City Council weighing options on vehicular-noise ordinance

Councilman Joseph M. Butler Jr. is continuing to lobby fellow City Council members to pass an effective vehicular-noise ordinance, one that would enable police to ticket motorists for playing excessively loud music.

"I have received a tremendous amount of positive response on this whether it be through calls, or e-mails or people stopping me on the street," Mr. Butler said.

City Attorney Robert J. Slye provided a five-page proposal to the council outlining two options it can pursue if it chooses to push the legislation.

"If the City Council wishes to proceed to adopt the legislation based upon a doctrine of reasonableness, we recommend the Council consider which time, place and manner restrictions, under all circumstances, it would deem to be reasonable," the memo states.

The second option would require officers to carry decibel meters in their vehicles and to pull over vehicles emitting music louder than a designated level.

Mr. Butler said "reasonableness" was a better standard because the amount of noise being emitting from vehicles is hard to track.

Mr. Slye said he will need to research whether a local law can supersede an existing state law regulating noise.

"In other words, this letter does not address the question of whether the operation of vehicular audio amplification systems may be governed by local, rather than State, law," the memo states.

The legislation, it added, would be enforced as a civil matter and not through criminal proceedings.

Mr. Butler and Councilwoman Teresa R. Macaluso said they have received a number of calls and e-mails from residents asking that the council adopt the ordinance.

"We want to encourage folks to go downtown," Mr. Butler said, "and to have these people blasting their music — it's a disturbance."