It's Late, It's Loud

"I hear the noise and the music coming through the walls of my house.... The police department [is] not enforcing the city's noise ordinance. Sometimes officers will knock on my door at two in the morning to tell me that they don't think the noise is loud," said Kimber Allison, who lives near the corner of Brotherton Road and Centre City Parkway in south Escondido.

During the past two years, Allison has complained to the Escondido police department about the sounds of live music and drunken revelry emanating from nearby nightspot Sunset Lounge late into the night.

Despite her complaints and those from her neighbors about the noise, the city has done nothing to resolve the issue. Allison and those who live in the New Tradition residential development are accustomed to the city ignoring their concerns about noise in their neighborhood.

During a May 26 city council hearing, Allison and her neighbors lost their fight against a development project, a 5500-square-foot carwash complex called Talk of the Town and an adjoining restaurant, slated for the northwest corner of Centre City Parkway at its intersection with Brotherton Road, just feet from the entrance to her neighborhood. Allison and dozens of neighbors feel the project will bring noise and create a traffic safety hazard for the neighborhood. Up until the May 26 hearing, city councilmembers agreed that the project wasn't compatible with the surrounding neighborhood. That changed when the city council, except for Olga Diaz, changed their minds and approved a newly polished design for the carwash complex.

And as Allison anticipates the sounds of industrial blow dryers blasting into her home, she continues to fight the city over the noise coming from the nearby nightclub.

In the past year, Allison, who is battling her way through radiation cancer treatment, has filed over 50 noise complaints with the Escondido police department, signed numerous citations, called the manager of the business to try and reach a solution, spoke to city council, and still nothing has happened.

"[The city council] has lost sight of what they are supposed to be doing in terms of city government, and the police department doesn't know how to enforce the noise ordinance. It's like a circus over here. Something needs to be done, because calling the police isn't fixing the problem."

Allison is waiting to hear the results from an investigation conducted by the Alcohol Beverage Control to find out whether the business is in compliance with its liquor license.

Calls to the Escondido police department were not returned in time for publication.