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# Letter: Noise complaints point to enforcement, not Main Street businesses
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/112503-story/
- Published: 2003-11-25T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T03:16:18.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Main St, #archive-import

According to Santa Monica Police Department statistics, during a recent 16-month period, only 25 of the 306 complaints about noise were directed at specific businesses, and some of these were multiple calls on the same night: The 25 incidents were not even separate, discreet occurrences. Most of the other 281 complaints had to do with noisy people on the sidewalk, in the street, in the parking lots and alleys, disorderly conduct, anti-social behavior, loud car sound systems and the like. None of the 281 complaints would be addressed by the new ordinance. Should less than 25 incidents in 16 months — that might have already been illegal at 60 decibels — be the basis for lowering the allowed volume and changing measurement practices. Or is this more a matter of the need for increased and consistent enforcement?

When I attended a Towers Residents Association meeting in August, the overwhelming majority of complaints voiced by the residents concerned motorcycles on Neilsen Way, and the back-up beeping noise of delivery and garbage vehicles early in the morning. The general consensus was that Main Street businesses were not the problem: Lack of enforcement was the problem. (One resident did complain about one business. Unbeknownst to the resident, the business owner was sitting there, 10 feet away. He asked, “Did you ever call me about it?” When the resident replied no, the merchant gave the resident his cell number and promised to look into it and take care of it. By all accounts, this has occurred, without additional regulation.) The statistics regarding complaints, the frequently voiced concerns about lack of enforcement and the proposed lowering of allowed volume and shift of measurement practices, all combined, must lead one to ask: Why is this the solution to a problem that doesn’t appear to exist?

Put another way, without evidence that the 60 decibel limit has proven ineffective, why lower it to a limit that might hurt businesses and customers and at the same time fail to address most of the complaints?

An ordinance that poses a financial threat to popular businesses but does not focus on the bulk of the complaints received by the SMPD must, at minimum, be questioned.

Over the last several weeks, many Main Street merchants have asked their customers, especially customers from Ocean Park, to contact City Council members about this.

Generally people get upset about a government action and its consequences when it’s too late. This letter is, in part, an effort to educate the public, clarify the MSMA position, and to call upon the public to help preserve the historic commercial neighborhood in Ocean Park known as Main Street.

Please consider attending the meeting tonight at City Hall at 6:45 p.m.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 25, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/112503.pdf?ref=smdp.com)