[Vision2020] Noise Ordinance Amendment Update

[J Ford]

Mr, Clevenger -whomever you may be:

You state:

"Duke's analogy was police ticketing drivers if they break the law. 
Driving is not a guaranteed constitutional right.  You need to get a
drivers license in order to legally drive.  There are set rules and
speed limits you must follow and there is a potential for physically
hurting or killing someone if you are reckless.

Free
speech and the right to assembly, on the other hand, are guaranteed by
the First Amendment to our Constitution.  This is a civil liberty that
as Americans we should be proud of and defend against those who wish to
limit it."

My response:  

B U N K!

Blasting your music at 3am, fighting on the streets at the same hour, ripping your car through neighborhoods at the same hour, peeing and defecating on neighbor's property, "partying" are NOT - that's NOT!!!!! - guaranteed rights.  These "parties" and attendees are NOT practicing "free speech" (last I heard "Prince" and "Black Sabbath" do not live in Moscow) by blasting the so-called-music and waking everyone up in the area.  Being at a "party" is not assembly; it is what it is - a PARTY!  Those people are not gathered there for any political or social-affecting reason - they are there to get drunk, be loud, and they do a bang-up job of disturbing the entire area.

It MAY be only 17% of the population that is doing this "partying" - but it affects a whole lot more than 17% of the population when they are this disruptive and unruly.



J  :]


Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2007 14:32:11 -0700
From: garrettmc at verizon.net
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] Noise Ordinance Amendment Update

I attended the administrative meeting last Monday to talk with some city council members, the city attorney and assistant chief of police David Duke about the proposal.

The city council will be voting on this on November 5 at 7pm at city council chambers.

The noise ordinance as amended will allow police officers to issue a citation on the spot to anyone anywhere in Moscow at anytime for making noise the officer deems offensive.  There is no set noise limit.  This potentially will lead to violation of our First Amendment rights.

According to the police department, 17% of noise violations are repeat offenders (party houses), the supposed target of this amendment.  It is offensive that this council will violate our First Amendment rights to target these 17%.  Why should everybody in Moscow be subject to this draconian law?

If they really wanted to target these 17%, the modification would expand the 48 hour time period between
 warnings to one month and be within the times of 10 pm to 7am.  To me, that seems like the most logical and at least worth a try to see if it works, rather than changing the law so extremely.  It will also reduce the likelihood of a lawsuit and penalty against the city if the court finds it unconstitutional.

The proposal before the city council is not responsible legislation.

It is also counter intuitive to building community through neighborly relations.  To rely on the police to solve an issue that is best resolved through citizens rather than law enforcement will lead to the dissolution of community responsibility.  The police should approach noisy people after neighbor complaints, rather than proactively seeking out these noisy people.  That would be a waste of their time.

Duke's analogy was police ticketing drivers if they break the law.  Driving is not a guaranteed constitutional right.  You need to get a
 drivers license in order to legally drive.  There are set rules and speed limits you must follow and there is a potential for physically hurting or killing someone if you are reckless.

Free speech and the right to assembly, on the other hand, are guaranteed by the First Amendment to our Constitution.  This is a civil liberty that as Americans we should be proud of and defend against those who wish to limit it.

They also argued that you can fight this charge in court.  That is also bogus, because by that time you have already paid a penalty of time, hassle and potentially fees.

This is a bad law and will potentially be abused.  It also psychologically suppresses people's freedom of expression by fearing they will be ticketed for a misdemeanor, which is also an extreme charge and penalty (ranging from $159 to $359) for making a little bit of noise.

This law, the way I see it, is another attempt to water down our rights. 
 The Bush administration has seen fit to violate our 4th Amendment rights of unreasonable search and seizure through warrantless wiretaps, among other things.

The city council needs to hear from you.  Please take a moment to tell them to reject the amendment or to modify it to expand the time between warnings to one month, between the hours of 10 pm and 7 am (and complaints should be citizen driven, not police driven) rather than voting on it as is.  

Aaron Ament  aaronament at moscow.com
Bill Lambert  blambert at ci.moscow.id.us
Linda Pall  lpall at moscow.com;
John Weber  jweber at moscow.com
Tom Lamar  tlamar at moscow.com
Kit Crane  kcraine at moscow.id.usMayor Nancy Chaney  nchaney at ci.moscow.id.us

Thank you,

Garrett Clevenger
 
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