The Fan District Association has implemented a patrol that will be out on Friday and Saturday nights watching and listening for "out-of-control" parties.  The offending addresses will be reported to the police and then recorded on their website for public access.

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Report Those Party Houses to the Police!

         

            

Councilman
Bill Pantele working with the Richmond Police Department’s Sector 313
is introducing a new program to identify and report properties which
cause disturbance in the neighborhood. The program know as Party House
ID is being introduced to the FDA membership to allow our members to
make sure that party houses are included in the list of address
maintained by the Richmond City Police Department. We also encourage
residents to call the police each and every time that your peace and
quietude is interrupted.

            


                  The Fall Party Patrol kicks off this weekend — we have obtained a special cellular telephone number courtesy of
                    Verizon Telephone’s wireless divisions.
              Party Patrol (804) 317-2840
                Download the Party Patrol Flier to share with your neighbors
                  Click Here to Fill out the Form.
                  See a Map of the Party House Locations
              Information about the City of Richmond Noise Ordinance Section 38-1 & 2 and
                Virginia State Code Sections 5.1-317 Maintaining common nuisances; penalties.
                for filing complaints through the
                magistrates office
              The Party Patrol is currently running on Friday and Saturday nights from 9:00 pm to 3:00 AM

         

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Good for them getting together to patrol and reporting the nuisances to the police!

I do, however, have an issue with the policy of publishing these "nuisance" addresses on a public access website. 
*Once a property is listed, is there a procedure for getting a property removed from the list once there is no more problem? 
*How will this list stigmatize an area?  (i.e., if I am a property owner a half a block removed, how will this public info affect my property value?)

I see this "solution" as a problem in itself.  We shall see.

11 Thoughts on ““Party houses” in the Fan”

  • Neat! If not effective for controlling noise and vandalism, it’ll at least give the VCU freshmen a great map to use on Friday nights!

  • From a post on Richmond City Watch (http://richmondcitywatch.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=121&start=2180) by Don Harrison:
    “Richmond’s war on young people continues. And guess who is leading the fight? None other than Virginia Performing Arts Foundation board member, and all-around gay nightclub opponent, Bill Pantele:”
    ***insert my post here***
    “Remember your last party? How would you like people from outside your block coming in and telling you how loud you can be? Forget the fact that the neighbors on your block might not care at all – or you might have been conscientious enough to invite them or to alert them of your plans beforehand.
    And somehow I think this “party patrol” will be quite selective in what they report, and who they choose to report. Whaddya think?
    Yes, I know there are problems with noise from wild parties in the Fan. But who gets to decide what is “noise” and what is not? Does anyone see anything vaguely fascist — or at the very least busybodish and meddling — about a group of citizens going around neighborhood by neighborhood reporting parties THEY think are out of control? Gosh, the Richmond police have nothing better to do on the weekends than respond to these people, right?
    And you’ve got to love folks who move near a college or university and then get upset because all of these KIDS are there messing up their lives with all of their “noise.”
    Thanks again to Pantele for showing us what he’s made of. How about a Virginia Performing Arts Foundation Patrol, Billy boy?”

  • It’s loathesome to even think that these “Party Patrols” are some of the Yuppie people I went and partied with at VCU 10-12 years ago. Thats who lives in the fan. people who go to VCU and never want to leave.
    I get the whole noise thing. I mean you get to a certain age and you want to settle down. Well why not do that why old and quite people go, the West End.
    Pantele has a hard on to stop any chance of VCU and the youth of today from having any kind of life style. (it’s rumoured he pushed the investigation of the Health Inspector at Nancy Raygun, though this is conjecture only.)
    Oh well since I have passed those days of drinking til I drop I don’t care as much, but it still leaves a dirty crick in the neck.

  • I remember when I was younger and you could walk with your buddies through Richmond and have a good time. Now if you walk through Richmond you need a bulletproof vest and a gun for protection. Yet these parties are what the city of Richmond finds to be the most “disturbing” aspect of living in the city. One day all of Richmond will be just like church hill and broad street. Its sad….but I guess that is their agenda.

  • Im not a fan of this. At all.
    This is way too easy to corrupt, and it can be used against certain people by neighbors who just happen to not like them. I understand noise controls, but there are already laws for that. We dont need a new one. Its a BS law that will either A) do no good, beyond what can already be done, and is only a political posturing move by a politician looking for votes or B) it will open a can of worms, restricting freedoms and allowing vendettas and personal problems to be fought by misuse of the legal system, not to mention the negative impacts on property surrounding a “party house”. There are far worse crimes to be handled than party problems and noise. If a party is out of hand, and its after 10, there are already noise ordinances in place, call it in, and then turn on some background noise and go to sleep. If it happens too often, work with your landlord to address the issue, in addition to using the legal system. This listing and patrolling is a bit too Orwellian.

  • The Fan Party Patrol is BACK!

    Normally, a title like that would indicate some sort of pub crawl, or party bus, or something fun like that. This time it is a follow up on ‘Party Houses’ in the Fan, a posting from this blog dated 9/13/06,

  • I just heard our neighbor’s landlord giving a porch-side lecture to his tenets at 1110 Floyd Ave. He was getting a lot of complaints from “old people” a couple of doors down. I was amazed: I’m 40, wake up at around 4 am every morning, have my bedroom window next to their porch and never had a problem with “noise” at all… but, then, if I DID have a problem with noise, I’d probably have moved OUT of the fan.
    Frankly, I like the sounds and vibe of the street and that’s why I live here.
    If residents of The Fan started posting their own list of complainers and whiners, I’m fairly certain that it would be easy enough to drive such people out: Turn up the car stereos near certain addresses! Posters hung on the trees outside, “Noise Complaints Originate Here! Honk if you believe they should move!” etc.
    Further, if a lease does not prohibit parties, then “reasonable enjoyment of a leased property” including noise up to certain hours is permissible and a landlord may not evict without proving that the noise actually violated a noise ordinance. The same goes with police: No proof? Complaint is not enough. If every complaint is challenged in court, it won’t be worth it for Richmond to pursue the matter.
    Complain about the noise of every public and civic function. File complaints about any loud gathering of politicians. Monitor Pantele’s house and complain any time you see more than 3 cars in his driveway.
    Lastly, if you want to protest something: If the television cameras are not there, the protest never happened.

  • I am beginning to really lose all faith and credibility in the FDA. It seems to me that instead of focusing their efforts on protecting the general public they are in-turn being influenced by corporate agenda and special interest. I take everything they say with a grain of salt.

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