For many students, an alcohol policy adopted by the university in 2008 was a major blow to the Hilltop’s party scene. But whether you drink or not, nightlife at Georgetown has recently taken a far more crippling blow — and this time it was delivered by a heavyweight.
The D.C. Council passed the Disorderly Conduct Amendment Act of 2010 this Tuesday with little warning. As reported on THE HOYA’s website on Tuesday, this change in the city code mandates that between between the hours of 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. and the Metropolitan Police Department has the authority to place violators of noise ordinances under arrest. Stiffer penalties have been added, threatening up to 90 days in jail, a $500 dollar fine, or both.
This law eliminates the current 61D violation system used in cases of excessive noise. Before this past Tuesday, 61Ds were issued to individuals in lieu of a physical arrest but held the same weight as an arrest on one’s permanent record. The new act moves away from this process and favors an actual arrest and bafflingly harsh penalties.
The university pays for MPD’s reimbursable details each weekend to patrol the streets and keep noise down. But even with this police presence, 61Ds were rarely issued and lingered more as an ominous deterrent. Hopefully, for students’ sake, the District’s new ordinances will be enforced with similar leniency.
Unfortunately, the new noise law along with its tough penalties, have backed MPD into an uncomfortable position. If a neighbor now calls 911 between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., police officers will face greater pressure to enforce noise ordinances with full force, particularly if the neighbor is of the more browbeating kind.
But regardless of whether or not the new laws are actually enforced, they represent naive standards of conduct and ruthlessly disproportionate penalties for violating them. For most, a noisy neighbor is grounds for an angry reprimand or at worst a fine. This past week the District government chose to cater to a vindictive few, who would like see their neighbors hauled off to prison rather than given a stern warning.
For a city filled with college students and young professionals, the new act seems to be overtly confrontational and antagonistic. These laws’ standards of decency seem better reserved for a library or nursing home — and the penalties for violating them would be more at home in Iran than in the capital of the United States. But while the future doesn’t look so promising for nightlife in Georgetown, it is still too early to tell if this blow will be a knockout.
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