12 more months of noise
A Times EditorialPublished November 19, 2005
From a practical standpoint, the deal cut Thursday with Clear Channel Entertainment may be the best Hillsborough County residents could expect from its weak-kneed commission. Under the agreement, Clear Channel will build a sound-absorbing wall, reposition speakers and make other improvements to lower the volume at its amphitheater outside Tampa. In return, the county will give the company a year to comply with Hillsborough's noise limits. The deal is a firm rebuke to three commissioners - Ken Hagan, Jim Norman and Brian Blair - who voted only weeks ago to accept a weaker deal and contended the company would not sweeten the pot. While the vote to hold firm was a victory, the one-vote margin showed Clear Channel had room to wiggle out of strong, immediate enforcement of the noise rules.
While Clear Channel will build a temporary sound wall and lower some speakers in the next year, there was no reason to let the concert giant off the hook for 12 months. Clear Channel was aware of the county's noise pollution standards before it opened the amphitheater in 2004, and it has not acted in good faith since to address complaints by residents that the sound is excessive. The company even proposed a settlement that would have allowed concerts to be twice as loud as the ones already causing the problem. It is also worth remembering that the purpose of the wall is to keep bands from having to turn down the volume. Clear Channel even reserved to right to seek another waiver from the noise rules once the work is done.
Commissioner Kathy Castor, who cast the sole dissenting vote, was right to criticize the grace period. Residents near the venue face another concert season without relief from intolerable noise. The deal, at least, leaves the noise restrictions intact. It forces Clear Channel to build a barrier, and it strengthens the process for monitoring concerts in the future. The move also ties the commission's own credibility to Clear Channel. The two are no longer litigants, but partners. Elected officials, fearing the heat, might become more forceful with the company.
The new agreement is progress, but real success depends on whether Clear Channel wants to make a fresh start. This brings an end to the lawyering that could have gone on endlessly and puts the ball squarely in Clear Channel's court to begin work on a retrofit. If Clear Channel fails to reduce the noise, the county will see that settling with the company was a waste of time.