GREENWICH VILLAGE — The battle over noise in Washington Square Park may finally have reached a ceasefire.
Villagers who live around the park have complained about noise levels for years, specifically about drummers and a duo of brothers known as "Tic & Tac."
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So this spring, the park's Park Enforcement Patrol (PEP) officers were armed with a decibel meter to attempt to address the issue by applying "science rather than my opinion versus your opinion," park administrator Sarah Neilson said at the time.
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The approach was so successful, not a single noise summons was issued this summer, Neilson said at a Community Board 2 parks committee meeting last week.
"In my opinion we’ve made a really great stride forward in that we haven’t had fights, we haven’t had summonses. It’s been a really peaceful shift. I feel really upbeat and positive about it," Neilson said at the meeting.
Neilson said they "plan to continue this course of action," though with shorter hours in the winter.
The PEP officer tapped to lead the initiative, Sgt. JohnPaul Rivera, said "it wasn't an easy task" because there was "a lot of resistance at first."
"[There was] conversation about getting lawyers involved, why are we talking to them," Rivera said at the meeting.
But he said he kept at it, making an effort to be friendly and introduce himself and his officers to the musicians regularly.
"Before they set up, you have to address them, you have to let them know that we’re in the park and we’re listening. We go around, we speak to everybody before they start and when they’re playing," Rivera said.
And if anyone seemed to be getting too loud, Rivera said, "We’ll walk by, I’ll give them a signal to bring it down."
Rivera said he talked to musicians 141 times, sometimes the same musicians, and used the sound meter 27 times.
He said he had a hard time ever catching anyone playing loudly because the musicians would recognize him.
"Soon as they see the white shirt, they start playing at a reasonable level," he said.
Because of the park's long history of being a music scene, striving for "voluntary compliance" was important to Rivera and Neilson, which is part of why they consider the program a success.
"No one was issued a summons. Everything was voluntary compliance, so we preserved the nature of the park," Rivera said.
Neilson was especially pleased that she hadn't heard from any residents of 2 Fifth Ave., the building next to the park where the majority of complaints had originated.
Rivera said they have issued 74 quality-of-life summonses this year, mostly for smoking, public drinking or biking inside the park.
