THE ISSUE
The main issue at hand is that we have a business that is open 24 hours in our
Neighborhood. The fact that the Laundromat is open 24 hours a day unattended allows opportunity for vandals, drug dealers, vagrants and other suspicious characters to have a place to hang out when the rest of the town’s businesses are closed. This facility also brings with it certain individuals who do not seem to care that this Laundromat is surrounded by residential homes and while the individuals are washing clothes the tendency to play excessively loud music, trash our neighborhood with litter and use our properties as port-a-lets is supposed to be tolerated by the home owners. The right to quality of life is for all, not just the business owner who stands to make a small profit from this business.
The problem is occurring at the corner of St. Patrick Street and Iberville Street, which resides in the Donaldsonville Historic District.
PROBLEM CONTINUED
Our problem continues throughout the week. The main issue is that on any given night, not every single night there is excessively loud music and loitering at the Laundromat. The majority of people who use the Laundromat for legitimate purposes finish around 9 p.m., however there are a certain few who frequently hang out and disrupt the community at all hours of the night. They leave their vehicles running with the music booming to such a degree that all of our windows rattle in the entire house. By the time the deputies arrive they are gone. Seems like everyone knows that by the time we call the deputies out and they arrive depending on the more pressing issues that the officers have to deal with, they can disrupt the entire sleeping neighborhood and then get away before any authorities arrive.
WHO’S RESPONSIBLE
The owner of the store is Michel Bellina; he is a very good person who understands that our complaints are not personal. Michel does not want to close his business due to inconvenience of his life however it is affecting ours greatly. This business disrupts my family and others in the neighborhood all hours of the night.
THE STATUS
The complaints have been continuous for well over a year now. Just in January of this year alone I had to make at least 18 phone calls to the Sheriff’s department for disturbing the peace issues and the noise level ordinance. I have been throughout the neighborhood talking with people in the community, passing out fliers to alert them that this neighborhood may not be safe for their children or grandchildren, especially at night. I have made complaints to the city council several times, our local councilman several times, and I have communicated this problem to Michel Bellina personally many times. I have also been in constant communications with the local sheriffs department to come up with solutions to our problems that would be satisfactory to all but to no avail.
