Petition launched to end overnight noise in downtown Vancouver park

A petition is circulating to address overnight noise at a popular park in downtown Vancouver.

At the corner of Smithe Street and Richards Street, s??q?lxen?m ts’exwts’a´xwi7, also known as Rainbow Park, has become a hub for partygoers to and from the Granville Street Entertainment District.

Mark Drutz, a resident who lives directly across from the park, says he started the petition because the noise has become unbearable. While he says it has quieted down a little with the colder weather, April to October was a non-stop parade of noise beginning around 11 p.m.

“What happens at night is teenagers and adults take over the park and they play on all the equipment and as a result they’re screaming, shouting and hooting at all hours of the night,” he said.

Drutz says the worst of the noise came during an overnight rave this summer that featured colourful lights, dancing, tents and loud music.

He says he’s used to hearing loud music come from cars as they’re waiting for traffic lights to change, but unlike car speakers, this music didn’t fade into the night.

“It was quite a surprise…there were crowds and crowds of people dancing and just running around the park and having a great time,” he said.

Drutz launched the petition on Nov. 5 because he says he’s not getting anywhere by contacting the police or the Park Board.

He says when the rave happened, he called 9-1-1 and was promptly hung up on. Then, he tried calling the non-emergency line, but had difficulty reaching someone.

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This has become standard practice for him now, as he says the non-emergency line is unreachable most evenings and nights. The longest he’s waited to reach someone is 40 minutes before hanging up, he adds.

“When I asked the police about patrolling the park on a regular basis, they say they can only allocate resources based on the number of complaints they get…and they get those complaints from the non-emergency line, so it’s a catch-22, said Drutz.

Police have told him they can’t allocate resources to patrolling the park since they haven’t received enough complaints, but he says those complaints have to come through the non-emergency line.

In his petition, Drutz suggests closing the park off with a fence or hiring a security guard to patrol the park between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. in the summer months.

He adds there are facilities the guard can use in the case of inclement weather and there are 24-hour restaurants a block away for breaks, as needed.

Now, Drutz is circulating the petition to neighbouring stratas in hopes of inciting some change.

“I’m a city boy. I grew up in downtown Toronto and have lived 34 years in downtown Vancouver, so I know what city noise is,” he said.

“But this is out of the ordinary… and it’s especially hard to bear because it happens when it’s quietest at night.”

-With files from David Nadalini