Hopmonk feud

Editor:  This is regarding what has become a feud between the new beer tavern Hopmonk and the neighborhood residents

Everyone involved, Planning Commission, tavern owner, neighbors, seems to have lost sight of what is at stake here.  It is not the volume of the music, nor is it the number of hours, or which days it plays, but where the music goes that matters.

It is the fact that the air space, the right to peace and privacy of fellow human beings has been violated.  The harmony of a great neighborhood is being compromised.

The amplified outdoor music from Hopmonk barges – a noisome and unwanted guest – into other people’s homes and backyards.

The owner of Hopmonk has received copies of the numerous complaints.  And yet, like a bad neighbor, he insists on having his own way regardless of the – to use a war expression – collateral  damage.

Is it fair for a business to run hotrod over the right of private citizens and destroy their peace?  In their own homes?

All these people want is to be able to enjoy their backyard, or their home with windows wide open.  They want to regain the sense of wellbeing they enjoyed before the tavern’s amplified outdoor music started.

What is at stake here, is simply the “unalienable right” (to Life, Liberty), and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Pierrette Duriez
Sonoma