Bridge Toll, Noise Issues Postponed

Following its age old custom, last evening the Santa Rosa Island Authority glanced into the pot of simmering issues on Pensacola Beach and shoved it onto a back burner. No change in the noise ordinance for now. No increase in the bridge toll, for the time being.

O'Brien made the "easy" prediction there would be no toll increase because county pols are running for reelection. We say it was easy because it's the SRIA's way of life.

Survival of the Fitful

The Darwinian competition between the Fitful Sleeping Crabs and the Deaf Bar Flies continues on Pensacola Beach. It seems the two subspecies cannot survive together in the narrow ecological niche along the shores of Little Sabine Bay. One or the other is destined to become an endangered species.

The SRIA looks like it's about to weigh in on the side of the bar flies. Under a proposal that goes before the full board in June, SRIA general manager Buck Lee would change county law to allow them to enjoy unlimited musical noise until "midnight between Sunday and Wednesday, and 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday."

The crabs will just have to adapt. Get night jobs, maybe, or learn to live without sleep.

Mobile's WALA-TV has a news clip:

The Sound of Beach Music

Pensacola News Journal reporter Jamie Paige is relatively new, so perhaps he can be forgiven for not knowing that the brouhaha over loud bar music disturbing nearby Pensacola Beach residents is merely the latest iteration in a continuing war over noise that goes back over ten years.

Remember Banana Bob's on the banks of Little Sabine Bay? Back in the day, South Harbor condo unit owners and home owners across the bay were complaining about raucous music into the wee hours then, too. What they were saying then could have served as today's script:

Lys St. Aubin, 40, lives in South Harbor condominiums, in the beach's core business area. She runs her washing machine and clothes dryer at night to help buffer the live bands.

"It is very loud, and on the weekends they play until 2 a.m.," said St. Aubin. "You can feel vibrations when you're lying in bed. My nerves are fried. We can't sleep because of it."

The difference is, back then the Escambia County sheriff's substation trained a decibel meter on the problem, enforced the law, and the bands at Banana Bob's were made to quiet down. Today, the sheriff's office (with the apparent complicity of SRIA general manager Buck Lee) is refusing to enforce the law.

The reasons articulated in today's newspaper are laughable. According to reporter Paige:

The Sheriff's Office hasn't actively enforced the ordinance, which would require expensive decibel meters, training and certification to use them, said sheriff's Sgt. Ted Roy, who works at the beach substation.

In other words, Sgt. Roy is saying, 'we can't afford decibel meters and, anyway,we've grown too stupid and untrained to use them as we once did.'

This is patently ridiculous, of course. Is the sheriff's office going technologically backward? Someone there should google enforcing noise ordinances. It's a serious medical problem.

Indeed, someone is even inviting noise pollution stories for a planned book on the subject. South Harbor residents -- use those sleepless hours to send in your tales!

We suspect one of two things is really going on here. Either the sheriff's substation is refusing to enforce the law because beach businesses are more generous campaign contributors than residents, or someone in law enforcement is angling for the dough to attend a noise pollution conference.

We just happened to notice that the Acoustical Society of America is gathering in Paris, France the end of next month. Do you suppose beach residents pay enough in MSBU law enforcement fees to send a deputy there?

Annual Pensacola Arts Festival

It may be a little strong to say, as Pensacola promoters do, that "The Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival is one of the most highly regarded and popular arts festivals in America." After all, there are thousands of arts and craft fairs every year. There also seem to be thousands of self-appointed experts who aspire to grade such things. The GGAF doesn't even register with most of them, such as Art Daily, Art Fairs International, Kara Art, Festival Net, and so on... and on... and on.

But it is a first-class event. Without much doubt this coming weekend, at least, it's the best juried arts and crafts fair anywhere in the U.S.

Greg Lawler, who runs the"The Definitive Guide to the Best Juried Art & Craft Fairs in the United States" gives it a B+ -- and he's a tough grader.

We don't pretend to know anything about art festivals, but we know what we like. And we look forward to the Greater Gulf Coast Art Festival every year. Stop by if you can.