By Darryl Ford
March 19, 2021
My thoughts have been swirling after I was present to witness a police officer harass the Boathouse Restaurant this past weekend. My wife and I live a few blocks away and walked down to the Boathouse to have dinner Friday night. The 2 person band was acoustic only, but in good humor as they apologized to the crowd for their limited repertoire as they had to help the Boathouse comply with noise regulations. Then a police officer arrived in his vehicle and went to the front of the restaurant, the front reception staff rushed the band off the stage, after a few minutes as the officer returned to his car a more senior manager came out to speak to him and eventually told the band to return to the stage. The officer may have been reluctantly following direction or exercising petty authority. I will never know what his motivation was, however he was wrong. The volume was reasonable to a little low and City Hall was dark and empty.
As I thought about that night for the last several days I realized the parallels to my time many (many) years ago as a Resident Advisor in a college dormitory. We RA’s had petty authority and rules about noise, residents could not be “too loud “ whatever that means. We could warn (just like the city leaders), fine (just like the city leaders), and even kick residents out of the dormitory ((just like the city leaders can run the Boathouse out of business). As 20 year olds managing 18 – 20 year olds packed like sardines in a cement block dormitory we of course had the sense not to do any of those things. We were there to create a community. If noise disrupted the floor on a quiet weekday or disturbed fellow residents in shared spaces we had them pipe down. If it was Friday or Saturday night we said let’s give it to midnight, (I understand 11:00 PM is the deadline downtown) just like we voted to as a community in the beginning of the year. Residents were encouraged to ask their neighbor first but we were glad to intervene always in the spirit of building a community on our floor.
I wonder what would happen if our City Leaders just called over to the Boathouse and asked them to turn it down as the music was disrupting their meeting? I wonder if the Boathouse could learn to see the lights on in the meeting room and turn down the music without being asked? I wonder if our City Leaders and the Boathouse management could be as mature as a bunch of teenage kids away from home for the first time?
Editor’s Note: After a 35-year career in Human Resources, Darryl Ford and his wife moved to Fernandina’s Historic District in 2018. Darryl now spends his time as a volunteer with the Coalition for the Homeless. We thank Darryl for his contribution to the Fernandina Observer.
The beginning of this opinion piece with the writer saying he observed a “police officer harass the Boathouse Restaurant” told me how this was going to go. Does the writer really believe the police officer just stopped on his own accord and decided to “harass” the restaurant? Since City Hall was “dark and empty” maybe the writer could consider that the complaint came from the Hampton Inn management across the street.The writer makes a good point about the need to find a compromise, but the rhetoric against a law enforcement officer is totally necessary.
This is just one big mess….that has gotten worse in the past few months. Maybe the residents downtown got use to no sounds at nighttime due to the almost YEAR LONG covid shutdown? But the town is now open….and music is a big part of the downtown culture. And as we all know though….there will always be people complaining about something. 10 pm on weekdays and 11pm on weekends should settle the problem. People can call the retail establishment, (like the Green Turtle Manager stated at the city meeting,) if there’s a problem….and they’ll take care of it, if possible. Loved the RA analogy from the writer though! And I don’t know why the previous commenter thinks the writer was using negative ‘rhetoric’ against law enforcement? I did not think so, at all.
Harass: “subject to aggressive pressure or intimidation”.
Is this what really happened?
Using the word “harass” when in fact this police officer was only responding to a call and doing his job IS using negative rhetoric.
Words do matter today more then ever and we should all be careful and honest about their impact in this social media warped world!
The underlying question that comes to mind is why the Boathouse has been targeted since it opened. There are other open air venues where music is being played, and at higher volumes than the Boathouse, yet they are not being cited. Maybe the Hampton can invest in heavier drapes on the windows on that side.
i had suggested 10 years ago & most recently what i felt was a reasonable & simple compromise to downtown noise/music controversy but doesn’t appear to be considered——-i had thought it would keep neighbors tolerant & friendly—–here it is again anyway———( a simple noise ordinance ) the three faces of noise decibels —–downtown Fernandina Beach is actually three different towns :Daytime–low decibels every day :Night time– ( Sunday–Wednesday ) –moderate decibels :Night time ( Thursday –Saturday –turn up the decibels! ) special occasions??
Some people just love to complain and only care about themselves. What about the revenue that helos the community. What sbout the revenue tbst kerps the ownet in business, they do have a substantial investment. What about all the patrons that just want to go out and enjoy an evening out. If you want money from tourism you need to make some sacrifices. Otherwise don’t advertise for tourists and then you will have a very quiet downtown and higher taxes.