City considers revoking amplified sound permits for 20th Street bars after residential complaints

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Heights residents are raising their voices in hopes of getting the volume turned down at the bars that line 20th Street.

Tarana Taylor said the area was mostly residential when she moved there in 2012, but it changed a few years ago when multiple bars began springing up.

"I didn't believe that somebody would open a bar in my backyard without asking me if I am okay about it," Taylor said.

Taylor and her neighbors say they can hear loud music at all hours of the night. Some say they've measured noise from their homes well above the 58 decibels allowed under the city's noise ordinance.

"Somebody's shaking your house with the drums, with the bass," Taylor said.

Several neighbors say they've resorted to brown noise machines to drown out the bass, but even that hasn't been foolproof.

"I will wear earplugs in addition to that brown noise machine in order to sleep. And then sometimes if one of those earplugs falls out during the middle of the night, I'll wake up," James Goldsmith said.

Councilwoman Abbie Kamin said residents' concerns aren't falling on deaf ears.

Kamin said HPD's loud noise unit has been issuing citations.

Officers in the unit are equipped with portable sound meters, but Kamin cautioned that police can't be everywhere.

"We're asking too much of them. It shouldn't be on HPD and law enforcement to have to deal with a business that is violating the rules over and over and over again," Kamin said.

Kamin said the city is trying to revoke amplified sound permits for two 20th Street bars.

Zach Truesdell, owner of Blvd Park and Heights Social, said his bars are equipped with their own sound meters to measure noise.

He said he's also planning on building a higher fence behind Heights Social to reduce noise.

"Taller and multi-layered fences would make a world of difference," neighbor Niko Letsos said.

A manager at Drift, another bar neighbors have complained about, said the bar has complied with the city's noise ordinance and that it's neighboring bars that are the problem.

Wherever the noise comes from, neighbors say they just want it to stop.

"Does bass really help you sell drinks? Bass that loud where people can't hear one another during a conversation? Is that really what your customers are looking for?" Letsos said.

The maximum penalty for violating the city's noise ordinance is a $2,000 fine. An amplified sound permit can be revoked if a business receives two or more citations within a three-year period.

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