Police Meet With Water St. Residents, Restaurants Ahead Of Summer Season

Water Street is a great place in the summer – the boats, the restaurants, the live music. But those same qualities that make is such a great place to visit can make it a trial to live there, as well as a challenge to police.

Police Chief Tom Coyle invited Water Street residents and restaurant owners to a meeting last Thursday to discuss the upcoming summer season in hopes of making it easier on residents and police while not tamping down business for the restaurants that depend on the warm weather clientele.

This was the first such meeting in several years and many residents said they were glad it had been reinstituted since it had worked well. 

"We used to meet at the beginning of the year and we got to know each other," said one resident of Shore Mill, the condominium complex at the corner of Water and King streets. "We all came. Everybody showed up. It seemed to work."

In an interview later, Town Manager Bill Sequino agreed. "We solved a sorts of problems," he said. A sound engineer was hired to look into noise complaints, Sequino said. One of the results of the sound engineer's study was the Harbourside put up the "shell" where bands play now which keeps the music directed away from residences in the harbor.

Meetings didn't take place between 2010 and 2012 partly because, as Sequino put it, "things settled down."

But with waterfront restaurants resurgent – Blu opened to crowds last July, Nautika continues to draw a steady summer crowd and perennial favorite Harbourside is even now getting a facelift – Chief Coyle developed a strategy last summer that he's fine tuning this year. The meeting Thursday was part of that strategy.

The biggest issue, the loudest issue, is the live music all three restaurants offer Thursdays through Sundays during the summer months. Police keep a close watch over decibel levels but, Lt. Paul Narhgang acknowledged Thursday, sound travels and can tunnel up King Street in particular.

"It's going to tunnel... and if the wind's blowing in, it's going to carry. It's going to sound louder than it actually is," Narhgang said.

Town Councilor Mark Gee asked what, if anything, the restaurants did to encourage bands to avoid playing too loudly. At Blu, the manager said, there is an agreement that all performers must sign at the time of booking. Rules of the house are reiterated before they perform. If a band can't or won't follow those rules, they don't get asked back.

He referred to a band at their restaurant in Warwick that was too loud. “We cut them in the middle of the set," he said. "We had to apologize to our customers, but it’s not worth it to us.”

Another issue was the end-of-the-night crowd.

“It’s usually last call," said one resident of Shore Mill. "You kick people out after last call, they’ve been drinking for quite a while, and they weren’t interested in going home an hour ago and they’re not that anxious to go home now. It could take three people to make as much noise as 100 other people. They seem to have no shame. At 1:30 in the morning, they’re standing in the middle of the street, acting like fools."

To that, Coyle said maybe he would need to station an officer at the corner of Water and King streets. 

"If I have to position more officers – if I have to hire more guys – I’ll do that. Whatever it takes," said Coyle. "You people live down there. We’re here. We’ll do our best. It’s a great community. We want to keep it like this."

Last summer, the chief routinely held over three second-shift officers (those that work from 3 to 11 p.m.) on Thursday and Friday nights so the third-shift officers would have help during those critical late night–early morning hours. The budget for that came out of overtime. Coyle is planning to increase the number of extra officers those nights to four, and to add an officer to second shift on Sunday afternoons.

The need for more Sunday coverage initially surprised Coyle, but it became evident when, every Monday morning last summer, the log was full of incidents. 

Residents spoke of the motorcycle issue, too. One or two motorcycles, they're ok. Forty or fifty motorcycles ... not ok. Glenn Chelo, co-owner of Blu, said they'd recently gotten a call from a group looking to book the restaurant, but turned the group down when they heard it would bring 100 motorcycles to Water Street.

Traffic was another big issue for residents. 

“It’s not just noise," said a resident. "It’s all the other issues. It’s traffic. You know, you want to leave the parking lot [at Shore Mill] and you want to go somewhere and there are seven or eight people waiting for valet parking who are just going to stand there – they don't seem to care that they’re blocking your driveway."

Police agreed that was a problem. "You’re absolutely correct. That one hour when it gets busy, it gets really busy. Our guys are well aware of it. They go down there and keep trying to move the traffic, but it just keeps coming in. It’s just so tight down there. So difficult," said Lt. Skip Cirella.

One resident of King Street told police people block his driveway. “Sometimes I can’t get in. The sign’s there. It’s marked. … A lady the other day, she was parked halfway in my driveway. I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’ She said, ‘Well, I’m only going to be here for a short time.’”

That got laughter of recognition for many of the residents.

Not that he was blaming police.

"Every time I call for that kind of thing, you guys are right there. You’re very responsive," he said. 

"We’re always tweaking this to minimize the complaints," said Coyle. "That’s why I have the supervisors here. Because these guys are going to be the ones –every Thursday, Friday night – I’m going to be on these guys."