Banners hang from homes in Mar Mikhael over increasing noise pollution in the area's main street, known for its many bars and restaurants. (Credit: Mohamad El Chamaa)
BEIRUT — Beirut’s municipality announced Thursday that it shut down and red-taped sound equipment belonging to two bars in Mar Mikhael, Beirut, for failing to comply with the new campaign to enforce noise reduction in the neighborhood.
Here’s what we know:
• This decision comes a few days after the launch of Beirut municipality’s new campaign to reduce annoying noise arising from bars and nightclubs in Mar Mikhael, a residential area that is also known to be one of the city’s main nightlife hubs.
• 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.
• The municipality said that the Beirut governor Marwan Abboud “has delegated to the Beirut Guard the red taping of all music and sound equipment belonging to two tourist establishments,” Hogwarts and Tenno bars located on Armenia street in Mar Mikhael.
• Beirut’s municipality based its decision on the grounds of the companies’ non-compliance with the policy around lowering the noise volumes that was issued jointly by the Ministries of Interior and Tourism.
• The municipality had said that it will seek to punish violators of the policy through “corrective actions, such as dissuasion, warning, and temporary closure.”
• Hogwarts Bar and Tenno are “prohibited from operating any equipment emitting music, as long as their equipment is red taped,” but the municipality did not specify how long that will be. The bars’ owners are also prohibited from dismantling or removing the red tape off of their music equipment, otherwise they “would face prosecution.”
• Outraged by the loud music, some Mar Mikhail residents have been hanging banners on their balconies that demand an end to the disturbance in the residential area.
• The implementation 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, the governor’s spokesperson, George Nour told L’Orient Today.
• “Valet parking [workers] have been abusing parking spots — illegally reserving the spots during the day to use them during the night,” Nour said.