Editor;
On May 14th the Moraga Council will decide if Saint Mary’s (Ed: College) can schedule soccer, rugby and baseball games at night.
The school will install lights on three fields and wants approval to use the fields until as late as 11pm. Residents near the campus say that SMC already creates a high level of disruptive noise during practice and games with loud amplified hip hop music and deliberately loud commentary. Residents pointed out that they can hear and understand the often offensive lyrics, the names of the players and the names and products of sponsors on what ought to be quiet Sunday mornings. SMC says not to worry we have data proving that you in fact cannot hear the noise and even if you can we have a solution. We will put speakers closer to you but point them away from you.
That won’t work, it cannot work and any sound company knows it won’t. Residents complain that they were not given a useful opportunity to comment on the plan change. The Planning Commssion allowed only 10 minutes of public comment before praising the plan,and recommending approval. The PC members made it very clear that they belived that they had an obligation to help SMC. The outsize Gaels banner on the wall telegraphed this outcome.
Residents will ask the Town Council to table approval until SMC has worked with the residents to find ways to minimize or avoid extending daytime noise into evening and nigthime hours. Hours during which SMC asks its students to observe a quiet time for each other, but has no such rule for respecting the neighbors.
David Gow/Moraga
Forget it Jake, it’s Moraga.
The town’s stance on supporting those it sees as contributing to its revenue base has been established— even if it means subjecting others to protracted nuisance.
Saint Mary’s has been there since 1863. If you don’t like it, don’t move near Saint Mary’s. It’s not any different than moving next to an airport, etc. and then complaining about the noise.
We weren’t aware the college had loudspeakers and hip hop in the 1860S. The things you learn around here.
The college has not been in Moraga since 1863, but that is a small errorr, one of many that distort all of the public discussion about SMC. For the record when we moved to Moraga we could hear and see and enjoy games on the old ball field. It was the same field that they used for decades. My wife’s uncle played ball on that field. But if we accpt your idea tha the first one in gets all the rights would it be fine with you if your neighbor played hip hop music at night so loudly that people could hear it a quarter mile away? Most people would say no, and I think you will agree that no one has the right to disturb you at home with loud music whether on a Sunday morning or a school night. The college doen’t allow students to make loud noise after 9pm, so say that courtesy doesn’t extend to the surrounding homes is fundamentally unfair.
SMC enjoys a privillage status It workds hard to maintain it. The college gets public money for varioius things. It asked for and was given an exemption from park fees that everyother property owner had to pay. It claims to be an economic engine for the Town but the most they could show to support this was that the snacks sold at games are purchased locally.
The dispute over night play goes back more than 10 years to when their operating permit for the one lighted field was revoked because of noise and time of use complaints. SMC made a backroom deal with the former mayor that effectively gave them more hours of use in return for promising to do better. And they did do better for a time. The backroom deal also gave them an extra hour of nightly use. Going out the door an SMC VP said that they wanted more and they would be back Now they are back and they want much more.
What did we get? We get a postcard warning us of loud events so that we can leave town or by ear plugs. Yep that postcard “mitigates” the noise.
Okay… Saint Mary’s moved to Moraga in 1928. My point? Saint Mary’s was there first. My next door neighbor does play loud music (on a regular basis). It’s annoying, but we deal with it.
Sounds like a lawsuit to me.