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Show No one hears what goes on behind closed doors, Alamo owner to tell city by Christopher Smart Alamo bar proprietor Mark Stemler has been invited back to the City Council chambers Aug. 11 to propose a solution to the nighttime noise emanating from his Main Street pub so the municipality won't have to take legal action. The invitation to Stemler came in an Aug. 5 letter from City Manager Arlene Loble. The letter stipulates that simply closing the doors and windows in the Alamo while the band is playing is not a viable solution. Many of the noise complaints received by the Park City Police Department Depart-ment and the Summit County dispatcher in Coalville cite an unwillingness on the part of the Alamo to close its doors while the band is on stage. Responding to the content of the letter, Stemler told the Park Record that closing the doors and windows might well be the solution to the problem. "I'd like to try it on a probationary basis. If it doesn't work we'll try something some-thing else," he said. "Let's try the simple solutions first." Loble states in the letter that the Alamo may not be suited for live music at all, but Stemler maintains that a band is necessary for the Alamo to do business. He added that if it was a major problem, more people would have come to last week's public hearing to complain. The City Manager's letter came to Stemler the day after an Aug. 4 City Council public hearing to determine if the municipality should bring a public nuisance suit against the Alamo. The already-warm council chambers got hotter as sparks flew between opponents op-ponents at the Thursday hearing. City staff and council members as well as Old Town residents, who have repeatedly lodged complaints com-plaints about excessively loud band music, voiced their displeasure to Stemler. Park City Police Chief Frank Bell characterized the weekend nighttime scene at the Alamo as "a law enforcement problem" that "we have failed to resolve." He said the police department depart-ment has received numerous complaints about late-night noise at the Alamo and his officers address Alamo em ployees nightly on the problem. prob-lem. Upper Norfolk resident Sheri Kradecki told the council that she had contacted con-tacted Stemler by phone on a number of occasions about the loud music coming from the Alamo at late hours. In one instance she said that Stemler told her it was her tough luck and to do what she had to do. City Councilwoman Helen Alvarez said that the city had had many meetings with Stemler and had supported him over and over, yet "we have had no cooperation from Mark Stemler." Stemler countered the accusations ac-cusations that he is insensitive insensi-tive to the community, stating that no Park City official had notified him that a problem existed before he was called to the hearing. Stemler disputed Alvarez' recollection of the facts, saying he had talked with her on only one previous occasion two years ago on a complaint about noise emanating em-anating from The Club. (Stemler also operates The Club and Janeaux's on Main Street.) He went on to say M that he dealt with Kradecki's complaint in his own way because she was in an "hysterical" state. Referring to a KPCW interview with Arlene Loble, Stemler disputed Loble's claim that the chief of police had called him almost nightly night-ly about the problem. "The chief of police doesn't talk to me at all," he said. Later in the hearing, Bell said he had not contacted Stemler directly since Stemler Stem-ler brought a lawsuit against him. (Stemler and his business busi-ness partner Cindy David brought suit against the city and the police chief for a 72-hour closure of the bar by the police department in April. The suit asks that Stemler and David be reimbursed reim-bursed for lost profits and seeks $100,000 in punitive damages.) Bell told the Record that although he was not avoiding Stemler, he was "not inclined in-clined to any one-on-one meetings with him without council present." He added that members of his staff will continue to be in contact with the Alamo and with Stemler. |