A year after Uptown bars waged a fierce battle against a city proposal to limit outdoor noise, there appears to be peace in the valley.

Council Member Meg Tuthill, who represents the Uptown area, drew fire from local businesses after proposing stricter rules around outdoor capacity and banning outdoor amplified music after 10 p.m. She said it was in response to complaints from residents.

The proposal was eventually delayed to see if the businesses could self-regulate. It looks like it worked.

At a friendly meeting of the Uptown Outdoor Area Task Force Wednesday night in a back room of Cafeteria -- which has one of the most popular rooftops in Uptown -- Tuthill announced that complaints had disappeared.

"Guess how many complaints I got this summer about the noise from uptown? Zero," Tuthill told the crowd of business owners and city staffers. "Zero!"

Grant Wilson, the city's head of business licensing, said today that he agreed with Tuthill's assessment.

The success follows a number of initiatives aimed at reducing noise.

  • Bars with outdoor seating agreed to keep music at a "standard background level" after 10 p.m. on weeknights and 11 p.m. on weekends.
  • After a sound study, businesses rearranged their speakers to limit noise leakage.
  • Business owners are paying for more police patrols in the Hennepin-Lake area on weekends.
  • The city has installed a number of taxi stands in the area, and new parking at Mozaic means fewer people parking in the residential neighborhoods.

Dan McElroy, president of Hospitality Minnesota, a restaurant trade association, said his members tell him business has been good following the changes.

"We can be good neighbors and still do good business," McElroy said, adding "This is not a project it's a process. We're not done."