Politics & Government
Residents Blast Council Over Electric Daisy Noise Problems
City Manager Tom Thanas promises that sound levels and event hours will be changed should EDC want to return to Joliet in the future.
The Joliet City Council got an earful Monday from angry residents who said they won't soon be forgetting the noise generated by the Electric Daisy Carnival.
Criticism of the electronic music festival, held at Chicagoland Speedway over Memorial Day weekend, focused on two things: the loudness of the sound generated and the fact that the city allowed performances until 4 a.m. for each of the three nights it was held.
"On Friday night our entire household was jolted awake at 1 a.m.," said Robin Atkinson, a Joliet resident who lives near the racetrack. "For the remainder of the night, there was loud, low-frequency throbbing. Saturday was the same issue at 3 a.m. Sunday was the worst. No one slept until 4 a.m."
It was perhaps worse at Kristen Gassensmith's Elwood home, where a framed photo was knocked off the shelf by the music's base vibrations on the first night and struck her 9-month-old daughter in the head. On the second, the sound caused the girl to cry so violently that she got physically sick, Gassensmith said.
"How can I explain to a 9-month-old that the noise will (eventually) go away or to try to tune it out and go to sleep?" she asked.
Chuck Soukup, of New Lenox, said he was angered that city officials seemed to care more about the money generated by the event than by the disruption it caused in people's lives.
"I've read your apology/excuse for this monstrosity, but the bottom line (is) we all lost sleep so the city of Joliet and a few area businesses could make a buck," he said. "Making money is not good at the expense of the rest of us. You can't compromise my quality of life to make a buck."
He added that the solution is not to change the direction of the speakers or to contain the sound but to simply end performances at 10 or 11 p.m., just as the city of Chicago does for music festivals such as Lollapalooza. In New York, Electric Daisy Carnival ends at 11 p.m., he said.
"The music doesn't need to be turned down at 10 or 11," Soukup said. "It needs to be turned off."
Toni Marcum, the Manhattan parent of a special needs child, was so upset by the noise that she launched an online campaign to ensure the mistakes made by EDC's Joliet debut never happen again.
"It's not a witch hunt," Marcum said, "but 4 a.m.? No city in the country allows that out of respect for its citizens. And what you're showing right now is a complete lack of respect for the citizens and for the other towns around us.
"I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. This needs to be done, and if it's not, you're going to have bigger problems because we're not going to walk away. We're not going to forget this. We're not going to pretend it didn't happen."
City Manager Tom Thanas said the problems "caught everyone by surprise" and that it would be up to the city council to decide if EDC gets a repeat performance here.
"If the Electric Daisy Carnival were to come back to Joliet, we would certainly be working with them on hours of operation, noise levels, and then have it come back to the Joliet City Council for a final decision," he said.
He also said his staff is pulling together an economic impact study in an effort to determine how much Joliet and neighboring communities benefited from the event.
"On Friday night our entire household was jolted awake at 1 a.m.," said Robin Atkinson, a Joliet resident who lives near the racetrack. "For the remainder of the night, there was loud, low-frequency throbbing. Saturday was the same issue at 3 a.m. Sunday was the worst. No one slept until 4 a.m."
It was perhaps worse at Kristen Gassensmith's Elwood home, where a framed photo was knocked off the shelf by the music's base vibrations on the first night and struck her 9-month-old daughter in the head. On the second, the sound caused the girl to cry so violently that she got physically sick, Gassensmith said.
"How can I explain to a 9-month-old that the noise will (eventually) go away or to try to tune it out and go to sleep?" she asked.
Chuck Soukup, of New Lenox, said he was angered that city officials seemed to care more about the money generated by the event than by the disruption it caused in people's lives.
"I've read your apology/excuse for this monstrosity, but the bottom line (is) we all lost sleep so the city of Joliet and a few area businesses could make a buck," he said. "Making money is not good at the expense of the rest of us. You can't compromise my quality of life to make a buck."
He added that the solution is not to change the direction of the speakers or to contain the sound but to simply end performances at 10 or 11 p.m., just as the city of Chicago does for music festivals such as Lollapalooza. In New York, Electric Daisy Carnival ends at 11 p.m., he said.
"The music doesn't need to be turned down at 10 or 11," Soukup said. "It needs to be turned off."
Toni Marcum, the Manhattan parent of a special needs child, was so upset by the noise that she launched an online campaign to ensure the mistakes made by EDC's Joliet debut never happen again.
"It's not a witch hunt," Marcum said, "but 4 a.m.? No city in the country allows that out of respect for its citizens. And what you're showing right now is a complete lack of respect for the citizens and for the other towns around us.
"I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. This needs to be done, and if it's not, you're going to have bigger problems because we're not going to walk away. We're not going to forget this. We're not going to pretend it didn't happen."
City Manager Tom Thanas said the problems "caught everyone by surprise" and that it would be up to the city council to decide if EDC gets a repeat performance here.
"If the Electric Daisy Carnival were to come back to Joliet, we would certainly be working with them on hours of operation, noise levels, and then have it come back to the Joliet City Council for a final decision," he said.
He also said his staff is pulling together an economic impact study in an effort to determine how much Joliet and neighboring communities benefited from the event.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here
