Here’s an article about someone who not only failed to do her research about the neighborhood she was moving into…but also about NYC life in general.
Even after the NYPD themselves replied with the following:
She’s reminding me of two busybodyish complainants who I’ve witnessed had the riot act read to them by cops for wasting their time responding to invalid complaints…a late middle-aged man in my old building 2 decades ago who called the cops on schoolchildren for making normal noise one would expect of children returning home from school at 3:30 - 4 pm and a week or two ago…senior citizen lady who complained about noise from a baseball game being played by a group of teens at a nearby park at 2 pm on a saturday.
This complainant should also be aware that NYC noise ordinance doesn’t start applying until 10 pm on a weekday night…which itself is a major change from the past as before 2007, it was 11 pm. NOT 9 pm or earlier in the evening.
Incidentally, I live in an UMC area and we have Mr. Softee Ice Cream Trucks playing their jingle within a block of the local precinct for years without obvious issues even given the higher likelihood of busybodyish complainers like the one in the story linked below because it has a high number of well-off retirees.
Actually, an ice cream truck parked in one place playing their jingle that loudly for an hour or more sounds really annoying. That’s probably why they have a law that says they can’t do it. Guy needs to turn it down or move around more.
Part of living in a major metropolis is understanding and accepting annoyances such as loud noises will be a …especially outside of noise ordinance hours(In NYC…10 pm-6 am or thereabouts).
This is underscored by the responses the busybodyish complainer received from the NYPD…no response required…BUSINESS AS USUAL. It would have been a different story if that truck was blaring the jingle at midnight but that’s NOT what happened here.
And the cluelessness on display is remarkable considering she says she grew up in NYC. As a native New Yorker I can assure you that there were Mr. Softee and other ice cream trucks blaring their jingles all over the borough including the UWS for years…even decades.
So long as they were doing it outside of NYC noise ordinance hours(10 pm - 6 am or thereabouts) the NYPD and city authorities have higher priority cases to handle than these busybodyish complaints.
OMG! She needs to move to the country. Wait, actually, I did… I moved to the suburbs, where the sound of crickets, birds and other country creatures continue to disturb my sleep. I miss the Mister Softee Man, at least I’m not scared of him like I am of the crickets, and it reminds me of my childhood in The Bronx, where I would occasionally be allowed to have a cone.
Mackenzie needs to get a a life or a white noise machine.
I have lived in major cities and spent plenty of time on the UWS and IME what really drove people nuts were the endlessly blaring car alarms, usually when people had had to park blocks away from their building and thus could not hear it. I think that this woman needs to get over it, because clearly nothing will be done unless some critical mass of other people become equally annoyed.
Speaking of alarms and “the country,” a while ago in CT we had a neighbor who had a really loud house alarm that would go off on the weekend while they were away, sometimes overnight, and it sounded continuously until they finally came home. It was so loud that it was loud inside our house with all the windows shut, and this was in an area where everyone has 2+ acres. This house was diagonally across the street, probably at least 600 ft away. Eventually I started calling the police after it had gone on for an hour or more. Eventually the police called the alarm company, and something was done about it, thank doG.
ETA: Afraid of crickets? Really? Time for a theraputic rereading of A Cricket in Times Square.
Yes, but cobrat is saying that no red-blooded city dweller should expect that law to be enforced.
Personally, I think she has a point when she says that people in that neighborhood are accustomed to receiving the short end of the stick when it comes to quality of life issues.
^^I assume that someone(s) on the city council who passed the ordinance expected it to be enforced? Even the Real Estate blogger for the Times says this:
fwiw: the law was signed by Bloomberg, and de blasio was on the city council at the time.
One major issue is that as the newcomer to the neighborhood, she didn’t sound out her neighbors…especially long-time residents to see if this was also a high priority issue with them or not to complain about it in the manner she did. If she had and was genuine about being a part of/helping the community, she might have understood there were much higher priority concerns they have than Ice cream truck jingles in the evening before 10 pm.
Especially considering one reason many longer-term residents may not have been as interested other than the fact they didn’t feel it being a major bother is past history of newcomers like her filing noise complaints against longer standing neighborhood institutions in that very neighborhood dominated by longtime residents from marginalized communities such as gospel choirs.
@Consolation - I am afraid of crickets and all other country bugs. The thought of one jumping on me while I am sleeping is disturbing. Ironically, I never had a problem squashing the errant roach when I lived in the city, but crickets send me screaming for H.
I actually do agree that some areas get less preferential treatment than others when it comes to services but, despite that, I also think that if you want to live in the city, particularly Manhattan, you need to deal with noise.
This happens when people move to new housing in the country also. People call and complain about roosters crowing on the weekends or the farmer plowing early in the morning or the smell of manure
People move to the suburbs/exurbs and demand that they receive city water, because the idea of a well just freaks them out. Same thing with sewers and septic systems.
If you think about it, a drilled well and a properly-functioning septic system is by far the most sustainable set-up. But of course it usually requires large-lot zoning and depends on the local soil conditions.
And like the long-time Harlem residents, I wouldn’t be surprised if the long-time residents of those rural areas…especially farmers look askance at such transplants and regard them as clueless busybodies who not only didn’t do their research…but want to effectively force the longtime residents to pay for their cluelessness.
In fact, wasn’t that one of the origins of the rural country residents/farmers’ stereotype of recent transplants from urban/suburban areas as “City Slickers”?
Heh.
Every summer I’ve been in my current neighborhood, there’s a Mr. Softee truck playing the jingle…even when parked within a block or two of the local precinct and yet, no one has forced that particular truck to stop the jingles.
One possibility is that the local cops not only don’t feel it’s an issue so long as it’s during the day/early evening hours before 10 pm, the large presence of families with young children who feel like you do are more than enough to counteract any busybodyish person inclined to file complaints or try getting the truck to stop.
The law WAS being violated. New York City law prohibits vehicles from idling for more than three minutes, and mobile food vendors cannot play music while the vehicle is stopped."
It is not unreasonable to request that the law be followed. This may be a low priority for police but to suggest that the complaintant is a " busybody" who should be " read the riot act" is troubling. There is NOTHING wrong with asking for the law to be enforced.
This law was put into place only in the last 2 decades by Mayors Bloomberg and DeBlasio. In short, it's a recent law...not an old one. And it's one which causes many in marginalized communities to believe both mayors prioritize the needs of wealthier recent transplants who unknowingly/knowingly bring forth gentrification with all its associated problems for poorer long-term residents...most of whom are from marginalized communities.
One reason why many longtime Harlem residents aren't sympathetic to the complainer is that they've experienced past incidents of recent transplants like that complainer using noise complaints against long-standing neighborhood institutions popular among marginalized groups...such as gospel choirs.
That and the complainer is a recent transplant who just moved into the neighborhood and failed to sound out longtime neighbors to see if this issue is a high priority for them…or are there greater issues/priorities on hand.
Just because there’s a law on the books doesn’t necessarily mean it’s right or it must be uncritically enforced at all times without taking the local neighborhood context into account.
And this is reflected in the attitudes of the long-time residents in that area of Harlem and the cops from the local NYPD precinct…though in the latter case it’s more that they often have far more serious issues to handle and regard such complaints outside of noise ordinance hours(10 pm - 6 am or thereabouts) as a “waste of their time”.
Well, the fact that it’s a recent law carries more weight than if it were an old one, in my book. And it WASN’T a gospel choir, it was an ice cream truck.
One of the key reasons why most of that recent transplant complainer’s neighbors weren’t sympathetic to her complaints or using that law is precisely because they’ve experienced seeing previous recent transplants like her use such laws to try to encroach on their long-time neighborhood cultural institutions such as the gospel choir.
And it’s not lost on them how it’s not a coincidence that such laws tend to be used against individuals and neighborhood cultural institutions popular among marginalized communities by recent transplants who aren’t from such communities.
It’s their perogative not to be sympathetic. But to claim someone is a " busybody" who should be read the riot act by cops because they asked for a law that’s on the books to be enforced isn’t a very fair assessment. Anyone has every right to ask that a specific law like this one be enforced. You don’t have to get anyone else’s pemission. I think you were confused about the law she sought to have enforced. Which is one that affects very specific businesses. Not citizens going about their day/evening and being accused of being noisy.
