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Should there be building codes to control noise in restaurants?

mark handler

SAWHORSE
Joined
Oct 25, 2009
Messages
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Location
So. CA
Should there be building codes to control noise in restaurants?

Posted on 11/03/2011

http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/blog/2011/11/03/should-there-be-building-codes-to-control-noise-in-restaurants/

Richard Skaff has a new mission — to make restaurants quieter. As executive director of Designing Accessible Communities, he’s trying to help restaurants become more aware of building codes and Universal Design and he thinks he’s in a unique position to understand both sides of any debate.

Before an accident that left him paraplegic, he worked in restaurants, including managing the Franciscan on Fisherman’s Wharf. In the 1980s and 1990s, he was a chief building inspector for San Francisco and in 1998, under Willie Brown, he opened the Mayor’s Office on Disability as the deputy director .

That’s to say, he knows his building codes. He’s now retired, but through his nonprofit he has been at the forefront of pointing out non-compliant issues in restaurants, trying to work with owners to correct problems and avoid lawsuits. He’s now working with La Mar, the Crab House on Pier 39 and Yankee Pier and other Lark Creek group restaurants including the Tavern at Lark Creek and One Market. He dines at many restaurants and he says that when he finds problems he lets the restaurants know. In most cases the owners appreciate his efforts, but in one case with a Larkspur restaurant he had to file a lawsuit before the problems were corrected.

Noise is a new frontier. He recently approached the California Restaurant Association to help. “They could be a part of the solution, rather than fighting the solution,” he says.

Skaff is a longtime member of the State Architect’s Access Advisory Committee, but he’s had little luck in getting them to listen. He wrote in an e-mail, “I raised the issue and tried to get the Advisory Committee to agree that there was a need for the State Architect’s Office to develop a new building code that would require that there would be a sound level for public accommodations like restaurants.”

He also noted, “California recently adopted a new code section that will control the decibel level in school classrooms, recognizing that sound levels in classrooms affect the way students learn and teachers teach.”

He’s encouraged that they see the relationship between sound levels and learning. He’s hoping to extend that type of thinking to restaurants and other public businesses in an attempt to help the hearing-impaired and also workers who spend hours in those environments. His plan is to make certain areas of the restaurant quieter for those with hearing impairments, but he hasn’t yet proposed decibel levels or what percent of the interior would have to comply. He also realizes it’s an ongoing problem for staff who have to work c0ntinuously in very noisy places. In the future he hopes to work with unions to advocate a safer environment for workers.

In any regard, he vows that this isn’t the last time we’ll hear from him.
 
It's bad enough that some jurisdictions have building staff doing planning inspections (aka tree police), now you want them to be the noise police too?
 
Trying to comply with town's request for noise control led to the installation of the (wrong) foam at The Station nightclub that was ignited in that disasterous fire.

Unintended consequenses everywhere.
 
That would be a nightmare.

It's not as easy as calling for a particular STC between dwelling units or on a floor. Absorption, reflectance, surface angles, distances, ambient noise, point sources. Too many variables to either design to or enforce fairly. Do you require a sensor to sound an alarm when the maximum decibel level is hit? On a busy night, do you have someone go a round and shush the customers? Turn down the amps for the band? Make the restaurant add acoustic clouds or re-upholster all their furniture?
 
Would suggest that building codes focus on the construction of buildings and not on their operation. Noise could be regulated by OSHA but not by the building department
 
We need less pages not more. If a place is too noisy, I have the freedom, as a US citizen of making a choice not to come back to this place of business.
 
GCtony said:
We need less pages not more. If a place is too noisy, I have the freedom, as a US citizen of making a choice not to come back to this place of business.
If we/all of us allow something like this in to the body of the code then Freedom of Choice is one step closer to extiction.

Enough is never enough for some.
 
Coug Dad said:
It is interesting that he appears to be approaching it from an accessibility angle.
It's not that far of a stretch.

When you consider hearing aids and cochlear implants for those with profound hearing loss will have very little in the way of distinguishing any quality of sound if the levels of noise are too high.
 
Civility is not a construction related issue.

And lest we forget that many of us are also 'dirt police' with regard to stormwater management issues, etc, etc.
 
gbhammer said:
It's not that far of a stretch.When you consider hearing aids and cochlear implants for those with profound hearing loss will have very little in the way of distinguishing any quality of sound if the levels of noise are too high.
When I say it’s not that far of a stretch I am only referring to the ADA angle.

In no way shape or form do I believe that this should be stretched into the building code.
 
JBI;And lest we forget that many of us are also said:
This is a whole topic in and of it's self. Buffer strips, stream order acts, clean water act (save the swamps) all of it leaches money from the local gov's, developers, home owners, and mostly industry. That wasn't enough so ..... now we have the green movement (save the planet).
 
pmarx said:
This is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever read.
here ya go.

The 20 Most Ridiculous Examples of Federal Spending in 2010

by Mark on December 23, 2010 9:12 am

As our nation’s debt spirals out of control, businesses fail and individuals and families at every level tighten their belts, the government continues to dole out money — that’s your money, fellow taxpayers — on projects that are shouldn’t be funded with federal dollars. Or, frankly, funded at all.

Senator Tom Coburn has just put out a report, called Wastebook 2010, that documents 100 obscene examples of federal spending, including earmarks and grants. I’ve gone through the report to bring you what I consider the 20 most ridiculous in the list. These are not necessarily the most expensive, but where chosen because they are so absurdly stupid. It was difficult to trim it down to just 20, as they are all deserving of being in the list. But I think you’ll find these to be particularly angering.

1. Museum Where Neon Signs Go to Die – $1.8 Million

Did you ever wonder where the flashy and colorful signs in Las Vegas go when they die? The city of Las Vegas has received a $5.2 million federal grant to build the Neon Boneyard Park and Museum, including $1.8 million in 2010.

2. “Free” Grateful Dead Archive – $615,000

Grateful Dead chose a public institution to archive the band‘s memorabilia ―because the whole idea of it being public and free was important to them,‖ yet taxpayers are paying $615,000 to make the band‘s archives ― free and ―public. Where? In Santa Cruz, California, of course.

3. Poems in Zoos – $997,766

Our nation currently faces many challenges; a shortage of poetry in our nation‘s zoos, however, is rarely cited as one of them. A federal grant program has directed a million dollars from the public coffers to infuse zoos around the United States with snippets of poetry.

4. “Critter Crossing” – $150,000

The Monkton, Vermont Conservation Commission received $150,000 in federal grant money to build a critter crossing, to save the lives of thousands of migrating salamanders and other amphibians that would otherwise be slaughtered by vehicle traffic on a major roadway.

5. Internet Dating Study – $239,100

The National Science Foundation directed nearly a quarter million dollars to a Stanford University professor‘s study of how Americans use the Internet to find love.

6. Census Super Bowl Commercial Too Ironic to be Understood – $2.5 Million

U.S. taxpayers watched their money vanish quicker at the Super Bowl than those who bet on Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts to win the game. The U.S. Census Bureau lost a $2.5 million bet when its ―Snapshot of Americ ad tanked when it ran during a commercial break in the third quarter. Media critics agreed the multi-million dollar advertisement ranked as one of the worst during the Super Bowl.

7. Studying Male Prostitutes in Vietnam – $442,340

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) spent nearly $442,340 million to study the number of male 124 prostitutes in Vietnam and their social setting.

8. Zoo Receives Federal Funding to Develop Online Video Game, “Wolfquest‟ – $609,160

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded over $600,000 to the Minnesota Zoo to create a wolf avata video game called WolfQuest

9. Teaching South African Men How to Wash Their Genitalia – $823,200

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) secured a grant for $800,000 in stimulus funds to study the effects of a genital-washing program in Orange Farm, South Africa. Investigators will attempt to teach uncircumcised African men how to wash their genitals after having sex and hope doing so will prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.

10. Gold-Plated Potties in the Woods – $1.49 Million

The Denali National Park in Alaska recently built new restrooms at the Teklanika campground to replace chemical toilets with a sweet smelling toilet facility at a cost of nearly $1.5 million to taxpayers. The park will be spending more than $41,000 to replace each of the 36 toilets.

11. A Recession-Inspired Video Game – $137,530

If you have ever wondered what it would be like to fire someone, a new video game is available to help you get in on the fun! One Dartmouth professor received a federal grant to create a recession-inspired video game called Layoff, a puzzle-style game in which players fire as many people as they can as quickly as possible.

12. NSF Studies Political Talk Shows on Fox News and MSNBC – $66,638

Bill O‘Reilly and Rachel Maddow are not to blame for polarizing American politics, at least according to one researcher. The National Science Foundation (NSF) provided a $66,638 grant to Temple University political scientist Kevin Arceneaux to study the influence of political programming in mass media. He set out to test the claim that cable television shows allow the public to insulate themselves from opposing viewpoints—polarizing the electorate.

13. Alcohol, College Students, Foreign Countries, and Your Money – $41,380

Breaking news! College students studying abroad tend to drink more alcoholic beverages. Thanks to research funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, taxpayers now know study abroad students double the amount they drink while away.

14. Pedestrian Bridge Built Steps from Another Pedestrian Bridge – $260,000

The Puget Sound Regional Council (Washington state) spent $260,000 building a pedestrian bridge across the North Creek, just 20 paces from an existing sidewalk crossing the river. Part of a larger $1.1297 million stimulus grant to improve Bothell Trail, this project has been described by locals as embarrassing, not needed, and not the best place.

15. Banjo Player Honored in Museum – $1.5 Million

Taxpayers may not quite get the twang for their buck from this project. The North Carolina county hopes a $1.5 million federal grant for a museum honoring a local bluegrass singer will provide an economic *****.

16. Studying Wild Blue Monkey‟s Business – $168,766

The National Science Foundation awarded a $168,766 federal grant to Columbia University researchers to study the sexual behavior of wild blue monkeys by analyzing monkey feces in Africa.

17. NIH Promotes Awareness for Non-Existent Vaccine – $55,000

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) spent $55,000 to promote HIV Vaccine Awareness Day, even though no vaccine exists.

18. Renovating Pizzeria with New Vertical Garden Entry Way – $60,000

Taxpayers who visit Tony‘s Trattoria in Waterloo, Iowa may literally get to taste the results of a federal grant. The pizzeria received $60,000 in federal funding to improve the property‘s façade and give it a more inviting feel. Specifically, customers using the back entrance will now be greeted by a vertical garden, which will ―provide the restaurant herbs such as basil, cilantro and rosemary.

19. Storm Surge Signs Frighten Local Residents – $42,544

Some Texas residents are unhappy and with over $42,544433 in federal funds being allocated towards posting 400 frightening signs showing how high the storm surge would be in a major hurricane. The signs are intended to show how deep the water would be if there were a 25-foot storm surge.

20. City Gets Funding for “Slightly Different” Bike Signage – $900,000

Why have one bike sign when you can have two? Portland, Oregon spent $900,000 in federal stimulus funds on a new bike signage project even though the city already has similar bike signs, which it plans to leave up. The new signs—which include arrows, distance, and travel times to key destinations— have a slightly different design than existing ones.:banghd:banghd:banghd
 
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