Neighbors react to Rockville concert

Despite recent enacting of ordinance, residents complain of concert getting too loud

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Rockville concert at Metro Park was very popular with fans but not with some people who live across the river.

The city recently enacted an ordinance to make sure concerts do not get too loud for people who live nearby.

Data has just been released and it may have been too loud in one area that's been at the center of this debate: the neighborhoods just across the river.

This debate has raged for years, mostly from neighbors who look directly across the river at Metro Park who said when there are concerts at Metro Park, it's too loud.

Roy Miller has been meeting with city leaders for years about this issue. He also lives near Metro Park and said that the Rockville concert was too much.

"It's not only just at night or day of concert. They were fooling with (the) sound system all day long. At 9 a.m. there were big bangs as they test them," said Miller. "I would say if you could imagine 10 or 12 pickups going by with boom boxes at midnight and the guy has his boom boxes so loud, their car is vibrating, try to imagine that all day long."

The city of Jacksonville had workers out at Rockville testing how loud it was.

In a report that was sent to Channel 4, the city conducted 23 hours of noise measurements during the Welcome to Rockville concert and potential violations were recorded south of Metro Park, across the river.

RELATED: Welcome to Rockville takes over Metro Park

City officials also said they'll be putting together a detailed report as soon as they can correlate all the data they collected.

Despite the noise, not every neighbor across the river seemed to mind it.

Rick Seibler said that most people don't mind except for the equally loud minority who oppose it and they seem to be the ones to make the headlines.

"While not all the music is my favorite, it's part of living here. Part of the ambiance. Part of the experience living this close to downtown," said Seibler. "I've heard boom boxes going down the street louder than that. Close my windows I can't hear it."

The area south of Metro Park across the river did have potential noise violations, but there were no violations recorded anywhere else.


About the Authors:

Scott is a multi-Emmy Award Winning Anchor and Reporter, who also hosts the “Going Ringside With The Local Station” Podcast. Scott has been a journalist for 25 years, covering stories including six presidential elections, multiple space shuttle launches and dozens of high-profile murder trials.