City to Revisit Noise Ordinance Amid Ongoing Hotel Worker Strike

Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo announced during Monday’s City Council meeting that City Attorney Michele Bagneris would propose revisiting the city’s noise ordinance in June.

The announcement followed a Monday afternoon demonstration by striking hotel workers on the steps of City Hall, who claim the 2008 ordinance, reportedly enacted years ago in response to noise violations at the Rose Bowl, has been used to unfairly target their protests.

The ordinance has been invoked by the Pasadena Police Department to cite and ticket Unite Here Local 11 workers striking the Pasadena Hilton over wages and health benefits for the past eight months.

According to Jeremy Blasi, general counsel for Local 11, at least three workers face arraignment, and others have been ticketed.

No decision was made at the Council meeting regarding the disposition of any of the charges.

Maria Hernandez, a Local 11 spokesperson, confirmed that Pasadena is the only city among 14 in the region where loud labor actions have taken place to file criminal charges against strikers.

The Pasadena Hilton remains the sole Los Angeles County hotel targeted by the Union which has not renegotiated a contract with the union.

“We are not criminals, we are not delinquents,” one striking worker told the Council. “We are only workers seeking justice.”

In a letter to the Council, American Civil Liberties Union chief counsel Peter J. Eliasberg asserted that two provisions of the noise ordinance “very likely violate the First Amendment and Liberty of Speech Clause of the California Constitution.”

The provisions at issue are § 9.36.050(A), which makes it unlawful to make noise exceeding the ambient level by more than 5 decibels, and § 9.36.140, which prohibits using drums or other devices to attract attention by creating noise, with limited exceptions.

Eliasberg called both provisions “facially unconstitutional,” stating that they fail to meet applicable standards for regulations impinging on First Amendment-protected conduct.

Before the City Council meeting, approximately 50 workers gathered and chanted slogans and prayers on the steps of City Hall, hoping to generate more than five decibels of noise in direct violation of the ordinance.

According to Blasi, the sound generated was at least twice the City’s regulations.

There was no police response or reaction.

City spokesperson Lisa Derderian released a statement, saying, “The City supports the free speech rights of protesters and does not take sides in disputes, but must balance the rights of those protesting with those nearby residents and businesses impacted by protest activities.”

She noted that only six citations were issued over months of protests, after warnings and only as a last resort, and that the right of expression must be balanced against the rights of residents and businesses to have some level of quiet enjoyment of their property.