June 15, 1998

To Councillor Lynne Kennedy:

In June (1997) I bought a townhouse at 2423 Scotia Street which is one of five townhouses in the "Metro Vista" complex situated in the block between Broadway and 8th Avenue. Until this Spring it was a very pleasant place to live. Now it has become a nightmare.

There is a cabaret known as The Viper Room on the corner of Broadway and Scotia, which was not operating when I bought this unit.

Since its opening, I have been subjected to the deep bass boom of a super powerful sound system which some nights causes the pictures on my walls to vibrate with a continual and torturous booming which makes sleep impossible. the coils in my mattress actually reverberate the bass is so strong. The Viper Room is not insulated for sound and the doors to the street are frequently propped open. The loud and repetitive noise is the first part of this problem for our small community.

The second part of the problem is the crowd which this "Viper Room" disco attracts. Many nights the parking places in front of my townhouse become "party central" for the crowd meeting to go to The Viper Room. These party goers sit in their cars with their car sound systems booming at maximum volume, they eat fast foods and litter the well-kept lawn, empty their ash trays, urinate in our recessed doorways and generally the area littered and soiled.

I have called the Police many times to complain about the noise and they are unable to respond adequately. The officers tell me they agree the volume is unreasonable but they do not have the power to ask The Viper Room to reduce the bass. Several nights I have had to go elsewhere to sleep because of the party on the sidewalk and the boom of The Viper Room disco.

I have called the City of Vancouver noise control office which sent someone out to do a reading one evening and she advised me that the sound emanating from the disco is within legal limits. There must be something seriously wrong with the legal limit for a repetitive booming sound.

I have spoken to the parking authority to try and have the parking spaces designated resident parking only - with no success.

cont’d

I feel like my property has plummeted in value from the quarter of a million dollars I paid for it to zero. What good is a house you can’t sleep in? My neighbours and myself have invested a great deal of money in this area to try and improve it, and we are not getting any support from the accessible powers at the City in trying to solve this problem.

I am tired of cleaning up after The Viper Room clientele every morning. I’m seriously sleep deprived and angry over the effect this situation is having on my health and well being.

Does anyone at City Hall have the power to make any kind of decision that might lead to a solution to this problem which is making life miserable for my neighbours and myself? We would be grateful for any assistance in returning our block to a reasonable and enjoyable neighbourhood in which to live.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Gordon Ball (sgd)

Property Owner and Resident

2434 Scotia Street

Vancouver, B.C.

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(c) 1998 City of Vancouver