Monthly Archives: April 2014

Latest News Coverage

Press

On April 21, music site Dancing Astronaut picked up the Denver Post article from the same date; original article here. In the DP story, Morrison Mayor Sean Forey is quoted as saying: “You can get the craziest Metallica concert, and that’s not even close to what we’re talking about. This is something new and different than anything in the past.”

CBS Local News followed suit with New Noise is Bad Noise, also on Monday.

Then Tuesday, The Denver Post took a position, in an editorial supporting our concerns.  See our post on that here.

Interest at this new website grew through Wednesday and Thursday as we approached the meeting with Jeffco and Morrison; we posted our highest ever (so far) visits on Thursday. Reporters from The Denver Post, Fox 31 News, and CBS Local News attended the meeting, which we consider a good first step toward resolving the problem.

Just before the meeting, Fox News visited Morrison and posted this video and story.

Afterward, The Denver Post followed up with an article that covered how the sound travels. In it, Anthony Graves, Denver’s regional affairs director, is quoted: 

“If we do diminish those levels, do we risk having those revenues go away?” Graves said of the money Denver collects from shows held at the vaunted sandstone venue. 

CBS Local News also covered the story, including an interview of area resident Hadi Soetrisno.

If you haven’t been to a concert lately and want to get a feel for what they’re like, check out this photo gallery Slightly Stoopid posted of their non-EDM April 19 concert.

 

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“Turn it down” says The Denver Post

Press

On the heels of a Red Rocks noise story on Monday, Tuesday’s The Denver Post carried an editorial suggesting that Denver, Morrison, and Jeffco need to “get this right” or risk losing the congenial relationship that now exists between area residents and Red Rocks.

“No one should feel oppressed in their home by wall-shaking music,” Post editors wrote.

The online version is here, but it ran under a different headline.

Comparing Noise Restrictions

Regulations

To assess how the new restrictions at Red Rocks Amphitheatre stack up in comparison to other venues, our volunteers have tried to collect information on similar outdoor concert locations. Although not all these data are exactly comparable (see below), here’s a general overview of the situation:

redrockscomparables

Notes:

The decibel level and resulting effects depend on where the sound is measured. We were unable to obtain exact locations of measurements for most of these sites. Note that at Red Rocks and Fiddler’s Green, sound levels are measured at the front of house mix location, inside the venue. Most regulations (e.g., county and state limits) set levels at the receiving site, that is, your property boundary. Levels for Red Rocks are based on the assumption that sound levels will be 50 dB lower at the park boundary than they are in the Amphitheater itself.

However, the new restrictions place NO LIMIT on decibel level before midnight (or 1 AM weekends), and the end times cited above are not firm end times, but “curfews.” Beginning one half-hour after the curfew, penalties may be assessed for violations. Read the full restrictions here.

In comparison, at Fiddler’s Green:
All events are required to end at 10:45 pm, Mon-Thurs, and 11:00 pm Fri-Sun. with NO EXCEPTIONS. Official event time is kept on the Extech sound monitoring computer, and curfew is strictly enforced by the Tri-County Health Depart.

Rating system gets underway

Ratings

It looks like our new concert rating system really works for people! We plan to add a survey for each concert this season so each of you can provide direct feedback. Here are our results so far—watch the concert noise picture grow!

concertratings
Updated with preliminary results for recent concerts 5/5/14.

Results on this past weekend’s concerts are pretty consistent (click here if you’d like to add your views). We’ve heard some remarks that the light rain both evenings seemed to help dampen the noise. Please feel free to add comments at the bottom of the post or directly in the poll itself if you have other observations to share. Every post and page on this website provides an opportunity to leave comments, but be respectful.

This is the year we will really keep track—and we have a LOT of concerts to monitor. New ones have been added, so we’ll post an updated schedule soon. Please check here after each concert for a new poll and help our graph tell the story. Thanks, everyone!

Rate this concert

Ratings

After a busy spring weekend at Red Rocks, with an Easter Sunrise Service (packed house) sandwiched between two concerts, we have decided to introduce a poll where concerned citizens can provide feedback on the level of concert disturbance they experienced.

Saturday night concert goers were entertained by Slightly Stoopid. Neighbors, what did you think of this one?

Sunday night’s concert fell on “420,” so had the extra excitement of that event, in addition to Snoop Dogg.

Please let us know your general location.

Who to Call

How to help

Please join the Morrison area neighborhoods in getting our voices heard and our concerns addressed. We can no longer wait for someone else to get this changed. Every time you experience an unacceptable level of noise send an e-mail or call:

City of Denver:

  • Denver 311: Call 720-913-1311 to report City-related concerns
  • Denver Mayor Michael Hancock: Email milehighmayor@denvergov.org; Twitter @MayorHancock; Facebook (facebook.com/5280mayor); phone 720-913-9000.
  • Kent Rice, Director of Denver Arts and Venues, the city entity that manages the Amphitheatre: Email kent.rice@denvergov.org; Twitter @redrocksonline; phone 720-865-4202. Arts & Venues staff: http://artsandvenuesdenver.com/about/staff-directory/
  • Lauri Dannemiller, Manager of Denver Parks & Recreation (Red Rocks Park is a Denver Mountain Park): Email lauri.dannemiller@denvergov.org or parksandrecreation@denvergov.org; Twitter @denverparksrec. Use 311 number above to contact by phone.

Jefferson County:

  • Commissioner, District 1: Faye Griffin, commish1@jeffco.us; phone 303-271-8525.
  • Commissioner, District 2: Casey Tighe, commish2@jeffco.us; phone 303-271-8525. Twitter @CaseyTighe
  • Commissioner, District 3: Donald Rosier, commish3@jeffco.us; phone 303-271-8525. Twitter @DonaldRosier

Town of Morrison:

  • Copy any emails you send to clerk@town.morrison.co.us. Town office number is 303-697-8749.

Morrison letters to Denver

Comments

Entire letters are available at the links.

Morrison Mayor Early Auckland to Kent Rice, Manager of Arts & Venues, August 1, 2011

The Town’s elected officials have received complaints from residents of the Town concerning the apparently later hours and louder volumes of the concerts this season. The sense is that the concerts are going later than 12:30 a.m. or 1:00 a.m., and the music is being broadcast at a higher volume than in the past.

Morrison Mayor Earl Auckland to Kent Rice, Manager of Arts & Venues, August 14, 2013

In the time between my last letter and today however, the problem has grown significantly. The kind of music and sound now frequently heard at Red Rocks, the “techno sound” is different, and its impacts on the residents greater, than has been the case in the past. These concerts are also going later.