Thousands gathered at the St. Pete Pier this weekend for We Belong Here, a two-day electronic music festival that has played in Miami and New York City.<\/p>\n
Some residents not in attendance to see ODESZA and Lane 8 offered a barbed review: They don\u2019t belong here unless they turn it down.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe constant, rhythmic, and physically jarring \u2018banging noise\u2019 from the event was distinctly, oppressively, and overwhelmingly audible inside my residence for the entire duration of the festival,\u201d said an email from Andrea Manson, who lives west of St. Petersburg High School in the Historic Kenwood neighborhood.<\/p>\n
At its Tampa Bay debut Saturday and Sunday, rotating DJs out on Spa Beach played melodic house and high-energy techno from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. The constant bass, however, carried over the water and became too much for some residents as far away as Gulfport. That included St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch.<\/p>\n
Complaints over the hours long music were all over Facebook, Nextdoor and in Welch\u2019s email inbox. Welch answered Manson\u2019s complaint by saying he agreed that the \u201cnoise from this weekend\u2019s music festival is a concern.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important that events respect the surrounding community,\u201d he replied Monday. He said he has asked staff to review the issue immediately and take appropriate action to address the sound levels and prevent a recurrence.<\/p>\n
In a statement, We Belong Here festival co-founder Charles Hochfelder said they worked with the city and the Pier throughout the event and immediately complied with requests. Festival organizers held a cleanup Tuesday beyond what they were obligated to do \u201cbecause we truly want to be responsible, long\u2011term partners in the places that host us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs with any inaugural event at a new venue, there\u2019s always room for us to listen, learn, and improve together,\u201d Hochfelder said. \u201cWe take neighbors\u2019 concerns seriously and are committed to working with Mayor Welch, city staff, and the Pier team to make sure We Belong Here remains a positive, respectful part of the St. Pete and broader Tampa Bay communities for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
A summary report from St. Petersburg police said the event permit allowed sound to be clearly audible up to 5,000 feet, just under one mile. Officers determined the event was \u201cin violation\u201d when the music was \u201cclearly audible at approximately 20,328 feet\u201d \u2014 almost four miles away \u2014 \u201csubstantially exceeding permitted expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n
City spokesperson Samantha Bequer wrote that due to noise concerns during the event, officials asked event organizers to lower the volume, which they did. St. Petersburg police, according to the summary, issued a written noise warning when complaints continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe recognize that despite the steps taken above, it\u2019s clear the scope and distance of the sound impact still exceeded reasonable community tolerance,\u201c Bequer wrote. She said the mayor is meeting with staff and Police Chief Tony Holloway this week to figure out how to balance \u201deconomic activity and event programming with the city\u2019s responsibility to protect quality of life in St. Petersburg.\u201d<\/p>\n
Welch\u2019s office initially posited that cloud cover may have helped carry the sound far. But Christianne Pearce, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service\u2019s Tampa Bay office, said the observation tower at Albert Whitted Airport right next to the Pier observed scattered clouds to clear skies at around 5,000 feet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know how much that would\u2019ve impacted anything,\u201d Pearce said.<\/p>\n
Police received 62 calls for service, the summary said. Police spokeswoman Yolanda Fernandez said there were no overdoses or deaths at the festival. That\u2019s a sharp contrast from Sunset Music Festival in Tampa over the 2016 Memorial Day weekend, when two died and another 57 went to the hospital. Then-Mayor Bob Buckhorn said the festival shouldn\u2019t return the following year, but it did.<\/p>\n
\u201cOverall, there were fewer issues at the event than at other large, permitted gatherings or events downtown,\u201d Fernandez wrote in an email.<\/p>\n
One of the noise complaints made to police came from Louise Kahle, who said her bungalow near Crescent Lake was rocking. She also emailed the mayor.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really, really loud. Really loud. You couldn\u2019t escape it,\u201d Kahle said. \u201cBut I belong here too, and I\u2019m trying to chill out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manson, a former city planner in Historic Kenwood, wrote her email Sunday afternoon to Welch and the City Council \u201cto register the strongest possible condemnation regarding the gross and unprecedented noise pollution generated by the \u2018We Belong Here\u2019 festival.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis abuse confirms a systemic failure within this administration and a pattern of favoring outsiders over the city\u2019s taxpaying residents,\u201c Manson wrote. \u201dIt is clear that the lack of oversight and control has resulted in what feels like a lawless city regarding quality-of-life issues, from out-of-control traffic to this egregious noise violation.”<\/p>\n
\u201cI hate to sound like an old lady,\u201d Manson told the Tampa Bay Times on Tuesday. \u201cThis is clearly a show for very young people. Most of St. Petersburg is not that young.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gulfport Mayor Karen Love said she stepped outside ofher home to determine where the sound was coming from. She thought it might\u2019ve been a neighbor or a passing car until she heard the breaks in between the bass in songs. She said she was going to reach out to Welch.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve never had an event like this. This was louder than the Grand Prix,\u201d Love said. \u201cI\u2019m just glad to know we can hope to expect this will not be like this again next year or they won\u2019t be invited back.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thousands gathered at the St. Pete Pier this weekend for We Belong Here, a two-day electronic music festival…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[46965,46966,2346,31686,46964,202,204,203,199,201,200,1526],"class_list":["post-85921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-andrea-manson","tag-charles-hochfelder","tag-ken-welch","tag-music-festival","tag-noise-complaints","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa-bay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}