Restaurant serves all dishes besides sleep
Residents are fed with not having enough sleep because of a restaurant that is turned into a night club week after week.
Vanessa Santangelo, who resides at Fernridge Estate in Dainfern has tried different methods to block out noise coming from a newly established restaurant at Dainfern Square. However, none of them work in her favour. She said she was used to sleeping between 21:00 and 22:00 but lately, she only falls asleep after 01:00.
She said this is because from Thursday until Monday, she is expected to listen to cars revving, screeching sounds, and people screaming to loud music at La Parada, a restaurant that allegedly turns into a club at night. Santangelo no longer enjoys her beauty and peaceful nights of sleep, she says.
“This is not just any sound but one that you can feel from your chest as it bangs. I am just 200 metres away from the shopping centre so you can imagine what I am going through. I tried everything to block out the noise like switching the television on and watching it till I fell asleep, but it did not help in any way. They are screaming and what is worse is that the music is played outside not inside the club. So, the wavelengths travel freely.”
Santangelo said she always wakes up tired as a result, “It is not nice because I start working from 08:00 so I have to wake up at 07:30 at least to start preparing for my meetings which I attend feeling tired. We have complained several times to the management of the restaurant with no success.”
Another resident, Carlos Rodrigues shared the same sentiments. He said even though he is a senior citizen, he is more concerned about his daughter who is still studying. He told us their predicament has been going on for four months now.
Rodrigues has sent a series of emails as seen by the Review – to the management of the shopping centre, the JMPD, as well as La Parada.
He wrote: “Your tenant La Parada has absolutely no respect for the residents in the area and chooses to bang out ridiculously loud music weekly from Thursdays to Sunday nights. Sunday the 24th of September 2023 was the breaking of the camel’s back with louder than usual blaring music, over boisterous patrons and vehicle motorbike and vehicle revving that would awaken the dead. I phoned the establishment three times to talk to the manager and had the phone put down on me three times.
“I am more than certain that the Dainfern Shopping Center does not have nightclub rights and that La Parada is in breach of their lease that’s in place. That being said we do not see Dainfern Shopping Center owners or management taking any action to curb this intolerable behaviour by La Parada. Residents in the area support your establishment but you have no care for the residents being abused by your La Parada tenant.
“I am sure the owners and management of the Dainfern Center as well as the CEO of Life and Brand must be pretty proud of yourselves to see residents being deprived of sleep and peace. Residents have put up with this debacle for way too long and it is time to take action to sort this debacle out.”
The centre management, Theresa Fourie acknowledged the receipt of the complaint and cc’d the general manager of La Parada, George Maluleka who told us “I have to speak with my boss and would revert with detailed feedback.
JMPD’s Xolani Fihla said, “I will check with the team from the region, but what I do know is that we do attend to these complaints and thereafter issue a warning to the person who makes noise to stop. It is the least that we can do as JMPD, the people who enforce noise bylaws are environmental health because they have the equipment to measure the disciples emanating from that place and if they are above a prescribed limit, then they issue a notice to either reduce or JMPD will impound the sound system.”
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