This was posted by “Andre” earlier today, in one massive block of text on the Naperville Sun’s Naperville Potluck blog comments. I added the paragraph breaks because my “enter” key is fully functional and I decided I’d give him a hand.
“While I respect that Eli has an opinion and the right to some reasonable amount of noise that he should have to deal with, I think he is a little unrealistic in his expectations. Naperville has become somewhat of the city away from the city. Hundreds of people pour into downtown Naperville weekly to take part in, what most people consider, decent nightlife without having to go to Chicago. With all that money that people spend, comes some noise, some bad behavior, and some inconvenience.
Get a clue! You move into a “DOWNTOWN” area, you’re going to have to deal with noise and people. It’s common sense. Yes there is a noise ordinance and yes it applies to Rizzo’s as well as everyone else, but at what point does someone has to be smart enough to realize what they’re getting themselves into before they do it. I assume the convenience of living in downtown Naperville is a luxury for Eli. The walking distance to coffee shops, retail stores, restaurants, bars, etc… doesn’t come without a price.
One place not only got a citation, but pulled their outdoor music completely because of the stink that Eli put up. This is ridiculous. One person can take on the entire downtown marketplace and get these kind of results. Naperville has become more and more attractive to people from outside the area because of it’s small-town feel but yet energetic and lively personality. This is a step backwards for this town.
I say all this because I also live above a bar in downtown Naperville and I would never complain about the noise that I EXPECT to hear living in an area that is just about completely commercial. I hear more noise from the sirens of ambulances and fire trucks than I do from the bars. There are plenty of people who would love to have Eli’s apartment because of the location.
I say move Eli. Move to where you can hear the birds chirping and the water rippling, and all that jazz. Leave the downtown living to those who can handle it. Leave it to those who don’t mind getting what they pay for. Leave it to those who don’t mind the bustling energy of a new attitude in downtown Naperville.
This reminds me of the person who sued a major corporation over burning themselves with their hot coffee. Did they really want warm or cool coffee? Isn’t there a certain amount of responsibility taken on by that person to not spill on themselves? Welcome to 2007, my friend.
You’ve won your little battle, but the war is far from over. Your opinion will fall upon more deaf ears from the masses than you can imagine, but they will all have a word of advice for you….”Go West young man!”"
Andre,
The original blog post stated, “The point of this post isn’t so much to debate whether it’s loud downtown, but to consider the means by which Eli got the city’s attention.” …But, I’ll bite.
How am I unreasonable by expecting the existing laws which have been on the books for years to be enforced? That’s all I was trying to accomplish, and all I have accomplished. I understand that given the location of where I live, I’ll always have to put up with music- and that’s fine. I practically share a common wall with a dance floor that was built without a shred of soundproofing. It’s always going to be noisy, and there’s nothing I’ll ever be able to do about the thumping of sub woofers through my walls from around 10:00 PM until last call. That’s fine, I live with 100 feet, of course I’m always going to hear the music.
What’s not OK is when I go out jogging at night and can still clearly hear the live music blasting out the open front of Rizzo’s from Eagle and Jackson. As the bird flies, that’s a quarter of a mile away, 1,320 feet, over thirteen times louder than the noise ordinances allow. If the noise ordinances shouldn’t be enforced, what other laws also shouldn’t be enforced? Should the police look the other way when drunk drivers are swerving all over the roads because “Hey, it’s downtown Naperville, it’s energetic!”? Should they stop writing tickets for public urination in the alleys? I mean, when you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go, right?
The old woman from the McDonalds suit suffered third degree burns on her thighs and groin area, requiring a week’s stay in the hospital and multiple skin grafts. What did she originally want out of it? McDonalds to pay her $20,000 worth of uninsured medical bills. What did they offer? $800. When the case went to trial, she was awarded close to 3 million dollars, which was quickly overturned and reduced by 80%… I’m guessing you only remember the “some old woman got 3 million dollars for spilling coffee on herself” part like everyone else.
Even then, I’m still not seeing what this has to do with the Naperville noise ordinances- laws which not only are clearly defined, but have been in place for years. I also highly doubt my opinions will fall on deaf ears.
Throughout this whole experience and the explosion of comments I’ve received from people on both sides of the debate, I could count on one hand the number of people that didn’t agree with me who were able to articulate their thoughts in any kind of reasonable manner without resorting to sexual or similar slurs.
I encourage you, or anyone else who agrees with you to contact local government. A good place to start would be by emailing City Council at council@naperville.il.us . Keep in mind they represent you as much as they represent me. So get involved, write emails, start petitions, that’s the way to get things changed.
I responded to every negative YouTube comment no matter how derogatory and poorly spelled explaining in a very simple manner how to speak during the public forum of a City Council meeting. How many actually showed up? Zero. Surprising, huh?
I suspect most people would rather just cry about it, call me a jerk, or question my sexuality than… you know… actually try to accomplish something and get the laws changed. That requires way too much effort.
