Everything on this page can be done under laws Boulder already has. Nothing requires a new ordinance, a new budget line of any size, or a court. These are the specific administrative changes we have formally asked for — and where each one stands.
A note on scope, for readers inside and outside government. Everything on this page can be done under ordinances Boulder already has — not one item below needs a new law, and we think that is the most useful thing we can tell you about it. Where the data convinces us that an ordinance itself should change, we do advocate for that, and we label it as what it is rather than folding it in with the administrative asks. You will always be able to tell which kind of ask you are reading.
These recommendations are an initial version, published August 2026. They will be revised as the data and the city’s response develop, and we are actively seeking thoughtful feedback — especially disagreement — from residents, officers, city staff, property owners, and students: yourneighbor@quietenjoymentproject.org.
Make proactive noise patrol standing policy — not one sergeant’s briefing. Officers drive the Hill Thursday–Saturday, 9 p.m.–2 a.m., disperse nuisance parties on observation, and cite on the 100/200-foot audibility standard. Every word of that is already law (B.R.C. 5-9-6, 5-3-11).
Requested Aug. 2026
Staff the Hill team through the peak. Its current shift ends at 10 p.m. — the hour the complaint curve takes off.
Requested Aug. 2026
Publish a quarterly noise-enforcement scorecard: complaints, response times, warnings vs. citations, officer-initiated citations. The city’s own open-data feed proves this costs almost nothing.
Requested Aug. 2026
Set an enforcement policy: second verified complaint at the same address within 12 months brings a citation, not another warning.
Requested Aug. 2026
Ban outdoor amplified sound in residential zones, as a Council member has proposed — with every verified violation producing at least a written warning entered in the police record, so the ban changes the count and not just the words. (This one is an ordinance change, and we label it as such.)
Proposed Sept. 2026
Let credible video earn the first warning: a time-stamped recording from a resident’s property or the public way, showing the source address and submitted under the resident’s name, is enough for a written warning without an officer standing on the sidewalk to hear it. Anonymous clips do not count; the recipient can contest in writing.
Proposed Sept. 2026
Accept resident sound-meter readings taken to a published protocol — Type 2 meter or better, calibration certificate within 12 months, field-calibrator check before and after, 25 feet beyond the property line per state law, time-stamped log — as evidence for a warning or summons, whoever holds the meter.
Proposed Sept. 2026
Patrol proactively, as the Hill sergeant has already directed — no call, no meter, and no complainant are required to shut down and cite an audible party.
Requested Aug. 2026
Treat resident sound-meter readings and authenticated video as the corroborating evidence the code already permits.
Requested Aug. 2026
Cite, don’t warn, at repeat addresses. A warning at a house with double-digit complaints is not enforcement; it is scheduling.
Requested Aug. 2026
We will mark each item Done when it happens — and say so in the next report. The list is short on purpose. None of it is hard. All of it is overdue.