Bremerton, Washington-based free, all-ages venue Tiki House is on the virge of closure due to noise complaints. The drug- and alcohol-free venue sent us a note of explanation explaining the circumstances beyond the (potential) forced closure and what could help save the venue.
The sheriff recently paid a visit to the tiki house because someone made 3 complaints the other day in the span of 30 minutes. It was just me playing guitar, and not even loudly. Anyways, Evan was threatened with a misdemeanor if they have to come back because of a noise complaint. So today Jason and Evan went to talk to all the neighbors to try and reach a compromise. One neighbor was kind of hesitant, and we explained our plans to soundproof, or near soundproof, the garage so the noise would be cut down a bunch. He said he didn't think we could do it, but we're going to try.
Then they went to the neighbor above the Tiki House to talk to him. The man answered the door, and they said "Hey we live down the street and we wanted to talk to you." to which the man living there replied with, "You guys live at the Tiki House? That place is a shithole. I guess black people aren't the only people that can ruin a neighborhood." Everyone was definately surprised and pissed, but we were trying to reach a compromise so they continued to talk to him about why they were there. It was explained that we were trying to soundproof the garage to cut the noise down and they said we were just trying to reach a compromise. The man said he "didn't care and that i'm going to call the cops if I hear something I don't like." They left at that point.
This is seriously the most awful position we could be in. Kitsap is in danger of losing it's only free venue. A safe place where kids can go for free and hang out in a drug free place and just relax and have a good time. The fact a racist person is tearing down what we've all worked so hard to build is extremely aggravating and depressing. We can't let this happen and we have to make something work.
Anyone who supports the Tiki House, free shows, etc. NEEDS to write a letter to the mayor expressing their outrage that we can't put on the shows that we do. On May 3rd, there is a city council meeting at 8:30. We're going to have a pre-meeting meeting for everyone to meet at and discuss what's going on so we can go to the city council meeting and be somewhat organized. More info on that will be released as soon as Jason and I figure this out. We might be looking into organizing and figuring out a free, non-profit venue similar to Seattle's Vera Project.
If everyone writes and tells them how important they feel it is to have something like that, a drug-free, alcohol free, etc. place to go every weekend and not have to beg their parents for money, I think we can actually make this happen. Post this in your LJ's, LJ communities your in, ANYWHERE.
The mayor's contact info is:
Mayor Cary Bozeman?(360) 473-5266
345 6th Street, Suite 600, Bremerton WA 98337
8:00AM - 5:00PM, Monday-Friday
mayor@ci.bremerton.wa.usPlease write, call, e-mail. Thanks everybody, and I truly believe we can make something happen, the only thing stopping us is no action. Thanks everyone!"