Signs on a residential building in Mar Mikhael protest noise complaints. (Mohamad El Chamaa/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — The Beirut municipality has launched a new enforcement campaign to reduce noise nuisance from bars and nightclubs in Mar Mikhael, a residential area that is also known to be one of the city’s main nightlife hubs, a spokesperson for the Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud told L’Orient Today.
Here’s what we know:
• Following complaints from the neighborhood residents about loud music emanating from the neighborhood’s bars and pubs, the municipality has declared that operators are to be instructed to lower the noise level and completely turn off the music by 1 a.m.
• “This is not a new policy,” the spokesperson, George Nour, explained. “It is simply the implementation of the law… it's the time to call the stakeholders to come back to order.”
• The policy also includes obliging restaurants and bars to clear outdoor seating off of public sidewalks as well as stopping valet parking services from exploiting and monopolizing the parking spaces in the area, Nour added.
• “Valet parking [workers] have been abusing parking spots — illegally reserving the spots during the day to use them during the night,” Nour said.
• Nour told L’Orient Today that the municipality is collaborating with the Internal Security Forces to implement the governor’s policy, monitor any transgressions by valet parking services, and ensure that parking services have the license needed to operate in the area.
• The municipality will be punishing violators of the policy through “corrective actions, such as dissuasion, warning, and temporary closure,” he said.
• The municipality added that the main objective behind implementing this policy is to protect the residents, provide security to pedestrians, in particular by making public sidewalks available to them, and secure easy access for fire brigades and ambulances in the neighborhood.
• Nour also said that the municipality will be working toward reviving downtown Beirut, as it is a non-residential area and would serve as an “alternative” to turn to for entertainment instead of residential neighborhoods like Mar Mikhael. The municipality aims to “recreate the confidence in people as well as [business] operators” to re-activate that area, he said, adding that the municipality will also attempt to establish “a flexible relationship” between property landlords and operators.
• He added that this “short and medium term strategy” will entail requesting landlords to reduce rent fees in downtown Beirut.
• Beirut Central District is known for hosting mainly luxury businesses, retail and dining since it was rebuilt following the end of the Lebanese 1975-90 civil war. The Oct. 17,2019 uprising was mainly centered in this area where many businesses and luxury hotels were vandalized in protest of the worsening living conditions and political inaction. In addition to the vandalism, the destruction caused by the Beirut port blast in Aug. 2020 and Lebanon’s severe economic and financial crises has resulted in turning downtown Beirut into a “ghost town” — with deserted streets and closed restaurants and retail shops.