Downtown residents say Party on the Plaza is noise nuisance

YOUNGSTOWN

Residents at a downtown high-rise housing complex are complaining about the volume of live music at the nearby Party on the Plaza.

A petition signed by 38 residents at International Towers, a low-income apartment complex at 25 Market St., given to the police department and The Vindicator, asks that the city’s noise ordinance be enforced, particularly for Party on the Plaza events that occur twice a month during the summer.

But Police Chief Robin Lees questions the validity of the complaint.

“I have information that it’s an outgrowth of loud TV and stereo problems in the building,” he said. “Some tenants attached the Party on the Plaza to that noise issue. Party on the Plaza has been going on for years without any complaint from International Towers” residents.

Tenants say the chief is wrong.

Bobbie Desch, who signed the petition, said she’s had one issue with a loud television or stereo at International Towers in the six years she’s lived there.

“I dread Party on the Plaza; it drives me nuts,” she said. “They blast music too loud. I hate every minute of it during the summer. It keeps people up. It’s not about loud TVs and stereos. Party on the Plaza gets ridiculous.”

Mark Murphy, another International Towers resident who signed the petition, said, “Sleeping at night is tough” when there’s a Party on the Plaza event. “The noise is too loud. The noise is really bad and it’s not related to loud TVs and stereos.”

The petition reads, in part: “The Party on the Plaza events utilizes bands who amplify their sound. These events create loud and/or offensive noise that disturb or keep me awake as I reside in the immediate vicinity. The music played at these events results in loud and excessive noise which jeopardizes my health, welfare and degrades the quality of my life.”

The petition wants the city to enforce an ordinance that prohibits excessive noise after 11 p.m.

Read more on the issue in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.