Apology: Are District 2 residents owed an apology for the concert noise pollution harm they have been forced to endure, both starting in 2024 and now continuing in 2025?

Mental health: May is Mental Health month and the City is undertaking numerous efforts to reach out to citizens on this important topic. C.R.S. 25-2-101 states that excess noise often has an adverse physiological and psychological effect on human beings. Multiple third party sources have demonstrated that amphitheater noise pollution exceeds the Permissible Noise Limits found in city ordinance and state law. Why are you inflicting mental health anguish on the citizens that lived peacefully in the area before the amphitheater was built in the middle of residential neighborhoods?

Firsthand experience: Mayor Yemi, have you experienced firsthand the neighborhood noise pollution that is continuing to flood neighborhoods due to your decisions? If not, during which of this season’s loud concert(s) do you commit to visiting resident homes?

History: In the amphitheater’s approved development plan, VENU promised neighborhood concert noise would be 47 dB(A) or less. Last season, the City’s own data measured noise pollution at 60 dB(A),over 400% more sound power. Why did you sign an agreement for the 2025 season that fails to hold VENU accountable for the off-site noise level they originally promised?

Respecting existing laws: Last fall, over 700 residents asked you to respect and enforce the City ordinance 50 dB(A) Permissible Noise Limit in the neighborhoods surrounding the amphitheater.. Why did you choose not to do this and, instead, sign a City/VENU agreement for the 2025 season that creates special rules for a special interest that seeks to sidestep the City’s own noise ordinance? Why are you allowing City neighborhoods to be treated unequally? Why don’t all Colorado Springs citizens deserve equal protection under the law?

Noise wall effectiveness: In 2025, residents are continuing to experience and document concert noise pollution in excess of the City’s residential evening Permissible Noise Limits. Numerous industry sources report that noise walls only provide shielding within a few hundred feet of their location. Other than VENU’s promises, exactly what data or analysis made you think this season’s promised noise mitigation improvements would actually make a difference in the lives of neighbors?

Pollution: Noise pollution is invisible pollution. Why are you ignoring that and allowing a commercial interest to pollute our pre-existing residential communities in excess of city/state noise limits? Would you also ignore it if it was a factory with positive economic impact but polluting our air with visible, thick, acrid smoke in excess of state air pollution limits?

Logical fallacy: If VENU’s claim that their off-site noise pollution is no louder than existing ambient noise is true, why do I experience concert noise invasion in my property and inside my home with windows closed? Shouldn’t I be unable to hear concerts if they aren’t any louder than existing ambient noise sources?

Noise complaints: How many concert noise pollution complaints has the City received in 2025? What is being done to investigate, substantiate, and resolve those complaints? Are District 2 concert noise complaints receiving the same treatment as noise complaints in other neighborhoods in the City?

2025 agreement: City press releases claim that the 2025 Noise Hardship Permit only waives noise limits for the Polaris Pointe development (which is overwhelmingly commercial). If this is true, why are you allowing pre-existing neighborhoods to still experience concert noise pollution in excess of 50 dB(A) Permissible Noise Limits?

2025 agreement: We don’t have relative speed limits, we have absolute ones. Why did you sign a City/VENU agreement that permits relative noise limits when you have absolute ones in the City noise ordinances? And why is that relative standard being set during the pre-concert period of noisy traffic?

2025 agreement: Our speed limit laws don’t have built-in allowances for speeding. Why did you sign a 2025 City/VENU agreement with a built-in allowance for exceeding the noise limit?

2025 agreement: We don’t require that two separate police officers must simultaneously catch the same speeder. Why did you sign a 2025 City/VENU agreement that requires that two different sensors register the same noise violation? Doesn’t each neighborhood demand protection, regardless of what is happening in other neighborhoods?

2025 agreement: Why did you sign a 2025 City/VENU agreement with such puny financial penalties for noise violations? VENU claims to be a $1B enterprise and you threatened them with a $500 fine. You act like you are afraid of holding VENU accountable. Why didn’t you create enforcement with real financial impact, as have municipalities with similar venues?

Noise monitoring: Why did you sign a City/VENU agreement with only three neighborhood noise monitoring sensors installed for 2025, when over 20+ neighborhoods were affected in 2024? Since “data” is your administration’s theme for the year, why isn’t the City collecting data on all the neighborhoods affected by concert noise? Do you want to know what citizens around the amphitheater are actually experiencing, or not?

Noise monitoring: Why did you sign a 2025 City/VENU agreement allowing two VENU noise sensors, already located in commercial zones, to become part of a network that is supposed to be monitoring and enforcing noise limits in surrounding residential neighborhoods? These two sensors are not proximate to homes, are subject to noise from traffic, parking lots, restaurant outdoor speakers, and other commercial disturbances, which are not present in residential neighborhoods.

Mayor Yemi’s governing values: You said in your governing values “My approach to public service is to work towards the good of ALL citizens as opposed to expanding the personal gains of individuals” and “Our individual rights are connected to our shared responsibility to respect the rights of others.” Why did you sign a 2025 City/VENU agreement that sacrifices the rights of the amphitheater’s neighbors for protection under the City’s Permissible Noise Limits ordinance of 50 dB(A)?

People vs developers: Voters sent a clear message in this year’s Council election with 5 out of 7 developer-funded Council candidates losing (with 1 of the 2 that won being unopposed). As we progress towards a Mayoral election in 2027, are you on the side of impacted residents or the monied interests?

City strategic plan: As reported by multiple media outlets, resolution of the concert noise pollution flooding neighborhoods is the biggest issue facing District 2 residents. Why doesn’t your 2025 Strategic Doings framework include this? Will you commit to adding an action item regarding this urgent issue to the existing list of 101 other items? Isn’t the mental health of residents of neighborhoods surrounding the amphitheater at least as important as the “website updates” prioritized in this plan?

Data and transparency: Since “data” is your administration’s theme for the year, why isn’t 2025 City/VENU data on the concert noise pollution being immediately, fully and transparently released after each concert? What is being manipulated or hidden during the delay of the data?

Property values: Are you concerned about the impact of concert noise pollution on property values in District 2? Do you approve of taking dollars out of the pockets of neighborhood families who are counting on their investment in their home to benefit a $1B for-profit business?