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legal advice for a boston city ordinance violation please, details within

Anonymous — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 09:37:41 -0800

What are my next moves? This past marathon monday, a couple buddies and I were drinking out of solo cups on private property, adjacent to a side street. A group of policemen came around and asked us to move to the street for a "lecture." We put down our drinking cups and move out for said lecture. Turns out the lecture is just a pretense for them to hand out citations for alcohol in public. (200 dollars) The policeman apologizes for doing this, but says that hes under orders to hand out citations. He says that this ticket will be easy to appeal, because he messes up some of the details on the ticket, and he won't show up to the appeal.

I'm having trouble finding resources online regarding how to appeal this citation. (Boston, MA) Links to any resources will be appreciated.

The directions on the backside of the citation says to make a written request to the clerk magistrate of the court. Are there any formal conventions for this letter?

Any anecdotes in a similar situation will also be helpful. I know you are not a lawyer, but given the background, general advice will also be appreciated.

My employer's gone back to allowing smoking.

IndigoRain — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 13:54:28 -0800

My employer has decided to become a smoking facility. What do I do? I got a job about 2 months ago. The building smelled like smoke, so I asked... they said just a few months before, they'd decided to become a nonsmoking facility. Now, they've decided to let the 2 smokers in the building smoke inside. The company is only 10 employees, and the building only has one room (besides the bathroom), so it affects everyone.

Now, last summer our city passed a non-smoking ordinance, but the boss had told me when I was hired that since they are outside the city limits, they're exempt. I really can't afford to quit. I don't want to be around smoke for health reasons, as well as I hate that I stink when I leave work. Other than trying to look for a new job, what can I do?

Can I get away with recording a band in an abandoned building in SF?

Bappy Lorenzo — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 23:10:46 -0800

San Franciscans! How safe/legal/easy would it be to record a band in an abandoned building in your city? I asked a band if they would like to make an album for my record label. They live in California, I'll be there for a weekend, I figured why not do something a little different? San Fran seems pretty open to this sort of thing. The band will most definitely be loud, but they don't have huge amps, which would mean easy in/easy out if need be. Will it work?

Restroom restrictions

inksyndicate — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 13:13:31 -0800

A cafe on Geary St. in San Francisco enforces a $3.00 minimum purchase for bathroom use. Is this draconian policy against the law? What about in other cities -- is it illegal to refuse bathroom access to those who merely purchase $1.00 java? If so, what legal relief is possible?

Keep it down!

adamrice — Wed, 29 Jun 2005 10:18:14 -0800

How to have a party without violating noise ordinances I was at an outdoor party this weekend that got busted for violating the noise ordinance (85 dB or higher, using amplification, after 10:00 PM). The site is a few acres large, and as you might expect, there was a DJ rig and PA system roughly in the middle.

It occurred to me that by dotting the site with a bunch of low-power speakers (which could be as simple as pawn-shop boomboxes, and the signal might be distributed using ultra-low power FM or line-level wires--perhaps other means), you could blanket it with sound without exceeding the noise limit.

So, A) does this idea have any merit, and if so, B) what option would be the best/cheapest/easiest to deploy? I realize that an FM signal would probably need to be powerful enough to run afoul of FCC regulations; ideally it would be best to avoid that, but for a one-time event, it seems unlikely that it would actually draw their attention.

How do I solve my band's residential noise problem?

cortex — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 21:11:19 -0800

I'm in a band, and we practice in our drummer's basement. He has a next-door neighbor who can't stand our noise. Do we soundproof? Do we relocate? Details:

We've been practicing in Ed-the-drummer's basement for about 16 months now, off-and-on. Mostly on. [We spent two or three months practicing in the basement of a friend of Ed's, but stopped doing so for a variety of reasons including lousy security.]

In that span, we've acquired a bassist and bigger, better amps. We've also dealt with occasional letters from the neighbor, who has become increasingly impatient with our band noise. Though we only practice two weeknights a week (with probably one of those nights off every couple weeks, on average), and constrain practice to a 7:30-9:30 PM window, we've still gotten increasing friction from her, and the kicker has been a couple visits from summoned cops in the last month.

We need to do something. The two solutions that seem obvious to me are (1) moving to a rented rehearsal space of some sort or (2) soundproofing the shit out of Ed's basement.

Both will cost money, obviously. However, I don't really know how much is fair/reasonable for monthly practice space (nor do I know what sort of security/etc a band can and should expect from such an arrangement).

On the other hand, the basement is something like 20x20 feet squared, ceilings about 7 feet high with exposed wooden rafters, cement walls, and several windows set near the top of the walls at ground level. Occasionally damp, as Portland basements tend to be. If we're going to spend the money to soundproof the basement, we need to do a pretty damn good job, because the neighbor lives next door and is becoming uncompromisingly psycho about this.