Many of the watering holes in the Court and Union Street area are dilapidated, serve underage drinkers and commonly exceed capacity on busy nights. And for the most part, residents' defense has been to turn a blind eye and take their business elsewhere.
But over the past year, residents have focused their Court-Union bar scene/party town-angst toward Broney's Alumni Grill, 7 W. Carpenter St.'a bar that is hardly deserving of a slummy reputation.
The reason? A harmless, albeit sometimes noisy, porch.
Last year, the city forced owner John Wharton to slice the outdoor porch in half' it at first extended to the sidewalk on Carpenter Street'because the bar did not have the required amount of parking spots required per city code. Wharton reacted stubbornly at first, but eventually reached a compromise with the Zoning Board of Appeals, having spaces as far away as South Lancaster Street count toward Broney's required amount.
At first, the city's move to reprimand Broney's seemed justified. Keeping up on commercial zoning laws is imperative in a developing city like Athens. Yes, on the books, Broney's was in the wrong. But to enforce this on a place where the vast majority of its patrons arrive on foot implied that there were more underlying issues at hand.
A little more than a year later, those issues have come to surface. In last week's meeting, Nancy Bain, D-3rd ward, singled out Broney's when addressing concerns about enforcing noise violations in the city. Bain cited repeated noise complaints about Broney's, along with an air-conditioner at East Elementary School, 3 Wallace Dr., when proposing that noise ordinances should apply to bars and machine-generated sound, even during daytime hours.
If this proposal were to pass, council would show that it will coddle a few upset residents that make their voices heard while neglecting the greater good; which is why Council should vote down any proposed changes to the noise ordinance laws.
An entirely new wrinkle should not be added to the books, giving police more power in subjective disputes such as noise, because of a select group of cranky, sleep-deprived Athenians, who live near Broney's. And to back up this proposal citing repeated noise complaints over an air conditioner is preposterous. What's more important? Keeping the kids at East Elementary cool or a nearby resident's afternoon snooze?
Athens isn't the quiet little town buried among the Appalachian Mountains it used to be. As the university has continued its growth, so has the city. And with the city's growth has come a more metropolitan feel, which results in more noise being made. Residents who have voiced their complaints about Broney's noise should take into consideration that they live mere feet from the busiest street in the city, if not the county.
Peace and quiet all day and all night is impossible to have in a city like Athens. But if that is what certain residents want, they might want to weigh the pros and cons of calling uptown Athens home.
But in the meantime, these few need to stop making so much noise about the noise in this town. It's not going away any time soon.
17 Archives
Council should think of greater good before shushing bars and machine-generated racket
