Noise complaints do in N. Side tavern

they can take months to process.

The fines thus far total $600, but the money isn’t the issue — it’s the specter of being labeled a nuisance bar, which would impact his liquor license and what businesses could operate in the building.

“We want to cut our losses before they become really big losses,” Mr. Saftner said.

Ray Schubert, 70, said he’s lived across the street from the tavern his entire life. His house faces the ballroom windows that have been the source of the complaints.

“They did all that work over there, put all that money into there — there’s no problem,” he said Thursday afternoon. “None whatsoever. I just had cancer surgery. My wife is handicapped. They come over and help me keep up my property. I got no problem whatsoever. It’s 100 percent better. They went above and beyond to fix it.”

Mr. Schubert said that state agents knocked on his door and left forms if he had a complaint.

“I wouldn’t even fill them out,” he said.

Cody Walters is the Main Street director for the North Side Leadership Conference and said that he hasn't heard of any neighbors complaining since the James Street made noise remediation efforts last year.

“If anyone said anything bad, I would know about it,” he said adding that it could be someone with a personal ax to grind.

“I’m skeptical that it is actually a neighbor that's complaining,” he said. “The problem under the code is that if you have a liquor license and someone complains, they have to go inspect it, and the state police go by the letter of the law. Under ordinance, if you can hear amplified sound when you step off the sidewalk you're in violation — any bar anywhere has that.”

“We’re sad to see them go,” Mr. Walters said, noting that cities as disparate as Austin, Texas and London have lost scores of venues after neighborhoods have seen increased development.

Mr. Walters, who cofounded the annual Deutschtown Music Festival — of which James Street has been an integral part as a host venue, said the issue is part of a larger conversation.

“This creates an opportunity to have a conversation — are we or are we not going to be a music city? This could happen in any neighborhood.”