and the musicians were mainly string type instruments, not the brass trumpet or drums. They had microphones to amplify the string sound, sure not as loud as those drummers along Market Street or the full band playing by Fisherman’s Wharf begging for tourist’s charities. These were older musicians and I doubt they would play pass nightfall to the ensuing cold San Francisco night and the young rowdy partygoers crowd.
I loved what Lt. Franklin Lee quoted that he had no choice because lots of complaints and therefore he had to cite them for noise and made them move out of the plaza. I thought they had a permit and how was the noise level judged? I didn’t know that all patrol cars are equipped with a “noise measuring device,” since the Police Code listed “ambient” noise level for inside a residency cannot be over thirty-five dBA and outside cannot be over forty-five dBA. Or it could be the police officer doesn’t like Chinese music too!
The police officer has several choice; one-check out the situation and reports it as a flimsy incident. Second-have the dispatchers get the name and address of the complainer or complainers. Then have the police officers visited the residency and check to see if indeed the noise level is unbearable or not. Third-take the simple route---bust the orchestra, since Chinese musicians would not form a protest march to City Hall that the totalitarian police force is discriminating on Chinese music!
This incident reflect on what ‘C.W. Nevius’ wrote in the San Francisco Examiner June 10th entitled “Fight brews with bogeymen of North Beach” about the problems at Washington Square Park with homeless drunks and aggressive dog owners; how the local police responded. I remember the following quote very well:
“We cannot do selective enforcement,” said Lt. Nicole Greely of Central Station, “and that’s what the residents want. I can say we are out there…every day.”
I wholeheartedly think citing a cultural event is “selective enforcement.” The orchestra organizer claims next concert is scheduled at 6:30 PM Friday. That is the same weekend of the annual North Beach Festival to be held at Washington Square Park. I live over three blocks away from the park but I can hear the stage music and master of ceremonies intro very clearly at the house. Maybe I should call the police department to complaint about the noise level, since I know that is sure more that forty-five dBA, but I forgot police choice number four-no police response, because the noise offender(s) have political clout!
I forgot to mention several years ago a tenant living behind the St. Peter & Paul Church located across from the Washington Square Park, complained and even gone to court on the case of the hourly church bell chiming too loud! Maybe that person decided to start a new campaign against loud Chinese music!
