Neighbors Around Race Track Will Get Some Peace and Quiet

Neighbors of the Los Alamitos Race Course, who have been battling to ban concerts there for the last two months, won relief from the noise this week when track officials agreed to cancel future events.

“You could hear it (outside the track),” said race track general manager Don Galloway, referring to last Saturday’s performance by the Desert Rose Band. “But it wasn’t as loud as the previous ones.”

In keeping with an agreement reached with residents who live near the course, Galloway said that track officials will not schedule concerts in the future. Instead, he said, they will “rethink” the situation and may even consider bringing in sound specialists to see if there are other methods to reduce the noise.

At the concert Saturday, the volume was turned down and the speakers were pointed in a direction so that the sound would not rebound off the stands and travel across the street to the neighbors’ homes. Although the efforts did reduce the noise, they were not enough, said Laurel Avenue resident Jim Young.

“We heard it,” said Young, president of the neighborhood group protesting the concerts. “It was pretty loud.”

Earlier this month, Young asked the City Council to prohibit future concerts because of the noise. However, there was no ordinance on the books aimed directly at preventing entertainment at the track, so the council took no action. Instead, the neighbors sat down with race track officials and reached a tentative accord. It was agreed that if the residents were disturbed by last Saturday’s performance, there would be no more concerts.

When asked if he would like to see the concerts continue, Galloway responded, “Absolutely . . . if we could find a way to do it that wouldn’t be a problem to the neighbors.” Up to 3,000 additional people attend on the night of a concert, he said.

City Manager Darrell Essex said the city is drawing up an ordinance pertaining to the race track. The ordinance would require council approval before future concerts can be held, he added.