A woman “has called 911 ‘once or twice every night’ for the past 21 months to complain about noise coming from Neighbours, a gay dance club that has operated on Broadway since the early 1980s. Her calls began in June 2007, when she moved into a low-income, partially subsidized apartment building at East Pine Street and Broadway, on the same block as the dance club. The most recent complaint on record, made at 2 a.m. last Friday night, summoned the police.” [Slog]
Won’t You Be My Neighbours?
Help make sure LGBTQ+ stories are being told...
We can't rely on mainstream media to tell our stories. That's why we don't lock Queerty articles behind a paywall. Will you support our mission with a contribution today?
Cancel anytime · Proudly LGBTQ+ owned and operated
hardmannyc
You might want to put in the precis that this is Seattle.
thatguyfromboston
Ahhh Neighbours. I’ll never forget the time, I, twisted out of my gourd, I opened my eyes right into the eyes of Seattle’s finest and answered his query with “I’m totally fine officer, have a good night.” and then twirled my ass directly home and to bed.
Michael vdB
It is all too common of a story as of late. Condos or whatever are built around long established clubs and people fully move in knowing they will be living by this type of area. Soon the complaints start rolling in and everyone wants the club to move. I am sorry, I don’t care if it is a straight or gay club or a biker bar, if you move in knowing full well the area that you will be living in and the neighbours you will have…then live with it. If you move to a city then you are fully aware of the businesses that will surround you. You can always find someplace else to live.
Charles J. Mueller
It’s the same old bs. The straights move into the neighborhoods that the gays made something of and then they hijack it and want all the gays out because they don’t want their kiddies in the stroller having to see gay people.
Whatever happened to live and let live? Or was that just another fantasy like life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?
alan brickman
religious intrusion for sure!! she should be forced to move. They are doing the same thing in the Castro district. It fools no one…
jim
What’s up with Seattle? Where I live it’s against the law to call 911 for anything other than a life-threatening situation–this woman would’ve been arrested LONG ago in these parts. Noise complaints, in most places, are not considered life-threatening, and if ya call 911 you’re usually told to call the non-emergency number at your local precint, and are then cut off to clear the 911 line! So what’s up with the SPD? Can’t believe they’d respond to this bullshit once, let alone allow it 500 times.
Charles J. Mueller
@jim:
We are on the same page on this, Jim.
Steve
Most jurisdictions have a statute that makes it a crime to call 911 more than X number of times absent a real emergency. They enforce it when one person makes enough calls to be a nuisance. The penalties start with fines, and escalate into jail sentences. The reason, of course, is that the nuisance calls to 911 can interfere with receiving and responding to an actual emergency call.
Sebbe
Michael vdB- this is even worse since it is apparently low income subsidized housing and not some upscale condo. Not that those people should have a right either.
@Charles J. Mueller – Hope all is well, I know you said you were feeling under the weather the other day. This is actually a problem with straight clubs as well. People want to move into their expensive new condos (although in this case it is low income housing) and remake the neighborhood.
@jim- same in Boston, this woman should be billed and prosecuted.
Charles J. Mueller
@Sebbe: Hi Sebbe,
Feeling much better now. Thanks for inquiring. Hope you and yours are also well and happy.
On remaking of neighbourhoods, the greedy real estate people who stand to gain the most out of “gentrification”, exploit the hard work and money invested by the gays (Haight Ashbury in SF is a good example) drive the real estate prices and commercial rents up through the roof with the end result that everyone is driven out of the neighbourhood.
The very same thing happened on Christopher Street in the Village in NYC, where I operate a business. In 1965, Christopher was a dark, gloomy street with most of the commercial storefronts being used for storage. Little by little, the gays moved into the area because of the cheap rents and opened businesses that brought a resurgence of people back to what had been an abandoned area.
A few years back, the real estate moguls who, incidentally, would just love to bulldoze every building over 25 years old, including historic landmark buildings an put up wall-to-wall 50 story condos and Trump-type complexes, tried to gentrify Christopher.
It attempt flopped miserably and caused many of the gay businesses to leave and go to Chelsea, which is now the new, glitzy, high-priced, gay ghetto. What the fate of Christopher Street, is anyone’s guess.
Times change. 🙂
Sebbe
@Charles J. Mueller – I agree, I just wanted to add that it is happening in a lot of areas both gay and straight.
Charles J. Mueller
@Sebbe:
Very true.
bigjake75
Neighbors is a great place. I have to laugh at this lady who is getting some of her rent paid for by the taxpayers and she finds something to complain about…how bout taking away her subsidy and see if she shuts up. good grief…
Sebbe
@bigjake75 – agree
ggreen
This kind of thing is happening constantly in San Francisco. Instead of trying to work together to solve the problem usually the Bar/Club owners simply turn up the music and give the neighbors the finger. Who was there first is about .01 percent of the problem and zero percent of the solution. Old wood frame buildings with no insulation of any kind were not meant to house 15,000-watt sound systems. It turns the entire building into a giant sub-woofer. I don’t know anyone who thinks bars/clubs don’t have a right to be in business, however do they have the right to interfere with the peace and quiet of the surrounding neighborhood?
ArronC
My boyfriend and I opened a diversity club back in January and have been dealing with the same situation. The police keep saying the person who is calling is doing it anonymously, but we know who it is. Have already been to court, with pending results, but the problem persists. Funny thing is, the person didn’t complain when it was a strictly straight club before we moved in.