Clampdown in Carlsbad

Because of complaints by residents during the past eight months, the Carlsbad City Council is considering enacting an ordinance that would forbid local bars from emitting noise greater than 60 decibels after 10 p.m.

"There isn't a bar with or without entertainment that can meet those standards," says Bob Burke, owner of downtown Carlsbad's Coyote Bar and Grill, which offers live music every night. He says as soon as a bar door opens, the decibel level outside that bar goes up to 80.

Weekend lines of patrons awaiting entry at Tom Giblin's, Coyote, the Alley, Boar Cross'n, the Ocean House, and Squid Joe's prove that Carlsbad has become a live-music destination.

"If that ordinance goes through, it would decrease the value of all these businesses," says one insider who attended the public meetings that led up to the proposal. "I would say 90 percent of the neighbors who complained about people pissing and puking and screeching their tires as they drive off drunk were people who lived right next to Squid Joe's."

Other people close to the situation say that disturbances at Squid Joe's may have derailed plans for Flogging Molly accordion player Matt Hensley to buy the bar.