Give Police the Volume Control : Wee-Hour Noise Nuisance Isn’t an Issue of Artistic Expression

To sleep, perchance to dream. Or perhaps to have that dratted saxophone tootling off-key in the wee hours of a Laguna Beach morning. They call this art?

Well, yes. They do call it art. Just last week, in fact, an acoustic guitarist who gave his name only as Bill told a reporter that Laguna Beach “is an artists colony, and we think of our music as art.”

The question is whether the Laguna Beach City Council will feel the same way. The council has agreed to consider a ban on playing a musical instrument on city streets between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. Council members will also review laws already on the books against yelling, shouting, whistling or singing in public during those hours.

Even with the current anti-noise laws, the Laguna Beach police say they don’t hand out citations by the handful.

There have been no complaints of 3 a.m. crooners being hauled off. But it would seem to be a worthwhile law to have when noisy patrons bursting from a bar at 2 a.m. continue their debate on the 1961 World Series on a street corner at the top of their lungs.

Alfresco musicians are understandably unhappy. They contend that because their indoor colleagues can play in downtown bars until 2 a.m., so should they. They seem to have missed the audible point that indoor music is less likely to disturb the peace of outsiders.

Laguna Beach has been etched in history as a quirky place, a bit different from most other cities in Orange County. To its fans, of course, that’s a major part of its charm.

Hang out on a Saturday night and listen to the corner preacher--or pass him by if he’s not to your taste. Watch the Hare Krishna devotees shake their tambourines. But for those who call it a day earlier, 11 p.m. is a good cutoff. It allows for plenty of sleep before Sunday brunch and a stroll along Main Beach.

The current ordinance allows police to make an arrest only if a citizen complains about the music. If the proposed change passes, police could act on their own. But Police Chief Neil J. Purcell Jr. promised his officers would be able to look the other way if the musicians are not annoying anyone. The sensible solution under a new ordinance would be to have police act only after their request for quiet is ignored.