2024 Portola Music Festival receives 224 complaints, despite noise reduction efforts
The 2024 Portola Music Festival organizers say 42,000 people per day attended the sold-out event at Pier 80 in San Francisco this past weekend. Efforts to address noise complaints last year, however, did not reduce the number of calls this year. The SF Entertainment Commission and event producer Goldenvoice shared a list of mitigation efforts and say they are evaluating next steps.
ALAMEDA, Calif. – Organizers of the Portola Music Festival say their two-day event drew sold-out crowds of 42,000 attendees per day to Pier 80 in San Francisco, but despite efforts to mitigate noise levels, there were hundreds of complaints reported.
Goldenvoice, which also produces the Coachella festival, worked with the San Francisco Port and San Francisco Entertainment Commission to mitigate noise levels, after receiving hundreds of complaints in 2023 from residents as far away as Alameda across the Bay, who said they could hear the loud music inside their homes.
This year, the Entertainment Commission said they received a total of 224 complaints on the city’s 311 help line and the festival’s own hotline. The event received 24 complaints on Saturday, and 200 noise complaints on Sunday. The event coordinators said, “It’s important to note that complaints from Alameda/East Bay residents went down from 203 total last year, to 80 total this year. This is a reduction by 61% complaints.”
It appears the total number of complaints did not decrease significantly, however, raising questions about whether the problem was diverted to other neighborhoods as the sound system was reoriented away from the East Bay.
The San Francisco Entertainment Commission said Goldenvoice made sound adjustments, including lowering the volume by 2 decibels, using multiple smaller sound sources instead of large sound sources, rotating stages to face north instead of east, adding acoustic blankets, and creating a complaint hotline.
“As we’ve done in the past, the Port and Entertainment Commission will continue to work with the event producers to address sound mitigation,” the Port of San Francisco said in a statement.
Some Alameda residents say they noticed the volume was slightly lower, but there were still disturbances.
Cachet Berger could hear the music from her house in Alameda.
“Because of the location of where I live, I’m across the water and all the bass from the festival hits the water and comes right our way,” said Cachet Berger, an Alameda resident whose home faces the waterfront directly across from Pier 80. “We could hear it all weekend long. But it wasn’t as loud, and it wasn’t as bothersome, until last night.”
Goldenvoice worked with San Francisco officials to minimize noise by adjusting the speaker placement and creating a complaint hotline.
Residents say the noticed a slight improvement.
“A couple days ago it was cloudy so I thought that was keeping the noise in, but yesterday wasn’t very cloudy and we could still hear it at night,” said Jeff Reid, who lives along Shoreline Boulevard in Alameda.
One neighbor named Sue didn’t want to be on camera, but said the noise went late into Sunday night.
“Probably 10PM, I did hear more music and the thump, thump, thump, really did ramp up,” Sue said.
Berger said it was just as loud as last year.
“At about 10 p.m., when the house is trying to wind down, get ourselves to bed for school and work, it thumped for at least a good hour,” Berger said.
Berger says she dialed the complaint hotline.
“I tried them a couple times before anyone answered, and they just took verbatim what I had to say about it,” Berger said.
Also frustrating for residents, many had opened their windows to stay cool because Alameda homes often don’t have air conditioning.
Berger says her son was in bed early before a school night and couldn’t sleep.
“I used to love that music as a kid, and wouldn’t mind it you know, in a proper location or at the proper hours, but at 10PM on a Sunday night is too much,”
The Port of San Francisco and San Francisco Entertainment Commission are responsible for permit approvals. The Entertainment Commission’s permit fee was $539 and a spokesperson says the city receives other financial benefits for other departments, such as public safety, as well as an economic boost from attendees.
The Port said it received $902,000 from event organizers for rent, based on the square footage of the licensed area.
The Port said the organizers abided by the contract which stated music must end at 11PM on Saturday night and 10:45PM on Sunday night.
Neighbors in Alameda say they just hope officials in San Francisco listen to their concerns and address them, if the festival is going to continue next year.
The Entertainment Commission issued this statement to KTVU:
“Our 7-member Entertainment Commission and Executive Director, in consultation with our Enforcement Team, are in the process of analyzing the 2024 complaint data and proactive measures taken by Goldenvoice to mitigate sound impacts and strengthen lines of communications with the public,” the statement read.
“Should Goldenvoice decide to produce Portola Music Festival again in 2025, Goldenvoice will need to submit a permit application to both the Port of San Francisco–the land agency–and the Entertainment Commission to start the approval process in spring 2025. After EC staff holds an in-take meeting with Goldenvoice production team to discuss the operational plans, the 7-member Entertainment Commission will review Goldenvoice’s entertainment permit application at a public hearing. Goldenvoice will be required to conduct neighborhood outreach in advance of the Entertainment Commission public hearing to allow for public comment.”
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