Recently a Liquor Control inspector showed up at Jacque’s in Paia during one of their DJ sessions. Not to soak up some world music or do a little dancing, but to wave his noise meter around and check the decibel readings.
I mean, sure—liquor, noise—it’s all the same, right? Of course a liquor license would be tied to sound levels. The LC scrutinizes a club’s dance floor dimensions and location, and that’s a fire issue. So why not noise, too?
Noise comes up in the LC hearings more often than you’d think. It’ll be coming up again as the Liquor Commission begins holding hearings on removing the noise restrictions from Hana Hou Cafe in Haiku.
The cafe has been open four years and has apparently caused no complaints. Of course, it can’t have live music or stay open late either. It’s located in the Haiku Cannery where the old Lounge used to play rock music in the days before the LC packed decibel meters. When the Lounge closed, the LC moved in and turned the volume way down.
“I want the opportunity to expand my business,” owner Leslie Lai told the Commission during its April 13, 2005 hearing. “[But] I want to prove to the community that I would still be very considerate of the neighborhood.”
Though Commissioner Manuel Moniz, Jr. pointed out that he thought it was odd to perpetuate restrictions on one place when other nearby establishments could operate freely, the future of Hana Hou could go either way.
In early September, 2004, the Liquor Commission put the screws to Yorman’s by the Sea in Kihei after cranky Menehune Shores residents who live above the restaurant swarmed into the hearing chamber to denounce “the Count Basie rendition of ‘One More Time.’”
But earlier this year, at the Feb. 9 Commission hearing, the panel was far more gracious to Bamboo Chi in Wailea. Though a bunch of Wailea Community Association residents showed up to complain against allowing Bamboo Chi to hold live music past midnight, the Commission opted to stay out of the fight, saying nearby residents needed to work out their differences with the restaurant. MTW
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