If you were looking forward to hearing some tunes as you sip a tall, cold one on an outdoor patio this summer, it looks like all you’ll hear is the sounds of silence, and I don’t mean the Simon and Garfunkel song.
A group of concerned citizens has filed an appeal with the Ontario Municipal Board to stop city council’s bylaw, which would allow amplified music on outdoor patios.
The problem here is that it usually takes months for the OMB to hear these appeals and by then, the patio season will be over.
This all started when Sarcoa restaurant on the waterfront started playing music on their patio, which drew the ire of residents on both sides of the bay.
With the success of the pop-up patio concept, city council embarked on a policy of music on outdoor patios in the summer, and that was welcome news for bar owners, especially in Hess Village, who have been asking for this for years now.
But it’s all on hold until this issue gets resolved.
Good luck to the OMB trying to solve this one.
Neighbours demand their evening reverie and bar owners say that outdoor music is essential for entertainment districts to survive.
Who knows how this will end up, but, for now, it looks like June 15 is the day the music died, in Hamilton anyway.
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