[Updated] Recently, OffBeat publisher Jan Ramsey wrote about Bacchanal being raided and fined for, among other things, having live music when it wasn’t zoned for live music. This week, New Orleans CityBusiness shed more light on the story. The implication of Richard A. Webster’s story “Newcomers Roil Traditionalists in New Orleans’ Bohemian Neighborhoods” (behind pay wall) is that a specific neighbor and not the neighborhood complained about noise at Bacchanal, and that the complaints may not have been motivated by concerns over noise at the Bywater wine store.
The city temporarily shut the bar down because of a clerical error on its occupational license that has since been fixed. When Bacchanal reopened three days later, its food service was suspended because of several health violations, though owner Chris Rudge said that service is expected to return in six to eight weeks.
Gone for good, however, is the live music.
Performances by some of New Orleans’ most notable jazz musicians have been a staple at the wine bar since it opened 10 years ago in a dilapidated section of Bywater.
Bacchanal did not have a permit for live music but was able to fly under the radar because neighbors embraced the establishment and never alerted the authorities. The city relies almost exclusively on citizen complaints to root out businesses that might be operating without the proper permits.
Since none of the long-time residents would ever dream of calling the police, Welch said, all eyes turned toward recent Massachusetts transplants Joe Cox and Cassandra Sutter who opened Hubba Hubba Tattoo next to Bacchanal in 2010.
Cox, who refused repeated interview requests, denied having anything to do with the raid on Bacchanal.
“What does that have to do with me? Can anyone see clearly on this issue?” Cox wrote in an email. “The city is cracking down everywhere. I am not so all-powerful that I can have the city do anything. The whole thing is silly.”
Documents obtained by CityBusiness through a public records request, however, confirm that Cox lodged numerous complaints with the city about live music at Bacchanal that resulted in the crackdown.
When confronted with the evidence via email, Cox did not respond.
The couple has proven to be a controversial addition to the neighborhood. Shortly after moving in, Cox attempted to shut down Noize Fest, an electronic music festival started six years ago that takes place on the last Sunday of Jazz Fest at Welch’s home in honor of Keith Moore, the son of Deacon John, who was murdered in 2007.
The story goes on to point out how other non-standard activities that are a part of the neighborhood’s charm have been shut down by neighbors from out of town:
For years, R Bar on Royal Street hosted a free crawfish boil every Friday. The long-standing tradition came to an end, however, when a couple who rented the apartment next door decided they didn’t like the crowds or noise that came with the boils, manager Bailey Smith said. Instead of taking their concerns to management to work out a compromise, they called the police.
“This was a big reason why people from out of town stopped by the bar. They met a bunch of locals and learned to eat crawfish or Louisiana-style boiled shrimp for the first time,” Smith said. “And now we can’t do it anymore.”
The couple moved out of New Orleans two months ago but R Bar, which did not have a permit to serve food, is still dealing with the fallout. The Alcohol Beverage Control Board warned Smith that if he continued to host the weekly boils, it could affect the bar’s liquor license.
“The Bywater and Marigny are heralded as these bohemian meccas, so people move here and then they don’t like the reality,” Smith said. “Well, guess what? The s— you read about is actually happening. Outsiders are welcome but not when they try to change our home into wherever they came from.”
Smith’s conclusion is the point of the CityBusiness story, but these examples highlight a bigger issue – particularly at Bacchanal. It may well be that Bacchanal’s live music program ended because of one person, but as long as the city continues to treat music as just another negative, non-standard use of property that is contrary to the neighborhood’s zoning regulations, venues like Bacchanal will be vulnerable. When I interviewed Mayor Mitch Landrieu earlier this year about exactly this sort of zoning-oriented complaint in a neighborhood, he said:
Music and culture are just like any other use. They can’t not be part of a much larger organizational structure of how our city works with itself. In the French Quarter right now with the noise ordinances, the challenge you have is that some of the Quarter is residential; some is commercial. Some is live music; some of it is not. They have to work out that consensus and once they do, then everybody’s got to follow the rules. Eventually, you get to a place where everyone can live in peace and harmony. People play where they’re supposed to play, and people sleep when they’re supposed to sleep. That’s the way it is supposed to work, but that takes effort, it takes strategy and it takes implementation.
This situation highlights the problem with his consensus-oriented approach. First, there was no discussion or negotiation; it sounds like live music is finished at Bacchanal. Secondly, what happens when consensus can’t be achieved? The Mayor’s strategy is built on the premise that all parties in a dispute of this kind have equally reasonable but conflicting points of view, but it’s hard to see what’s reasonable in the Bacchanal situation when the person filing complaints doesn’t live on the premises and is complaining about jazz music that takes place after the business is closed.
A more nuanced approach is necessary, one that allows for evaluations of zoning violations on a case-by-case basis. To make that determination, though, the city also needs to assert that music holds a privileged place in our community. It’s an essential part of our identity and appeal. It makes the city what it is and makes people want to come here. That doesn’t mean music should have a king’s X right to be anywhere, do anything and trump all other interests, but City Hall needs to assert that it is a civic good unlike others, and that there are occasions when music-oriented interests should dominate, even when zoning regulations say otherwise.
Update Sept. 12, 12:25 p.m.
Starting this afternoon, there are a series of public meetings to discuss zoning issues in neighborhoods around the city. Here’s the schedule:
Today, 5:30-8 p.m., for Planning District 6 (Gentilly), at Southern University at New Orleans’ gym, 6400 Press Drive.
Tuesday, 5:30-8 p.m., for Planning Districts 9, 10 and 11 (Eastern New Orleans), at Schaumburg School, 9501 Grant St.
Wednesday, 5:30-8 p.m., for Planning District 1 (CBD and French Quarter), at the Pan-American Life Building, 601 Poydras St., 11th floor.
Thursday, 5:30-8 p.m., for Planning Districts 12 and 13 (Algiers and English Turn), at the Behrman Center, 2529 Gen. Meyer Ave.
Sept. 19, 6-9 p.m., for Planning District 2 (Central City, Garden District and Irish Channel), at the Dryades YMCA, 2220 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd.
Sept. 20, 5:30-8 p.m., for Planning District 4 (Mid-City, Treme and Gert Town), at the Sojourner Truth Center, 2220 Lafitte St.
Sept. 21, 5:30-8 p.m., for Planning District 3 (Uptown and Carrollton), at the Jewish Community Center, 5342 St. Charles Ave.
Sept. 22, 5:30-8 p.m., for Planning District 7 (Marigny, Bywater and Desire), at Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, 2515 Franklin Ave.
Sept. 26, 5:30-8 p.m., for Planning District 5 (Lake Area and Parkview), at the Christopher Room, 6254 Vicksburg St.
Sept. 27, 5:30-8 p.m., for Planning District 8 (Lower 9th Ward), at Martin Luther King Charter School, 1617 Caffin St.
Of particular interest will be Wednesday’s concerning the French Quarter and the September 22 meeting regarding the Marigny and Bywater.
For more information, call the City Planning Commission at 504-658-7033 or email [email protected].
