Wonder if it was those condos next door doing the complaining. You think?

@1: Yes, it was the condos next door. I have that directly from someone who lives there (who was not one of the complainants, but was at board meetings where it was discussed).

Someone who lives in that building has told me there is one person in particular living there who has said it's her goal to close down CHAC. I don't recall any of the residents complaining when it was a rental building. I know Blacklight wasn't operating there until recently, but this comment was made to me months ago, not long after the conversion of the building was completed.

As much as I think CHAC is poorly managed right now, I have hopes that it will be able to turn things around, because it's a great space.

But, of course there have been other rave-type events prior to Blacklight moving in, so I imagine this kill-joy has been complaining about the noise since before their arrival.

I was given to understand Blacklight was being moved down to the Lower Level, presumably to minimize the noise issues; is that the case, or are they just pulling up stakes and vacating CHAC completely?

According to the p.r., they're leaving altogether.

Yeah, trying to address citizen complaints with compromise is rather dumb, because they're going to complain no matter what. They just don't want kids clubbing near their homes.

It reminds me of when I was a kid and my sister and I would watch TV late on the weekends after my parents turned in. We were quiet and we kept the TV down, and my mother would still come out squawking to turn the TV down.

The crowning moment came one night when we had the TV on mute, and she came out and told us to turn the TV down.

That's pretty much what happened here with blacklight. The kids were probably not all that disturbing, but their mere presence was more than irritating enough for the neighbors, and 'noise' always makes a convenient scapegoat, because honestly, how can you prove or disprove that noise is a nuisance to someone?

Well, the Db readings SHOULD be one way, Gomez, but you're point is taken.

Wonder what this fuddy-duddy thinks whenever the cops at East Precinct (one block away) or the fire station (two blocks away) hit their sirens in the middle of the night?

But of course, they can't complain about that, now can they?

#3:
Who is this person? Can you name names?

I don't know the name of the person who was being referenced, but it is a woman.

Yeah, Comte, but I don't think it's really about noise. I think it's about not liking kids, and about hate.

Here's the official statement that they sent out by email:

"Final Weekend at Blacklight -- Monny & Shawna to Retire!

Hi Everyone - This Friday and Saturday nights will be our final nights at CHAC. Monny & I have decided that we just can't buck City Hall (we have been getting noise/nuisance complaints since the day we opened the door), and neither CHAC nor Blacklight can afford to pay the exorbitant fines the City Council is contemplating for any infractions by the nightlife in this town. Our contract is up, so we are going out with a bang - June 29th is FabulousFetish Friday hosted by General Bek and DJ Paul Aleinikoff, and of course June 30th is our New Wave Dance Party with DJ Evan Blackstone. Friday we will be upstairs in the showroom, Saturday we will be downstairs in the lower level/lounge. Come on out and dance!"

So much for the city's appreciation of 'vibrant urban nightlife'.

If this club is closing specifically due to one person complaining and exorbitant fines from the city, then this needs to be a serious wake-up call to people who appreciate some night-life in this city. If one person shut down a club using this method, then what's to stop other dominoes from toppling over? The area around CHAC is mostly commercial. There are many more clubs closer to residential areas; that's just life in the big city. Maybe I'm seeing too much conspiracy in this, but I think this needs to be a bigger story.

it's because they wouldn't play the 80s song i kept requesting... worst 80s nite ever! who wants to go back?!

it's because they wouldn't play the 80s songs i kept requesting... worst 80s nite ever! who wants to go back?!

i'm sad to see the vogue/blacklight go
we're letting yuppies take over the city

@12 - I don't think one person is responsible for this, and I didn't mean to imply that the person I heard about from the Onyx was the THE complainant. But one person (or very likely a few people) in a building can encourage others to report nuisances, or make their neighbors believe that any noise at all is not tolerable now that they've paid a ton of money to live next to an existing venue that they should have checked out at night prior to purchase if it's that big of a deal.

Of course, if you want to get REALLY conspiracy-theory about it, you can wonder if any of the disgruntled groups leaving (or long gone) want to make things even tougher for the CHAC. I don't believe that's true, but as long as we're talking about conspiracies...