As Bruno Mars gears up for night two at Toronto’s Rogers Stadium, some nearby residents are speaking up, lamenting that the noise and bright lights from the venue is crystal clear from inside their homes.
The Grammy Award-winning artist hosted the first of five Toronto concerts this past weekend at the former Downsview Airport site in North York.
The 50,000-seat, open-air venue drew more than 700,000 fans over 14 concerts last summer, generating a near $400 million economic impact for its inaugural season.
‘Anywhere in my home I can hear it’
Suzy Martins, who lives in a condo near Sheppard Avenue West and Wilson Heights Boulevard, said the sound from Rogers Stadium has once again become impossible to escape.
“Anywhere in my home I can hear it,” said Martins, who has resided in the area since 2008. “The only way I cannot hear the bass is if I were to actually go into my concrete hallway.”
Martins said the noise affects both her work and personal life, especially because she works from home.
“You’d be working, and all of a sudden you hear the bing, bing, boom, boom ... without (any) notice,” she said, adding last summer, the concerts left her constantly anxious about when the next wave of sound would begin.
“It ruined my summer last year. I couldn’t sit on my balcony,” she said. “It’s like your neighbour next door having a wild party every night.”
She joked that her condo has effectively become a free premium viewing area for fans and shared video of Sunday night’s concert from her balcony. In it, you could clearly hear the music and see flashing lights in the near distance.
“If you want a free Bruno Mars concert, come to my condo tonight,” she said.
“We have the best seat in town.”
She adds that one aspect people overlook is that artists have soundchecks and often rehearse multiple times a day, including that night before the concert.
Last year, local Coun. James Pasternak said the two biggest complaints tied to the temporary venue were sound mitigation and traffic management.
“The sounds went as far as Vaughan, well into Willowdale,” Pasternak told CTV News Toronto last month.
“It moved northeast depending on cloud cover, wind direction, wind velocity and the type of music that was being played.”
In response, Live Nation introduced what Pasternak described as a “new sound absorption system” aimed at keeping more noise contained within the stadium.
He says the company has continued making adjustments following complaints from the venue’s first season.
‘You lose your horizon’
Anna Garbin, who has also been living in the same condo building as Martins for 18 years, said residents can still clearly hear music, crowd reactions, and fireworks during concerts.
“You can hear everything,” Garbin said.
“The bass, the instruments, those singing, the fans responding and then the fireworks.”
Garbin said the concerts became especially difficult last summer while she was caring for her terminally ill mother inside the condo.
“My mother thought one night, she goes, ‘Is there an earthquake?’” Garbin recalled.
“You lose your horizon almost.”
In a previous response to noise complaints, Live Nation, who is the primary operator of the stadium, issued a statement saying, “in keeping with being good neighbours, we have made technical, transportation, and logistical improvements at Rogers Stadium leading up to this year’s concert season.”
The stadium’s blinding lights
But for Downsview resident Matt Panzini it is not the noise from the stadium that has been an irritant; it is the light.
Panzini lives than a kilometre away from Rogers Stadium, in a condo near Sheppard Avenue West and Allen Road.
During a recent interview with CP24, he said he’s been losing sleep, by the venue’s 24/7 lighting as well as its new industrial-grade flood lights that were recently installed along a new paved pedestrian pathway at the northeast end of the site.
“The lights are constantly on, every day and every night,” Panzini said, adding they’re on year-round, even in the winter where there are no concerts happening.
“It’s lighting up my whole building. It’s insane,” he said.
Panzini said his southwest-facing unit looks directly onto Rogers Stadium, which was erected after he moved in three years ago. He says his bedroom is now constantly lit up, even with the blinds closed.
Frustrated by what he feels is inaction on this issue from his local councillor, the City of Toronto, and the venue operator, Live Nation, Panzini recently penned an open letter outlining his concerns, which he’s shared with the media.
Calling the lighting “absolutely out of control,” Panzini said the stadium’s new access pathway has “the surface brightness of the sun itself,” adding the view outside his condo is “lit up like a Costco parking lot at 3 a.m.”
Venue operator ‘recognize(s) concerns’
Live Nation, meanwhile, says it “recognize(s) concerns” raised by nearby residents regarding lighting around the new pedestrian pathway and stadium site.
“As part of our venue preparation, we’ve recently conducted comprehensive site lighting tests and inspections to ensure all areas are appropriately illuminated from a safety and security perspective,” a spokesperson wrote in an email to CP24.
“We are adjusting the positioning of our overnight lighting to minimize impact on surrounding neighbourhoods while continuing to support safe pedestrian access around the venue.”
Councillor calls 24/7 lighting ‘overkill’
Pasternak said he agrees that something needs to be done about the “blaring” lighting, even if it is intended to increase safety.
Speaking with CP24 earlier this week, the York Centre-Downsview representative underlined that the reason for the new lights is to ensure safe access to the stadium.
“Our first priority is safety,” he said, adding they don’t want people tripping or falling because they can’t see where they’re going at night.
Pasternak, however, said Live Nation might want to reevaluate if lights need to be on 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
He added that the challenges at Rogers Stadium are because the project was rushed, pushed through without council approval or a formal site plan.
“It’s a balance we’re still working on,” he said.
“That has not been easy to find.”
