St Bess councillor bats for ‘silent disco’ parties
Published:Monday | June 17, 2024 | 12:08 AMAdrian Frater/Gleaner Writer
Western Bureau:
As the St Elizabeth Municipal Corporation (StEMC) continues to seek out a venue to host hassle-free, round-the-clock entertainment, which will not be impacted by the Noise Abatement Act, one councillor is calling for the embracing of the ‘silent disco’ concept.
At last Thursday’s monthly meeting of the StEMC, Councillor Christopher Williams of the Santa Cruz division said entertainment is an integral part of the economic life of the parish, and believes embracing concepts that falls within the legal framework of the Noise Abatement Act should be encouraged and entertained.
Williams wants the corporation to put its support behind the staging of ‘silent disco’ parties, where music is streamed via headphones and not through the traditional massive speaker boxes, which are known to create the noise nuisance, which many people find highly offensive.
“The silent disco is where you have these headphones…so you don’t have any sound system with speaker boxes set up, what you have is these headphones that patrons would put over their ears. So, persons without earphones would not hear what those with earphones are listening to, so no disturbance is caused,” said Williams.
Williams said that silent discos would eliminate the night noise concern, so those who want to party and have a good time could do so, while persons in the communities where the parties are being staged, would be able to sleep peacefully.
However, Williams wants these parties to be officially sanctioned and given special operating framework different from the traditional parties, which are governed by the provisions of the Noise Abatement Act, which dictates a specified cut-off time.
“With the silent disco, no disturbance will be caused because there will no speaker boxes blasting out music,” said Williams. “I have been to headphone parties, where at 2:00 a.m, the police show up to turn-off the event. That doesn’t make any sense at all, so I am basically saying that this is something that we should consider…look at it and make the necessary adjustments.”
“I believe our people will be very grateful to know that we are listening to them and trying to address some of their concerns,” added Williams, noting to the vendors would be able to generate an income.
Williams’ suggestion attracted widespread support from his colleague councillors.
“I think it is a very good suggestion and I really appreciate the recommendation,” Mayor Richard Solomon, said, noting, however, that he had a preference for having round-the-clock entertainment zones, similar to what has been approved for Kingston.
“As a Corporation that is something we could look at, maybe it can generate some additional revenue,” Solomon stated.
As it relates to the traditional parties with sound systems, Williams also wants the StEMC to consider adjusting the cut-off times for these events.
“Based on discussions and observations, the time that is specified in the law is basically not enough to allow persons to make a decent profit on their investment. I think this is something we should explore as it relates to extending the cut-off time by at least one hour,” said Williams.