NEIGHBORS OF
TRACE BREWING

Hello! We’re an organized group of community members and neighbors who live on the same block as Trace Brewing in the Bloomfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh! We are overall supportive of Trace, excited about the diversity of events and audiences Trace brings to Bloomfield, and encourage folks to continue to frequent Trace events.

However, we want to share some serious, ongoing concerns, and highlight Trace management’s lack of good-faith engagement with the neighbors who are most impacted by their outdoor parties.

We believe that if “Trace was built to be part of the Bloomfield neighborhood,” they must also respect the quality of life of the people who live here, and treat residents’ comfort and consent as part of their basic community responsibility.

THE MAIN ISSUE

In 2019, at a community meeting hosted by the Bloomfield Development Corporation (BDC), Trace assured our community that their new outdoor courtyard space would be for seating only and that there would be no outdoor amplification. (read 2019 community meeting notes here) At this time, closing Clement Way, the adjacent residential alley, for events was not even on the table.

As soon as they opened in 2021, Trace management quickly broke their word and began hosting extremely loud events in their courtyard. The noise from these events regularly filled nearby homes, even with windows closed. From mid 2021 through late summer 2023, many neighbors engaged directly with Trace management in good faith, offering reasonable solutions and our trust, yet no compromises were made.

For context, a successful music and event venue, The Shop, existed for years in Trace Brewing’s current building, and honored this exact same arrangement with the neighborhood. The Shop valued neighbors' quality of life and responded to neighborhood concerns by keeping noise from their concerts contained and indoors.

COMMUNITY ACTION

In 2023, many of us realized we’d been repeatedly gaslit and misdirected by Trace’s management. In September, nearly 50 nearby households signed a letter asking Trace to move amplified events indoors and keep windows and garage doors closed to contain the sound. This was a simple, reasonable request for a business operating in a residential neighborhood.

Trace never responded. Once neighbors began organizing collectively, management cut off communication and shut the door on collaboration. Trace continued hosting loud courtyard parties several days and evenings throughout the week. State liquor control agencies took notice and began citing Trace for multiple noise violations. In 2024 the owner pled guilty to these violations and paid a fine. Rather than compromise or respect neighbors’ quality of life, Trace continued these events, accumulating more violations until they lost their Amusement Permit and were no longer legally allowed to hold amplified events in the courtyard. Indoor events have continued, which neighbors enthusiastically support.

Since losing their amusement permit, Trace Brewing pivoted to hosting even bigger, even louder parties in the adjacent alley, Clement Way, by obtaining Special Event permits from the city. Previously, this permit was rarely used, but now it closes our residential street often multiple weekends per month from March into December—and the loud parties continue.

In response, neighbors along Clement Way developed a second petition, requesting an end to the approval of these special event permits, signed by nearly every occupied home that sits on the alley. We delivered it to the various offices in the city which oversee events permitting, but progress has been stalled by bureaucracy and a lack of clear channels for community relief.

Since opening, Trace has made no meaningful compromises of their own volition and, when pressed, management has chosen intimidation, false claims, and disparaging remarks over dialogue with their neighbors. Now, many nearby residents who used to enjoy going there no longer feel safe or welcome at Trace.

WHY THIS MATTERS

Our requests are simple:

Move amplified events indoors.
Keep windows and garage doors closed during loud events.
Treat residents’ comfort and consent as part of their community responsibility.

This is a mostly working class neighborhood: people work night shifts or multiple jobs, kids have nap schedules, people are in school. Some neighbors also have anxiety, sound sensitivity, and other disabilities that are aggravated by hours of amplified noise. We understand that city life comes with noise and that bars and restaurants can occasionally get loud, but Trace Brewing operates like a different kind of business entirely, without any regard for residents' well-being at home.

Our neighborhood is diverse and many of us remain excited and encouraged by the inclusive community events that Trace is open to hosting. We also believe that a popular brewery claiming to be a “neighborhood bar” and “community space” should do the work to address the quality of life issues they’ve created for the residential neighborhood that has otherwise welcomed them!

HOW YOU CAN HELP

We hope you’ll support both Trace Brewing and the neighbors who live here!

Contact Trace directly: Tell them that you support their business AND you support the neighborhood by asking them to keep amplified parties indoors.
If you host an event: Ask Trace to keep speakers and sound equipment indoors, with doors and windows closed.
If you attend an event: Tell management you support moving amplified events inside.
Parking for events: Parking a car in our neighborhood is difficult, we get it! Please use nearby commercial streets instead of residential ones whenever possible. Please note that most of Clement Way is a No Parking zone and parking along the buildings on Clement restricts access to many neighbors’ driveways.

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT: FAQ

I've heard that "Neighbors of Trace" isn't an actual group of neighbors, but just 2-3 neighbors who blame everything on Trace?
It's disappointing, but we are familiar with this attempt to minimize the size and undermine the legitimacy of neighborhood opposition. It is a classic conservative strategy to create the illusion that the opposition is fringe or unreasonable, thereby avoiding responsibility for the issue. While it's true that not every neighbor sees every issue in exactly the same way, we are unified around the impact that the outdoor events have had on our lives, and this is borne out in the number of signatures on our petitions and voices that have made themselves heard to local agencies.

Why are you a seemingly anonymous group?
We aren't interested in arguing about our concerns on social media, and meanwhile Trace management has harassed and named individuals who have spoken out and spread lies and misinformation about who we are and what we want. For these reasons, the safest position for our group is relative anonymity. However, all of the relevant state and local agencies have full access to our petition signatures and any other contact information they need.

Isn’t this just city living?
Actually, no! City life means traffic, porch conversations, and sirens, but not seven-hour outdoor DJ parties audible inside nearby homes.

Do you oppose Trace’s diverse and inclusive events?
Absolutely not. Many of us are part of the same communities Trace celebrates. We only ask that loud events be held indoors so everyone, attendees and neighbors, can enjoy their space.

Has Trace broken any laws?
Yes. Trace management has pled guilty to multiple noise violations, paid fines, and continued this until they lost their Amusement Permit in 2024. Legally, they can no longer hold amplified parties in the courtyard and must either hold loud events indoors or apply for a Special Event permit from the city to close Clement Way.

What’s the deal with decibels?
Sound doubles in perceived volume roughly every 10 decibels. An 80 dB reading sounds twice as loud as 70 dB, and the brick buildings along Clement Way amplify the effect.

How has Trace responded to your group?
Since we organized in 2023, Trace management has refused to engage with us. More recently, they’ve tried to discredit our efforts by spreading harmful rumors about individual neighbors, misrepresenting our motives, downplaying the size and diversity of our group, and even portraying us as a threat to their patrons’ safety—an accusation that is completely unfounded.

It’s a disappointing turn, but we value honesty and truth, and believe that our actions and years of respectful organizing to advocate for a livable, inclusive neighborhood speak for themselves.

Have you tried working with Trace?
Yes. Neighbors engaged in good faith for more than two years. Trace management stopped communicating once we organized collectively and has since spread misinformation about residents.

Does Trace communicate with neighbors about these events?
There is no local outreach, so neighbors only find out about Trace’s events on social media. While they provide the legally required notices of alley closures via a flyer in our doors ~48 hours in advance, they typically do not provide any event details and do not invite their neighbors to attend. (see Trace's standard event notice here)

Trace claims that the outdoor events are not Trace events, and they aren't responsible for them.
This is an imaginary loophole that we've been asked to believe that attempts to distance Trace management from responsibility for their local impact. But at each event, Trace attaches their branding, promotes the event, sells their beer at the event, and otherwise provides infrastructure for each event to take place. In other words, the outdoor parties wouldn't happen if Trace wasn't at that location facilitating them.

Trace claims that they have made many voluntary changes based on neighborhood complaints, why isn't this enough?
Unfortunately, we aren't aware of any changes Trace has made to mitigate their neighborhood impact that was not a result of pressure from state and local agencies. Again, several neighbors worked with Trace management in good faith for almost three years with no results, and they cut off all communication once we organized into a group.

This was never a problem until your group started complaining!
Businesses that push boundaries rely on people staying silent about the negative impacts on their lives, and many feel powerless to change their environment for the better. Once it became clear that the vast majority of neighbors were upset, and that the extreme noise from Trace’s outdoor parties was seriously harming our ability to feel comfortable in our homes, we organized and spoke up. A vibrant neighborhood depends on invested residents, and when dozens unite around an issue affecting our quality of life it signals a serious problem that needs to be addressed.

Why did law enforcement get involved?
After Trace cut off contact with neighbors in 2023, we turned to municipal and state agencies and organizations responsible for liquor licensed businesses and noise enforcement. Some of them opened their own investigations. Once these investigations begin, neighbors have no control over the methods or outcomes.