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COVER LETTER FOR
THE (LONDON ONTARIO CANADA)
170 KENT STEET PETITION TO CLOSE DOWN
THE LONDON TAP HOUSE BAR
FOR HEALTH AND HUMANITARIAN REASONS
(Personal names have been omitted from this report)

The harcopy Petition was signed by 135 People as of May 28th 2008
by 170 Kent St. and Area Residents and Suporters

170 Kent St. Web Petition:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/closethelondontaphousebar
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Read Addendum on Noise Technology Information that was requested to be added to
Agenda 17 page 147 - under article “a” for review by the Environment and Transportation
Committee and London City Council members:
http://newsrus.bravehost.com/addendum_noise_technology.html

See Photes of Buildings in Question
http://newsrus.bravehost.com/photos_170_155_kent_taps.html
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Letter of introduction by the 170 Kent St. Petition Committee Leader:

Update June 19th, 2007:

On Monday June 16th, one of our early Petition Committee members died. 
http://www.lfpress.com/perl-bin/publish.cgi?x=articles&p=236748&s=hottopics

The 170 Kent St. Petition Committee and the residents of 170 Kent St. wish her peaceful joy at last and all of us wish we could again convey our immense appreciation for the work and support she gave us in outlining the early goals of the Petition.

Her work in organizing the Tuesday Night Sing-along in the building's Community lounge and her joyful presence in providing piano accompaniment for the elderly residents of 170 Kent St. at these get-togethers was a weekly much looked forward to  source of delightful weekly entertainment for them to enjoy over the last year.

Her dear friendship to the 170 Kent Petiton Committee Leader and to many other  people in the building will be sorely missed.  The Petition Committee's hopes, prayers and best wishes go to her many friends and family to help them recover from this great loss.


==================
Update June 5th, 2008:

Recently, on Thursday May 29th after 1:00 AM, myself and another resident of 170 Kent St. called the London Police to put a charge against The London Tap House bar (Taps) because of the loud noise from the bar and screaming emitting from its patio after 1:00 AM.

The Police came and said that because the the Taps bar had been 'red flagged' by the Police C.O.R. unit and headed by officer "K" (see Petition cover letter) that they could not put a charge at that time. Me and my co-witness demanded twice that the charge be layed and the Police refused twice saying that they needed to refer the matter to officer "K" of the London C.O.R Police (who I and on behalf of the Petition Committee had formally requested to the the C.O.R Police Chief be removed from the case for a premises search without a warrant, for yelling at me and showing by his conduct that he was too biased in the bar's favor. ( see petition cover letter)

On Friday May 30th around 6:00 PM,  as I was leaving for a trip near Port Dover and was waiting for my ride, one of the Police officers from the past Thursday called me and said that they could come over in a few minutes and do a report on the Taps bar then. I told them that I had a ride coming for a chance to get away for the weekend (and for a welcome relief from the loud noise of the Taps bar for a couple of days) and that I would be away until Sunday and the Policeman said that I could write a report myself and I replied that I would write a report when I came back on Sunday and I would send a copy to my Ward Councillor and to the London Chief of Police and then the policeman said he had to go.

10 minutes later, as I was finishing packing, there was a ring from my entry buzzer and I answered and the Police were there and said they were ready to come up and do the report. I said that I was leaving and that I would meet them downstairs and I did not buzz them in. A few minutes later there was a knock on my door and there were the two Policemen that had refused to take the charge on Thursday.

I brought my backpack and went into the hallway and locked my door to go outside to wait for my ride and one of the Policemen said that they were ready to take the report for the charge and I said that I didn't have time to do it then and that my co-witness wasn't with me and that I didn't want to write a report by herself after all I had been through with the police regarding the Taps bar and that I would write the report when I got back on Sunday. The Policeman asked me "Does that mean you refuse the put the charge"? and I said "No, it means that I will write it on Sunday when I come back".

They followed me down the hallway to the elevator and kept asking me "Does that mean you refuse to put the charge"? and she said "No".  I got in the elevator and the same policeman kept asking me "does that mean you refuse to lay the charge and I kept saying "No".

We all rode the elevator down to the first floor and the police waited on me next to the first floor exit while I quickly stopped to talk to a friend and told her that the police were harrassing me and I said "the police want me to lay a charge right now and I don't have my co-witness and I have told them I can't do it now but they keep asking me if that means I refuse to lay the charge and I keep saying "No" - just so you know what is going on."

And there are cameras in the building and there were other witnesses in the first floor lounge and outside who saw me being followed around the front yard of the building while they kept asking me "So you refuse to make the charge". And then officer "K" showed up and I moved toward where some people were and officer "K" said "you don't want them mixed up in this do you"?

And I sat down on a bench because I was out of breath had chestpains and was feeling anxious and the police officer who kept asking me if I was refusing to make the charge sat on the bench next to mine and started to type on his small keyboard that he had with him and then I got up and said that seeing officer "K" had got me all upset and I had to call a lawyer and I went in my apartment and had to take my Nitro spray for my chestpains and a sedative and I called 911 and I asked to be transferred to the Ontario Provincial Police and then my entry buzzer rang and I remembered that all the OPP would do would be to transfer me back to the London City Police and told the policeperson on the line that I was OK and that I had to go.

And I went outside, got into my ride's vehicle and we drove away and he saw that I was upset and I said that I was just frazzled by all I had to put up with that week and it took me 20 minutes to calm down and I was upset about this all weekend until I thought I could talk to my ward councillor about it.

I called my Ward Councillor on Monday June 2nd and left a message with her secretary about what had happened with the Police on Friday May 29th and that I wasn't sure if I could still lay a charge. I called back on Tuesday and asked to speak to my ward councillor and spoke with her secretary and told her that I was all upset over what had happened on Friday and that I hadn't been able to go to cardiac rehab for the last two days because I feared for my life - because if they (the Police could just come into my building without me letting them in and then threatening me - they could be able to wait around for me somewhere and hurt me and there would be nothing I could do about it. 

And the secretary said she would speak with the Ward councillor. The ward councillor got back to me later that day and I started to tell her  what had heppened and she that the Police had said "something different" about what had happened on Friday and she told me that she couldn't be the go-between for me and the Police and that if I pursued the charge, the Taps bar lawyers would ask me in court why I had refused to put the charge and when I said I hadn't refused to put the charge; I didn't have my co-witness and I wasn't feeling well because of the police harrassment and especially after I saw officer "K" there and she said "all the court will care about is that the Police said that you had refused to take the charge".

And she said that with all the upset I was causing that it would make City Hall members feel pulled 'in all directions' and that it might hurt our Petition being taken seriously and then I suggested that she be a witness for us for the noise from the bar when were ready to amke a charege and I said I would cook her anyrhing she wanted and she sais she didn't eat that time of night  and I said that I didn't know what to do to entice her to come over and spend her time to be a witness for us and she said she didn't didn't need enticement and that she didn't eat that time of night and she said thatb after the city Hall meeting on June 9th, that she would come over late at night and witness us laying a charge. and then the call ended.

And then I sat down and started to cry -- for myself who had put up with deplorable Police harrassment, and especially for all those elderly people that myself and the Petition Committee had toiled and Petitioned and lobbied for the last two months, so that these poor old people could have some decent nights' sleep and in the end it probably would not make a bit of difference...

Welcome to London!

Sincerely,

the 170 Kent St. Petition Committee Leader.

==============
May 25th, update:

I have recently been asked by the media and some London City Hall Council members and why I didn't just leave and move before all this started; for this whole process started in the beginning of April has lasted almost 2 months from then.

Well, I did look into moving out of the building, but then was told when I called London Housing at the end of March there would be a up to a two year waiting list to move and I didn't think this whole process of asking, then pleading, then Petitioning then lobbying for some decent nights' of sleep would take this long.

In dealing with the London Police, it was like being at a computer sofware convention, I had attended with a friend of mine years ago;   (although with strongly added " The Departed " movie nuances to it)  they, the C.O.R police, always kept promising me and the seniors in the building, like the techies at that convention had,  that we would be "amazed about how great and wonderful the new changes would be when we finally got it!"  And like the software Techs who kept sending me emails, days, weeks and months and even now years later, the Police would give me glowing reports on how wonderful the bar owner was (which made me think that the Police must think he could walk on water - see reference below) and of the amazing and things the bar was going to be doing to make it better for us;  "how great it was going to be when we finally got it!"

So hope for the best kept myself, my fellow Petition Committee members and the elderly seniors of 170 Kent St. wishing for the best as we naively took the Police at their word two months ago; and so days turned into weeks and now into months...

Also, very little positive London media coverage was given to our plight:

The London Free Press reporter who did a story on the noise issue from the bar (and to whom I had emailed an almost complete version of the following cover letter to, but which included all the names of the people involved, and to whom I had specifically asked 4 times to not mention my name but to mention the "Petition Committee" as a whole as I feared violence to myself from youth gangs who frequent the bar;  started the article with my name and spent the rest of the article speculating about  the fact that I should be "careful about what you wished for"; to close down the noisy bar, and implied that if I did not I might get worse...

I can't imagine how that idiot could have ever imagined that with us, the residents of 170 kent St. supposedly living in a humane democratic country, how our situation could have gotten worse... unless he thought we were living in an old U.S.S.R cold war era KGB Police State, but hey, come to think of it....  (see paragraphs on officer "K" in the Petition cover letter)

After the May 26th City Hall's Environment and Transportation Committee (ETC) meeting where we were no 17 on their agenda list;  A-Channel London TV news showed 3 minutes on the facinating subject of the pros and cons of the life threatening London drive throughs which was followed by our story; a 20 second blip showing a tearful me;  pleading with the ETC to help the seniors in the building and a 1 second view of the 170 Kent St. and London Tap House buildings.

Also for your information; In April, we had pleaded with London's A-Channel TV News manager to film the noise from The London Tap House bar and we were told that all their cameras were being used for other news and we asked "don't you have an old camera there we could use to film the noise for ourselves and they said no, and they never agreed to film the terrible noise from the bar for us.

The only reporter who showed the most promise and interest in helping us put our sad story out there and seemed genuinely interested in helping our cause and who also asked the most intelligent questions was a promising and ethical seeming young reporter from Fanshawe College radio and a young lady reporter from the University of Western Ontario.

These and other young people should know that we were in their position once.  We spent our youth fighting for our and their equality and human rights;  for women's rights, against racism and against unjust wars.

In April, on a Sunday, there was a huge rally attended by hundreds of young people in London at Victoria Park, which is right across the street (Richmond) from us  and I was laying there as they woke me up on a Sunday at about 11:00 AM after being up most of the night because of the noise from the Taps bar and they were screaming "what do we want?" to which the crowd answered "peace!" and they chanted that for about an hour and all I could think of was that many of these young people would have probably been at the Taps bar the night before and I wondered if they would have ever cared if all the old people in this neighborhood would have wanted was "peace" from the noise of the bar? and the saddest thought about that question was that I wasn't sure if they would have cared...  and all I could do was lay there as tears streamed down my face and it was the saddest day of my life.

Now in the last years remaining in our lives we are scoffed aside and are being treated by the London Police and City Council as if we were worse than dogs...

If a kennel of 100 dogs was within 25 meters (27 yards) near a place with noise decibel levels in the 100's, like say, a subway line, there would be such a public outcry in London that masses of people, including most of City Hall officials in tow, I imagine, would move heaven and earth to rescue the dogs.  While the poor disabled and elderly people of 170 Kent St. have had to fight an uphill battle with no Police and hardly any Canadian and/or Government of Ontario Ministries or their agencies'  support, who all wrote us and said that they had to differ our case to our "municipal government', and who didn't help us as we called and pleaded for help and petitioned and lobbied for almost two years before our plight could finally be heard at London City Hall.

While this sordid mess was going on, the only thing that kept us, the Committee members going were the memories of all the old people who had fallen in our arms, weeping in gratitude and for the hope that this petition has given them and the thought of what would happen to all those poor people of 170 Kent St. if myself, or the Petition Committee gave up on them and did not given them a fighting chance to better their quality of life when we could...

Would these poor, elderly and disabled people still be kept cloistered away next year or for years to come, as if they were London's dirty secret and not be taken seriously by the London Police, who should have been their first line of defense but instead would continue to try everything in their power to discredit, ridicule or threaten them into submission to put up with that infernal noise, while all these poor folks had ever wanted was to live with humane dignity and respect and peaceful nights' of sleep that could have helped contribute to their sense of well being as they lived the last twilight years of their lives?

And after all this the Petition Committe still has hope and we are waiting to see if London City Hall Council members will indeed do the right and decent thing and do everything in their power to end this terrible elderly and disabled abuse by closing the London Tap House bar down... for health and humanitarian reasons.

London has a dynamic Task Force to End Woman Abuse.   When London gets a Task Force to either end Elder and Disabled Abuse, and if I am still alive to see it, I will be the first to witness and tell the world what disgusting abuse the people of 170 Kent St. has had to suffer.

Sincerely,

the 170 Kent St. Petition Committee Leader.
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=================
COVER LETTER FOR
THE 170 KENT STEET PETITION TO CLOSE DOWN THE LONDON TAP HOUSE BAR
FOR HEALTH AND HUMANITARIAN REASONS

To The  Environment and Transportation Committee, london City Council or to whom it concern;

Enclosed, you will find the 170 KENT STEET PETITION TO CLOSE DOWN THE LONDON TAP HOUSE BAR FOR HEALTH AND HUMANITARIAN REASONS  and of whose 134 names eithe from 170 Kent St, 155 Kent St and its staunchest supporters were collected by the 170 Kent St Petition Committee (Comp) and which is supported by the London and Middlesex Housing Corporation (London Housing)  - See attached letter of support by Ugo Felice, CEO/General Manager of London Housing--  and which including with this Petition Cover Letter is intended to make you aware of a dreadful case of abuse and Police neglect of this abuse that is happening in London Ontario and is being suffered by the residents and senior pensioners of 170 Kent St. most of whom who are disabled and already suffer from severe chronic pain and/or are men and women over 65, (we even a have lovely woman who just just celebrated her 100th birthday!) and which have suffered serious health problems over not getting enough health restorative sleep due to the loud noise and public disturbances emanating from "The London Tap House" (Taps) bar.

Taps is one of the loudest 'Techno' and "Rap" music bars in London that is “open seven days a week” and from which has emanated for almost two years very loud and disturbing music and 'base' noises that 'boom, boom' throughout the nights for at least four nights out of the average week; from Thursday to Sunday from 9:00 PM and with the noise getting deafening by 11:00 PM and carries on until 2:00 AM and thereafter suffer from the very upsetting noise of fights and public disturbance sometimes up to 4:00 AM.

Even though the Community Oriented Response Police (C.O.R.) and our area Ward Councillor, had wrongly told, the 170 Kent St. Petition leader that The London Tap House bar could not ever be closed down (see Public Meeting on April 30th below).  We the Petition signers are pleading with City Hall to take our dire health, human dignity and human rights concerns seriously and to either consider working or amending the existing noise By-law to protect the senior and disabled residents of 170 Kent St and to consider doing this in any of the following ways:

(a) Closing the bar, which would be our very first and most important choice because the tenants of 170 Kent St, 155 Kent St, and surrounding area will not ever trust the Taps bar owner or their managers ever again to seriously stop its loud music and/or disturbing base 'boom boom' noise abuse because even after all the meetings (see April 23rd and April 30th meetings) with the Taps bar owner and its management who made all kinds of promises about reducing their noise 'problem' and the tacit knowledge and support of this terrible noise abuse problem by the London Police C.O.R unit who for almost two years have been well aware of the terribly loud noise emanating from the Taps bar and who all along supported the bar and would come back and blame us, the disabled and elderly abused victims and where at the April 30th Public Meeting, where the C.O.R Police obsequiously raved about the Taps bar owner and his management and all the good work that they had done and 'would do over the next few months' to keep their bar noise down and where meanwhile the next evening, May 1st, the residents of 170 Kent St. were again treated to a barrage of loud noise from the bar that lasted until 2:00 AM -- And it wasn't until the Comp leader started to contact some media people on Friday morning May 2nd and that some of the media people started to call the Taps bar owner, out in Whistler B.C, that all of sudden, that Friday evening, the Taps bar had  finally found a "miracle cure" and volume control for its unbearably loud music and base 'boom boom' noise problem and it was the quietest (relatively speaking) Friday and Saturday night that the residents of 170 Kent St had ever enjoyed in almost two years.

(b) to have the 170 Kent St. property designated as a 'Quiet Zone' as listed in the 'Noise Control By-Law PW-4 Consolidated - October 22, 2007, under Part 1 - NOISES PROHIBITED - article 1.12 or give the 170 Kent residents 'special status' because of the building having such a large population of senior pensioners who are disabled and/or elderly (we even have an elderly woman in our building that is 100 years old)

(c)  Have the Environment and Transportation Committee issue and sign a formal letter of warning to the the owner of the Taps bar, Joey Gibbons and the Taps bar management and that copies be sent to London Housing and for them to be made aware that residents of 170 Kent St. can charge the Taps bar for an environmental noise violation that will be an enforceable offense if the the noise level emanating from Taps bar measured by a reliable decibel meter that also measures base noise output, (to be provided by City Council or London Housing funds) and is to be used to measure the noise emanating from the Taps bar at the 170 Kent St. property fence line, which is about 20 meters from the bar and that the noise level be kept under 75 decibels which is only 10 decibels less than the top limit of of 85 decibels set by the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety which states on their website that "People should wear a hearing protector if the noise or sound level at the workplace exceeds 85 decibels":  See the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety link;
http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/prevention/ppe/ear_prot.html

(The Comp leader herself, using a decibel meter on Thursday May 1st  found that the measured decibel noise levels emanating from the Taps bar, between the hours of 11:00 AM to 2:00 AM, from my 7th storey apartment at 170 Kent St. measured between 90 and 120 decibels.)

(d) London City Council might consider buying the Taps bar property and giving them their notice to vacate then rezone and sell the property as a parking lot, a warehouse or a licensed restaurant with a small patio that would jut out of the north facing side wall of the building and whose loudness of music on the patio would be limited to 70 decibels and whose hours of business would finish by 11:00 PM

(e) as a very last resort, have City Council give London Housing the funds needed to buy one of the many large derelict commercial properties off the quieter streets off Richmond or Wellington Road and tear down this commercial building and have the area rezoned residential and build a nice adult and seniors' (for people over 50) apartment building for for the residents of 170 Kent St who would want to move, because the two most important things to the seniors and disabled that live at 170 Kent St are (1) easy access to the University and Victoria hospitals and (2) a decent grocery store and these two things are what has kept the pitiful seniors and disabled people tethered to 170 Kent St. because it is only a 3 minute walk to Richmond St, and where they get very easy bus access to theses two most important amenities or 10 minute walk to the Dundas St. main London Transit artery for dozens of buses.

170 Kent St. is a 12-story, 216 unit London Housing subsidized seniors apartment complex and of which half the residents' apartments directly face Richmond St. and Taps bar which is located at 545.5 Richmond St. and which is less than 25 meters from the outside building wall of 170 Kent St. and which backs onto a parking lot space that is only 5 meters from the 170 Kent St. building wall.

Because of not getting enough quality and health restorative sleep some of the 170 St and area residents suffer from health problems and some are showing symptoms of sleep deprivation and Circadian or "Body" Clock changes from having been kept awake by the bar "on the graveyard shift" until past 3:00 or 4:00 AM , for 4 nights a week, over the last 2 years and so that these people cannot fall naturally asleep anymore before 3:00 or 4:00 AM even if they wanted to and it was night where the Tap House bar might be relatively quiet.  See Google results on "lack of sleep" or "sleep deprivation" symptoms: http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=lack+of+sleep+symptoms&btnG=Search&meta=

The Google search link results state that lack of quality, health restorative sleep prevents the body from producing the human growth hormone that helps build muscle mass, thicken skin and strengthen bones and the sleep deprived are at a much higher risk for developing breathing disorders, development or worsening of heart disease, hypertension and diabetes, of neurological or psychological problems including depression, fatigue, headaches, migraines, difficulty concentrating, slower reaction times and irritability which can result in strained social relationships, poor work performance, and increased accident rates.  ----  Also, a new study by diabetes researchers at the University of Chicago Medical Center in Dec. 31, 2007 shows that failing to sleep deeply for just three nights running of interrupted sleep effectively gave people in their 20s the glucose and insulin metabolisms of people three times their age:    http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=86183

Many of the seniors in the 170 Kent St. building are on low income, have been using makeshift earplugs to help them sleep during the noise and some have been getting ear infections from wearing the earplugs and the Comp leader herself cannot wear any more earplugs from too many ear infections and have had to sleep in their bathrooms and on the very loud nights because it is the farthest room away from the noise.  Also, the earplugs issue should be of concern because if there was a fire or disaster that cut the power to their or the building's fire alarms then many of the residents, especially including the elderly wouldn't be able to hear a call for help or rescue by firemen or Police.

Also some residents have had to miss early morning appointments for rehabilitation, blood work analysis, appointments with health specialist because they hadn't heard their clock alarms, because of the earplugs, or else were too exhausted to go to their rehabilitation appointments because of only getting a few hours sleep.

Over the last year, when the seniors from 170 Kent St. would call the bar late at night when it was particularly noisy and ask them to lower the volume of the noise/music, they were told by whomever answered the phone at the Tap House bar that the music volume would be lowered and then more often than not they wouldn't follow through and do it, or if they weren't so lucky, they would get an irate man on the line asking in a "Gestapo" like manner "what's your name?" and so to which of course the senior residents would be fearful that this man will call the police on them and would not want to call again.

It has taken the Comp leader a year of calling the Police and finally complaining to Our Ward Councilllor about the seriousness of the noise problem to finally have a couple of London Police Community Oriented Response (COR) unit policemen, (one of whom who we now fondly refer to as "officer KGB" but for ID purposes here will be referred to a officer "K"), phone at the beginning of March 08, and tell her a glowing report about how the bar owner  was one of the best bar owners downtown' and how he was “really interested' in 'working' with the 170 Kent St. residents in clearing the noise problem as "soon as possible" and meanwhile the seniors and sick people of of 170 Kent St. and area continued to be abused and tortured from the terribly loud bar noise even after April 30th Public Meeting and almost 3 months later.

(Click on the following link to London Police Community Oriented Response (COR) unit - and when you finish reading this cover letter, you can assess how they completely failed to "Enhance public safety and security thereby enhancing the quality of life" of the elderly and disabled people of 170 Kent St. and where they actually  contributed to the immense fear and anxiety of police recrimination against the people of 170 kent St. if they complained about the noise from the Taps bar.)
http://www.police.london.ca/AboutLPS/UD/UDCorU.htm

Also for over a month, at the suggestion of The Ontario Senior's Secretariat, The Comp leader has been talking to the Conflict Resolution Centre at the  Faculty of Law at the University Of Western Ontario (UWO) who have called the Taps bar management to try to reach the owner of the bar and try to have him and his management to commit in writing to lowering the loud music and especially the terribly disturbing 'base' noise emanating from the bar. And so far as of May 5th they have not received any information from them.

The Police C.O.R Unit had always maintained that 'hardly' anyone had called the Police to complain about the noise, but when there was a hand count to check this statement at the April 30th Public Meeting, almost half of the people there lifted their hands and whenever any residents including the Comp leader would call the Police over the last year about the Taps loud noise and public disturbances, they were told by the Police that 'its a bar' and that Police can't enforce noise bylaws if it concerns a bar and were told that we couldn't charge a bar for excessive noise.
   
"Control By-law PW- of Oct. 22, 2007 does not mention 'bars' specifically nor directly state that a bar is  exempt from the noise By-law. It does state however in Part 1 - Noises Prohibited subsection 1.5 (under section) Radio - Loud Speaker - Other - Annoying, Disturbing
   
    The sound or noise from or created by any radio or phonograph, public address system, sound equipment, loud speaker, or similar device or devices, or any musical or sound producing instrument of whatever kind, when such a device or instrument is played or operated in such a such a manner or at such volume:

    (a)  such that it is likely to disturb the inhabitants; or

    (b) in the case of a device or instrument located in any commercial building or structure, as to be plainly audible upon the public streets at a distance of 8 meters (25) feet from the building or structure in which such device or instrument is located, is prohibited.

At the April 30th Public Meeting when the above noise bylaw section was read to officer "K" , he responded 'I am not familiar with that' and when the Comp leader said 'It's the London Noise control By-law - PW-4 Consolidated - October 22, 2007' and lifted it up to show the document to all assembled and said 'you can download it of the City Hall website, (The Comp leader had been given her copy from Public Health Inspector Corey Tung of the Middlesex London Health Unit a couple of days earlier)  then someone close to the Comp leader said "If the f-ing Police don't know the By-laws, THAT really explains a lot why we have been up $h^t creek without a paddle..."

The Comp members didn't specifically read in the By-law where a 'bar' was exempted from playing their music as loud as they wanted to and torture the area residents until 4:00 AM and make them have symptoms of sleep deprivation, if they wanted to, including 170 Kent St, which demographically, could qualify as a retirement home with 108 residents whose majority are seniors, elderly and disabled people that directly faces the bar and who only live 25 meters away, unless it is under Part 2 - EXEMPTIONS -  article 2.1 that states, in part, that 'a lawful gathering, provided written permission of the Chief of Police has been obtained' and that a bar is considered such a lawful gathering and therefore they could be allowed to torture and deafen a over 100 people who only live 25 meters away

The seniors at 170 Kent St. have observed that the loud bar music/noise usually stops by 2:15 but then the college and university students come out of there at 2:30, drunk and all hyped up by the music and bring the party to the parking lot, which is only 5 meters  from the 170 Kent St. building, and where the bar patrons' yelling, screaming, fights and their car horns' blaring goes on until sometimes until 3:30 AM.  On Monday March 17 which was St. Patrick's day the noise didn't stop until 4:00 AM on Tuesday while the students waited for their taxis.

Also, the Public disturbance emanating from the Tap House bar after 2:00 AM is dreadful!  Residents of 170 Kent St. have seen young men stumble out of the Tap House, yelling and screaming and then have fights in the parking lot which is only 5 meters from the wall of the 170 Kent St. building

In February one fight in particular was pretty gruesome and quite disturbing as one young man was assaulting a young woman and yelling and screaming a whole slew of obscenities at her and accusing her of acting like a "prostitute" with some man she had just met at the "Tap House" bar. The Comp leader who witnessed this horror, called the police and it took them almost an hour before they showed up and by the then that couple, including the poor battered girl, had left the scene.

Just recently on Saturday night, April 26, at about midnight, there was a lot more yelling from the Taps patio for about an hour when a fight broke out right in the patio between a man and woman and he was hitting her and she was screaming at the top of her lungs and this carried on back and forth and after 10 or 15 minutes so finally someone from Taps escorted these two outside the patio and went they sat on the back steps of "Jack's" the bar next door and the fighting and screaming carried on for about 20 minutes and then the 'bouncers' from Jack's forced them to leave and meanwhile the Comp leader had called the Police when the screaming had started in Taps' patio it took them over 45 minutes to get there and even though when the Police showed up, the Tap's Patio was still too noisy with people yelling, the Police just walked through the parking lot, past the patio and left.

It has taken the Comp Leader a year of calling the police and finally talking to our ward Councillor and complaining to her about the seriousness of the noise problem to finally have a couple of London Police officers from the Police C.O.R unit to come over to my apartment the first time at around 7:00 PM on Saturday March 22 and after talking to me for some time about the noise problems from the bar.

The C.O.R officers came in, one of whom included officer "K", and they said they were sorry to wake me and I said “you should come back here at 2:00 AM, I'll be right awake by then” and the officers said they couldn't come then and I apologized to them for the feverish and shaky state I was in and said that I was fighting one of my colds I had suffered that past winter (even after having my flu shots in October) because my immune system was compromised from not getting enough quality sleep and from having to sleep in a cold and damp bathtub sometimes 4 nights a week because it was the farthest room and 'cubicle' away from the loud Taps bar noise.     

The C.O.R policemen then started to chitchat with the Comp Leader and said that her apartment had a nice view and she started to look out the window and then turned around and saw them starting to pick up her heart and other medications and cough syrup bottle and search through her papers for this Petition and contact info sheets for the different Ministries of Ontario that she thought might have been able to help our cause and that were piled around on my coffee and dining tables and she actually started to fear for her safety and of a more destructive apartment search, (or G-D forbid one of those cavity searches) the Comp  leader said "it was the creepiest encounter that I have ever experienced with anybody in my life and it was so shocking and surreal to me that for a moment, I had expected to see Rod Serling, holding a cigarette to walk in from the side and say 'You have now entered the Twilight Zone' ".

The most important thing you should know about the above stated incident of "search without a warrant", is that the Comp leader has insisted that she would be willing to take an independent lie detector test but never a police test obviously, to prove that she has been telling the truth about that incident -- ANYTIME, ANYPLACE;  would the London Police C.O.R officers involved in the incident be willing to do the same thing?

So to distract the officers from a possible cavity search, she showed them some flyers that listed the phone numbers of the Police and the Ward Councillor, if the noise from Taps bar got too loud, and the C.O.R. Police officer, after reading the flyer, asked "what are you looking to get out of all this" and she said "We want the loud noise permanently stopped or else we want the bar closed down"

The one officer "K" looked upset and angry and said  "There is nothing you or anybody can do to close down that bar" and to which the Comp Leader replied  "Well then leave, leave, get out of here, I need my sleep, because God knows in a couple of hours, when the noise starts, I'll need it" and then the other officer said "Why are you angry?" and she  replied "Are you stupid, all I've been telling you for the last 15 minutes is that I haven't had a good night's sleep in months and officer "K" said "We're leaving, we don't have to take this from her" And as they were leaving said, "We'll tell ----- (the Ward Councillor) that you just want to be part of the problem, not part of the solution" and to which she replied "That shop (the bar) must have greased your paws really good for you to have the gall to come over here, in my condition, and talk to me like this" 

Then, the Comp leader  started to feel chest pains and had to rush to the bathroom to throw up and after taking my cardiac Nitro sprays and completely resting for 20 minutes the chest pains finally stopped. Also you should know that the Comp Leader has had more angina attacks in the last year that she has had in the total 6 previous years combined which her cardiologist attributes a large part of to noise stress and to lack of quality sleep.

On Monday March 24th, the Comp leader called our Ward councillor to tell her about the Police  and she was crying because she said that the Police search without a warrant had made her feel scared and had made her feel like she was a criminal and the the Ward councillor said she would look into it.  When the ward councillor called back she said that the Police had said "something different" than what I had told her had happened in their visit with me and she said she would look into it further. (that was the last that I heard about that complaint as of this date - June 5th, 2008)

The Comp Leader had not meant to be disrespectful to the Police and she still admires the Firemen and Soldiers immensely, just not the London Police ever again! Not after they knew about and let this terrible abuse and neglect of the seniors and sick people of 170 Kent St carry on for almost two years, but she wasn't feeling well during this incident and she had heard too many statements of tragic pessimism and depressed apathy expressed from the seniors in the building about getting another Petition organized to try to make a difference and too many of them saying "we went through all this last year and it didn't change anything and this won't change anything either" and having heard mention too often of the popular beliefs in the building about the police and bar owner;  that the Police won't do anything about the noise from Taps bar because they are "deep in the bar's pocket” or that "the owner of the bar is related to someone so high up in City Hall that that official would never let any good come from the Petition against Taps. And so feeling still fearful and angry about the 'search without a warrant' incident and feeling a dreadful sense of helplessness, she says had "cracked", as they say, under pressure.

The second and very first time that any Police officers had ever came at the right time of night to witness the loud Taps bar noise for themselves was on March 29, 08' at about 1:00 AM. the Comp leader had again called the Police about the Taps bar noise and officer "K" and another officer showed up and after some chitchat officer Morton started to look at her windows and finally opened and stood outside her balcony for a couple of minutes and said that there indeed seemed to be 'some' noise from the bar but that there was also traffic noise and 'people' noise but hat the real problem seemed to be her double pane windows!
 
So judging by this ridiculous statement then, the elderly and disabled people in the surrounding  area are condemned to incredibly loud noise abuse because they have windows!   But then like last year, what will we have to tell the poor seniors of the 170 Kent St. who can't afford air conditioning and will suffer in the sweltering 43.C temperature heat of this coming summer; “You have two choices: (1) choice between keeping your windows closed and possibly stifle to death or (2) open your windows and hear the noise 10 times worse?”

We, the residents of 170 Kent St. and area residents who have signed this Petition declare we are sick and tired of the the loud bar music and unbearably loud 'boom boom' noise rattling our windows and that the Taps bar has been a terrible and disturbing health nuisance for us for almost two years now and we call for the closure of the bar because we do not trust the bar owner to keep any more promises to stop the noise because he has already broken all his promises regarding reducing the loud noise problem that he ever made last year....  and when we called to complain about he noise they never complied and we, the residents of 170 Kent St. will never again trust or respect the London police because they failed to be our first line of defense against a most terrible abuse against our poor and helpless disabled and elderly people.

You have to remember that the Police C.O.R unit had always maintained that not enough people had called from the area for them to take the noise complaint matter seriously, but when there was a hand count on the this very statement from "ofiicer KGB" at the April 30th public meeting, almost half of the people there raised their hands, but still, when the Police received the Petition with 18 paragraph Petition Cover Letter signed by 117 people in early April 08', which listed all the noise complaints and health concerns listed here and suffered by the seniors in the building,  and there has NEVER been one report taken from any of the residents of 170 Kent or formal investigation with a paper trail into the matter by the Police that was ever relayed to the 170 Kent St. Petition Committee.  All we ever got were glowing reports on Taps was 'working so hard' to fix their noise problem 'soon'.

There had been an 'informal' meeting on Wednesday April 23 2008, before the 'official' Public Meeting on April 30th between the Comp leader, a London Housing rep, the owner of Taps bar, who had flown down from Whistler B.C., two Taps managers and C.O.R. officer "K" and another officer. 

The Comp leader and a rep from London Housing got there first and the owner of of Taps bar, started with showing the ladies a picture of his young son and telling them that he was the one 'he had to feed' and about his wife having 'another baby on the way' and that his company had a great mission statement "where we want to get along with everybody and all our neighbors get along and are satisfied with us"  and then he said “we could fix the noise problem if the music we received for the bar wasn't already on disk and there is really nothing I can do to remove the loud base noise of the music” (and of which had been bothering the 170 Kent St and area residents the most).

The Comp leader asked "Are the music files on the disk in sound file and MP3 format?" -- to which the Taps owner looked surprised and cautiously replied 'yes'.  The Comp leader said "I used to DJ,  and I still mix music myself and can edit any sound or MP3 files -- I can cut and paste the end of the file to the beginning or completely remove all the 'bass' or make the thing sound like the Chipmunks if I want, so what you are telling me there, is a lot of something that starts with 'bull' ".  And to which the bar owner sheepishly replied 'well our machines are different'  and then the Police C.O.R unit officers arrived and started to talk about all the great things the bar had planned to do over the next few months to cut down on the noise from the bar and the Comp leader said “I can't have those old people living on your promises (they had already been disastrously doing that for almost two years)  and then she said to the Taps owner "I don't care if you have 20 kids or if you can walk on water, the most important thing to me are those old people over there and I have to present our Petition to City Hall or else I will be flayed alive!  Then one of the bar managers came out out a piece of something that looked like burnt foam insolation which they said would do wonders to cut down on the 'base noise'.

And then the Comp leader said “Well we'll see” and the conversation switched to the 170 Kent St.  residents and the Comp leader said that there were still noise complaints and that the people who face the building had been filling out health surveys that documented the health concerns these old people and which would be added to the Petition for City Hall.

Officer "K" then got very angry at the Comp leader and yelled  " Nothing will satisfy you will it? You will never stop! You will never stop!, What will it take to make you stop?" to which the Comp leader said "When I know that these old people can get decent nights' of sleep for a year and that I am guaranteed that they don't ever have to go through this disgusting travesty EVER AGAIN!

Oddly enough when the Comp leader mentioned this incident of ofiicer "K" yelling at her to the C.O.R Chief, on Tuesday May 6, he said “I think you'll find that version of the story has changed”. If it has changed its been under the pressure of the Police! -- I reiterate; I would be willing to take a lie detector test - but not a Police lie ditector test obviously, on my “version” of what officer "K" yelled at me; would the police officers, bar people, or anyone else there at the meeting that night be willing to do the same?

After things had calmed down, officer "K" and the taps Bar owner told the Comp leader “you should call or email the Taps bar on a regular basis to give him a report how 'one night's noise level is different than another night's noise level' and then he'd know how serious you are about working together with them  to try to fix their the noise problem.”

The Comp leader felt that this was just an insincere public relations attempt by the bar owner to try to make the bar look good, but she reluctantly agreed to this... because she know that if she didn't the C.O.R Police and the Taps bar owner would blame her for 'not really trying to communicate' with the bar owner and she felt repulsion in being indentured to a man that she had no respect for whatsoever -- because of all the noise abuse he had let heap on old and disabled people and knew in her heart of hearts any future noise 'reports' or complaints would not be taken seriously but would only be used as good "PR" for the bar. 

And she knew that even on the odd night when she could have tried to get some sleep, she wouldn't be able to because she would have to get up at 1:00 AM to 'measure' one nights loud noise level compared to another night's noise' and this would not stop the noise, because all  the calls to the bar and all the Police's obsequiousness to the Taps bar had never stopped the loud noise. (and as mentioned above, the only thing that EVER did lower the noise of taps bar was the media was contacted on May 1st and all of a sudden Taps  had found a "miracle cure" and and the volume control they had been searching forgoing on two years.)

At the Public Meeting on April 30th, when officer "K" started to tell the people assembled that the bar had done such great work over the last year to stop the noise, and after the roar of protest died down, the Comp leader said “We haven't seen or heard proof of this, we still have been getting worse noise than we over a year ago.” and to which the C.O.R  Police Chief  stepped forward and told her -- "It's time to look forward and not keep rehashing the past", and looking at the seniors in the crowd said " You are our Mothers and Fathers we are here to listen to you". (So the logical deduction from his ridiculous statement is: if his elderly and disabled mother or father had been abused, and forced to stay up until 4:00 AM - on 4 weekend nights a week, and had been neglected by the Police  when they they petitioned for their cause to be heard and the police had not come by to write any report about their plight whatsoever then according to this C.O.R Police Chief, what he would tell his mother and father would be "It's time to look forward and not keep rehashing the past")

And a few days before the Comp leader had been upset that very few of the seniors in the building had wanted to attend the Public Meeting because many of them had said “The police won't be there to look out for us, they will only be there to support the bar” and I was never as grateful to God for small favors as after hearing that opening statement by the Police Chief.

At that same meeting C.O.R  officer "K"  said that City Hall could indeed close down the bar if it changed the By-Law. Someone then asked the officer "K" if people could 'charge' the bar; and he replied 'It would only be a one time thing and only carry a fine of $200". to which The Ward Councillor  clarified that they could place as many charges as they needed to against the Taps bar for the noise and the Comp Leader, who had looked up the By-law fines, added that "after the third time, any subsequent fines could be as high as $2000." 

And so by then the public Meeting was breaking up but before it ended The Comp leader told the Taps managers to 'tell --------  (the Taps's bar owner)  that I will not be indentured to him to wake up out of my bathroom and out of a sound sleep, to 'measure' how bad one night's noise level is worse than another night's... in most of Canada and the world, 85 decibels is considered the safe upper limit if you are working in a heavy industrial plant and since we don't want to sleep in a factory,  tell --------  (the Taps's bar owner) that we will be measuring the decibel noise level from our property fence which (20 meters from the Taps building) and I don't care if you have to get a waitress or somebody there with a decibel meter asking themselves, 'is it 75 yet?" ... I don't care. If the noise level at the fence line is more than 75 decibels we will charge you."  and to which she, after the meeting, emailed the exact same message in an email to  the Taps bar owner, that she had earlier stated to the Taps bar managers and also included information about the London By-Law noise infraction fines.

Many dictatorships and third world countries use loud noise and sleep deprivation as a form of torture in their countries. 

I wonder what the poor senior residents of 170 Kent St. could have ever done to merit this disgusting abuse that they have to suffer at least 4 nights a week for almost 2 years, living next to The London Tap House Bar...

Thank you for taking the time to read about our Thank you for taking the time to read about our noise and public disturbance problems and becoming aware of this dreadful case of noise abuse perpetrated against a London tax payer, subsidized housing complex full of seniors, the elderly and disabled people. 

PLEASE, PLEASE, HELP US! 

This Petition and/or information about it has been sent to: our Ward Councillor, the Member of Parliament for London Ontario, The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, Ministry of Public Safely, The Ontario Office of the Ombudsman, Ministry of Health Promotion, Ontario Human Rights Commission, Canadian Human Rights Foundation and Amnesty International.  (because of the torture we felt we had been subjected to at the hands of the London Tap House bar.)

AND with much gratitude, we are thanking The Dispute Resolution Centre - Faculty of Law UWO, The Ontario Senior's Secretariat, The Ontario Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse, the Chairman of The Geriatric Mental Health Program – London Health Sciences and The Committee on Abuse and Neglect of the Elderly ( CANE ), all of whom, we think, tried their best to help us.

Sincerely,

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The "170 Kent St. Petition to Close Down The London Tap House Bar For Health And Humanitarian Reasons"  -- Committee leader.
Revised, for privacy, edition Dated May 29th, 2008
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 Email:  sacher123@mail.com
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