Amador County – The Sutter Creek City Council last week decided to allow a downtown crooner to keep singing to shoppers and diners outside the American Exchange Hotel.

The council voted 2-1 to allow an encroachment permit to December and allow Harry Jordan to spend Friday nights signing at the American Exchange Hotel.

Jordan sings 3 to 9:30 pm Friday nights in the street between two restaurants owned by Dennis Griffin. He also sang on a recent Saturday “Ladies Night.”

Councilman Pat Crosby stepped down because he lives and owns a business within 500 feet of the hotel, but remained to comment because he also lives there.

Crosby said: “Harry’s music is an asset to our town,” but he is “too damn loud, always has been.” A dozen or more people spoke, including Griffin and Jordan.

Griffin said the artist does not sing rap or rock and not very many Christmas tunes. He said Jordan has heard the concern and “can turn it down, a lot.” He also thought permits he had sought would address the issue.

Jordan said turning down the music is “just an adjustment.” He said he sings “overtime because I love doing it.” He also knows 30-35 people who come to town to hear him sing, and they spend money.

Downtown hotelier Lindsay Way said she did not know how Griffin got two parking spaces on Main Street to use for music, and suggested she could draw a crowd as well with “Chippendale boys” in the street. She said “my guests feel differently about it than your guests.”

Frank Cunha said Sutter Creek is a compact town without a typical “gathering area.” Cunha said “everybody knows that to survive, we need to bring people into town.”

Councilwoman Sandy Anderson asked that the encroachment permit “really control the volume,” keep it at a reasonable level, as “determined by the city manager.”

Mayor Gary Wooten directed staff to “clean up our outdated noise ordinance,” and bring it back to the council.

City Attorney Derek Cole said the noise “ordinance on the books is outdated and not consistent with current practices.”

Cole said “the city clerk issues the sound permit and the police department determines if the amplified sound permit would affect traffic.” He said the “council can approve an encroachment permit for this performer and others. You just can’t have amplified music after 7 p.m. because it’s against city code.”

Wooten said he would like to see the permit allow singing in the parking area, instead of in the street’s parking lane.

Murphy agreed, saying it was “not appropriate” to allow singing in the street. He said he heard a lot of consensus that it is quality music, but it is too loud.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.