A resident told the Newark City Council she is fed up with persistent loud music and drumming from a downtown venue that she said shakes windows and prevents residents from using porches or opening windows.

“...the excessive loud music, the beating of the drums, etcetera. Shaking our windows, pulsating our walls,” Jody Sullivan, 356 West Main Street, told the council during the citizen comment period. Sullivan said repeated warnings and short penalties have not stopped the noise and described delays in obtaining a decibel reading, saying, “when we call the, at least to get a decimal reading, it takes up to 2 hours.”

City officials who addressed the council urged residents to keep calling the police so incidents are recorded. A city official later told the council that officers who responded measured a decibel level “over 70,” and that officers were diverted mid-response because of a serious unrelated incident, limiting enforcement on that occasion.

Why it matters: sustained loud events can affect residents’ ability to use their homes and raise enforcement questions for noise ordinances. Speakers at the meeting said the city has noise legislation in place but that enforcement is the practical challenge.

Details from the meeting: Sullivan said the loud music prevents normal conversation at home, aggravates pets and forces residents to raise television volume. She said prior responses yielded only warnings or small penalties that did not deter repeat violations. A city official recounted the recent response in which officers measured sound levels above 70 decibels at a point described as nearly two football fields from the venue and then were called away to a separate emergency before completing enforcement.

No formal enforcement action or new council directive was recorded at the meeting; council members reiterated the instruction that residents should continue to call police so complaints are documented and can be pursued.

Provenance: The complaint and follow-up remarks were made during the citizen comment period; excerpts include Jody Sullivan’s testimony and a city official’s recounting of the decibel reading and response limitations.