By JOSEPH KELLARD
But for others, the problems remain ‹ or have shifted to their street.
Vitale took action after he met with some 80 Island Park and Long Beach residents on June 14 to discuss their concerns about his clubs. ³I walked into an ambush at that meeting,² Vitale said about the gathering, which took place at his Warehouse5 nightclub and was suggested by Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray and Town Councilwoman Angie Cullen. ³And at the end of the day, most of the residents I¹ve talked to are happy with the changes I¹ve made since then. Some of them can¹t thank me enough.²
Most residents complained about the loud music, particularly the throbbing mega-bass that is part of a new $10,000 sound system Vitale added to his establishments, which include the Bridgeview Yacht Club, Paddy McGee¹s, Coyote Grill and Warehouse5. The mega-bass not only disturbed Vitale¹s neighbors in Island Park, but kept some Long Beach residents awake in the wee hours of the morning.
Vitale has since made changes recommended by sound engineers ‹ like building a sound wall ‹ and has lowered the music¹s volume. ³We reduced the amount of bass by 75 percent and turned down the music at the other restaurants, too,² said Mark Zecher, Vitale¹s director of operations, outside a Town of Hempstead board meeting on June 19.
³He¹s definitely lowered the music and cut the bass out, like he said he was going to do,² said Anna D¹Amaro, a resident of nearby South California Place.
Diane Aldrich, who lives across a canal from D¹Amaro on North California Place, said the club¹s music made her bed vibrate, but since the meeting with Vitale, the noise has decreased dramatically.
Vitale said that the new speakers he installed were supposed to reduce the sound while dispersing it in a wider area within the clubs, but the system obviously backfired, he said. He has taken those speakers out and will reinstall the old sound system.
Patricia Egan, a Long Beach resident who opened the June 14 meeting by reading a list of grievances, said that since then she has not heard the booming music that had kept her and her family awake at night. ³I really haven¹t heard any noise from the nightclubs at all,² Egan said last week.
³But it¹s not that it¹s gone away,² she added. ³Sometimes there are variables and you¹re not going to hear it as much. The winds can change and that affects the noise, or you put the air conditioner on and maybe you won¹t hear it that night, either. But you never know when you go to bed if this is the night you¹re going to be woken up.²
Since the uproar over the new speaker system, Vitale said he has learned a lot about how sound travels, including how it carries over water, is affected by wind and bounces off neighboring buildings, and how music sometimes mixes with other noises like nearby trains.
John Gilmore, another Long Beach resident, and his wife continue to hear the noise from the Island Park bars. ³Where I am we¹re still getting the noise,² Gilmore said. ³I¹m sure the water and wind factor into it.²
In Island Park, Patty Ambrosia, a resident of Sunset Place off South California Place, is keeping a log of when she has had to call police about noises she continues to hear from the bars after 11 p.m., the time the town ordinance requires that noise be confined to one¹s property. Ambrosia said she has called police about four times since the June 14 meeting.
Vitale said that at about 1:30 a.m. one recent morning ‹ a time when his Warehouse5 club is most busy ‹ he responded to Ambrosia¹s call, went to her house with a sound meter he bought, and met with police officers outside, but said he heard no noise. Ambrosia, however, said otherwise, and added that she is through talking to patrolling police officers.
³I¹ve spoken to many policemen a thousand times over the years,² Ambrosia said. ³I¹ve gotten nowhere ... I want this stopped. The law ought to be enforced. It¹s a law.²
Taking it to the town and county
Ambrosia accompanied D¹Amaro, Aldrich and another neighbor, who declined to be identified, to the town board meeting on June 19, in an effort to better understand enforcement of town noise ordinances.
Murray, Councilman Anthony Santino (R-East Rockaway) and town attorney Joseph Ra explained that while the ordinances can be enforced by the town through summonses and by police, the municipality is powerless to enter a business to tell its owner to lower or turn off the music.
³I liken it to your next-door neighbor having a party and making too much noise, you don¹t call the town, you call the police,² Ra said. ³The police officer has to say, ŒYou¹re making too much noise, you¹re disturbing the peace, lower it.¹²
Ra and Santino explained that beyond issuing a number of summonses, the town can take legal steps against a business owner for repeatedly breaking noise-related codes, which may involve court proceedings. ³We can get a district court judge to do certain things to force the businessman to comply,² Santino said. ³But the police department has much more immediate power to enforce the law.²
Murray said that the town continues to send inspectors to the Barnum Isle clubs at the appropriate times to issue tickets for noise, but both she and Santino stressed that issues such as vandalism, trespassing and motorists driving drunk are strictly police matters, and that residents should take their complaints to the Nassau County Legislature ‹ especially to Denise Ford (R-Long Beach) and Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi.
Ambrosia said she has since spoken with Suozzi¹s office, and has received little or no help with enforcing noise laws from the police commissioner or 4th Precinct police.
But Richard McCarrick, commander of the 4th Precinct, said last week that since Memorial Day, in conjunction with town inspectors, police have issued eight court appearance tickets for noise violations at the Barnum Isle bars and 290 vehicle and traffic summonses. They also arrested four people and charged them with driving while intoxicated, and made 10 arrests for various other incidents in and around the nightclub area. They also issued 149 appearance tickets for violations of various local and town ordinances, and 160 parking summonses.
³We are taking appropriate actions, and we are following through on all noise complaints,² McCarrick said.
Vitale said he believes those who accuse police of failing to do enough to correct problems are ³grossly misrepresenting them,² and added that there are ³more than enough police in the area, and they are on top of everything, from crowd control, traffic and noise.²
Meanwhile, Ambrosia said that her next step would be to try to set up a meeting with Ford to address police enforcement of noise violations and criminal activity. Ford did not return phone calls for comment.
Vitale provides private security
In the interest of further assuaging neighbors¹ concerns, Vitale has hired private security guards to patrol South California Place on the nights when his clubs are open, in order to restrict parking to residents only on that and connecting streets. Vitale offered this service after residents who met with him said they were fed up with the unruly bar patrons parking on their streets, urinating on their property and otherwise disturbing the peace.
D¹Amaro made up parking passes for her fellow residents. ³We¹ve had no problems. Nothing. Zero,² she said. ³It¹s just working great. ... Vitale is trying to work with us. He really wants to accommodate us.²
D¹Amaro said she is writing to local and state officials to see if she can have her street officially blocked off to non-residents on summer club nights, but Murray told her that the town would have to consider the potential trickle-down effect from this.
In the meantime, traffic and other problems have moved across the canal to North California Place. Aldrich said that since South California Place has been shut down, the bar-goers who would park on that street are now lining up along her block. ³As groups of them walk down the block, besides the screaming and yelling, they are ripping out flowers and plantings, and a car¹s taillight was smashed,² Aldrich said.
In Aldrich¹s opinion, police are doing the minimum, ³and Mr. Vitale is picking up the slack,² she said, adding that she hopes that the club owner will extend his security to her block.
Vitale said that he is open to meeting with Aldrich and other North California residents see if he can also help them. He said he is working with the board of directors of the Yacht Club condominium complex next to his clubs, and developing a comprehensive plan to improve conditions in the area.
Vitale has given his phone number to some residents, including Egan and Ambrosia, inviting them to contact him when concerns arise. ³It turned out to be a good forum to get to know some of my neighbors,² he said about the meeting. ³A lot of good came out of it. ... They respect my right to do business, and I respect their right to their residential community.²
Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.
