First, supporters of the Bloomington Amphitheater Coalition (BAC) and Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Ecology (CARE) are grateful to Mr. Phil Riveness, Metropolitan Council representative.  He put the decision in perspective by stating: “The fact is, we have not found no significance.”  Rather, he said, there would be “no significance” IF the developers comply with all recommendations made by sound consultants.  Mr. Riveness acknowledged that amphitheater opponents have legitimate concerns.

Second, we are disappointed in Council Member Carolyn Rodriguez for mischaracterizing a September sound demonstration by citizen groups as “bogus” and as an effort to mislead and “trick” residents.  (Joining in this gratuitous attack was the developer’s attorney, Charles Dayton, who misleadingly claimed that the sound level employed during the demonstration was four times as loud as could be expected from actual concerts.)

Residents of this community deserve to know the truth:

1. THE TRUTH is that NOBODY knows the exact impact an amphitheater would have on Bloomington.
 

2. THE TRUTH is that the Metropolitan Council sound study was done in November, well past the summertime concert season.

3. THE TRUTH is that the Metropolitan Council Sound Consultants acknowledge that a summertime sound study would be a better predictor of concert sound propagation than one done in November.

4. THE TRUTH is that members of the BAC/CARE mediation team had repeatedly requested a summertime sound study in order to replicate realistic concert season conditions -- a study employing realistic musical content instead of “cannon” shots to help residents understand how an amphitheater might sound.

5. THE TRUTH is that the developer and the Metropolitan Council mediator refused to consider any extension of the original testing.

6. THE TRUTH is that BAC/CARE offered to finance additional, scientific sound testing to get at the truth -- but without success.  The property owner of the proposed amphitheater site ignored a written request to access the property for this purpose.

7. THE TRUTH is that BAC/CARE decided to conduct an independent demonstration from an alternative site to show what real music, within the legal sound limits, might sound like in the neighborhoods.

8. THE TRUTH is that during the demonstration an effort was made to maintain the same 93 decibel sound level that the developer promises at the rear of the amphitheater lawn.

9. THE TRUTH is that while the sound demonstration was about 2,000 feet closer to Bloomington than the inaccessible amphitheater site, this is a difference for which compensation can be made:  As it turned out, the sound penetrated deeply into southern Bloomington -- with the wind blowing toward the south, away from Bloomington!. After compensating for the difference in distance, it is evident that intrusive sound still penetrated the community up to 9/10 of a mile.

10. THE TRUTH is that the citizens have never claimed that the sound demonstration was a scientific study.

11. THE TRUTH is that the developers have exaggerated the sound-deadening capacity of barriers built into the amphitheater design.  Paul Burgé, an environmental noise engineer, studying the Metropolitan Council sound report data, stated that “It has long been understood that noise barriers offer little protection to distant receiver locations.”  He goes on to say that any limited protection to distant receivers “would be easily wiped out by even a mild temperature inversion or downwind condition.”  He concluded that the Metropolitan Council Consultants’ estimation of sound barrier protection is “10 to 15 dB too high with respect to crowd and outdoor loudspeaker noise.”  This would result in community sound levels over twice the intensity predicted by the developers. 

(For complete Burgé comments see:  www.angelfire.com/mn2/amph/burge.htm )

12. THE TRUTH is that layers of different temperatures in the atmosphere "bounce" sound waves back to the earth, effectively skipping over sound barriers intended to insulate the community from noise. Similarly, since wind carries sound with it, the prevailing winds from the south are a real concern for Bloomington residents (there is a south wind about 80% of the time). The combination of temperature inversions  (about 2/3 of the time) and south winds occurs over 50% of the time. This is a factor which we believe needs much greater emphasis than has been given to it by earlier consultants.

13. THE TRUTH is that the Metropolitan Council acoustical consultants admitted that noise from the crowd, alone, could exceed state noise rules at some homes on the north river bluff if there is a capacity crowd, a southerly wind and a temperature inversion.