Borough President Markowitz’s summer concert series in Asser Levy Park appears to be in violation of a new city law hastily passed last month to allow the performances as long as noise spillover from the band shell does not exceed 10 decibels above typical ambient sound.
At Thursday night’s Beach Boys-Monkees-Turtles concert, readings taken by this newspaper on a sound meter showed sound levels as high as 30 decibels above the norm, especially during the Monkees’ “Daydream Believer” and “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone.”
But those readings were inside the concert venue itself. On the streets nearby, the measurements diminished, though the needle did occasionally jump to 10 decibels above the norm, which is 60 dbs on average, according to our reading.
The noise readings suggest that opponents of the concerts — including congregants at two Sea Breeze Avenue synagogues — are correct in suggesting that the performances are a bit too noisy, at least under current city law.
And this week’s concert, plus last week’s quieter Neil Sedaka show, are nothing compared to the act that was scheduled to perform on July 29: George Thorogood and the Destroyers — a band notorious for blowing out eardrums with speakers that go up to 11.
The noise levels emanating from the Asser Levy Park band shell are crucial given the law signed by Mayor Bloomberg that amended city law to allow amplified music within 500 feet of a school or house of worship as long as the noise did not exceed 10 decibels above normal street levels.
That law was passed after members of the two synagogues — Temple Beth Abraham and the Sea Breeze Jewish Center — sued to block Markowitz’s proposed $64-million amphitheater, citing the 500-foot sound rule.
The noise law, though, is only a piece of the anti-amphitheater fight. Mostly, residents complain that a state-of-the-art facility would allow for far more concerts than the six or so that Markowitz stages every summer.
“We’re not opposed to a couple of shows,” said Al Turk, one of the plaintiffs in the suit. “But concerts all year? It will change the community!”
