Clamping down on club noise

From the NY Times:

Until early April, the Beatrice Inn was a busy nightclub in the basement of a residential building on quiet, cobbled West 12th Street in Manhattan. Since then, the club — a hangout for fashion, music and film insiders — has been silent: raided and shut down by the city, according to the official complaint, for overcrowding and “inadequate means of egress.” Shortly after, an angry message was posted on the front of the club: “The neighborhood wants this place closed permanently stay closed!!”

The closing followed a raft of community complaints dating 2007, said Jason Post, a spokesman for the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement, which was responsible for the raid.

They have won, for now: The club remains closed, Mr. Post said, and unaddressed problems include low ceilings, inadequate exits and staircases, and the lack of a sprinkler system and required permits. Mr. Piersanti estimated that such changes would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and city records show that the club owes $23,000 in fines and that the liquor license is up for renewal at the beginning of 2010.

Noise has come to dominate complaints to 311 since 2007, according to statistics on the NYC.gov Web site. “Last year 311 fielded over 300,000 noise complaints — the top complaint,” said John Feinblatt, the mayor’s criminal justice coordinator, when asked about relations between nightclubs and residents.