RSS FeedDistrict To Get A Little Quieter Next Month!
Gallery Place/Penn Quarter residents have had a few rough encounters with amplified speech. But, the incidents arguably have not been as bad as residents in the blocks surrounding 8th & H St NorthEast!
For those who haven’t heard of it before, every weekend there is a group of “preachers” that stand on the corner of 8th & H St NE with an amplifier. A resident set up a blog, Quest for Quiet, documenting the group’s actions.
WTOP published an article on the issue and cited the loophole in DC law that allows the noise to continue: The District’s noise control act was amended in 2004 to include the phrase “a sound shall not be considered a noise disturbance if it is made during noncommercial public speaking during the daytime.” Daytime is defined as between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m.
The good news follows: Next month D.C. Council member-elect Tommy Wells, who will represent the neighborhood, plans to propose legislation that would close the loophole. Mayor-elect Adrian Fenty says he would sign a bill closing the loophole if it doesn’t single out a specific group.
Link to Frozen Tropic’s post about this issue.
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Comments
I have been following the controvery over on 8th Street – the “preachers” are “Black Hebrews” – a faith that does not seem to be very respectful of other people. I am very hopeful that the laws are amended and that the District will also remain a haven of free speech (more likely under Fenty I believe than under Williams).
leroy thorpe use to stand out on rhode island avenue and 9th street with a bullhorn yelling about homosexuals!
Actually these same guys do preach in our area–they are at the 12th and G St Metrocenter entrance almost every Friday as work lets out. I wondered exactly who they were. I’ve admired their persistence, but not their message.
This is answering lots of questions about those guys I always see at the Metro Center entrance on Friday afternoons. Seems a lot like a white supremacy group, but black.
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honey we have our own preachers…sunday afternooons at 5th & NY NW, jesus is amplified.