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Noisy neighbors on other side of back yard -- need help! — Brooklynian

Noisy neighbors on other side of back yard -- need help!

brooke lynn knight
brooke lynn knight
edited November -1 in Park Slope
The neighbors on the next block, whose 3rd floor balcony is one house over from our back yard, like to play their music REALLY LOUD out the window. They do it pretty much every weekend day and night. I've never met these people, but I believe they are renters; they made last summer miserable and they look to be doing the same with this summer.

I don't know their names, and I have no real chance to meet them unless I stake out their house like some creepy stalker. I need to get them to stop. It's so loud that when our back windows are open for needed ventilation, it sometimes sounds like the radio is on in the room.

I don't want to be passive aggressive, but I figure I need send them a letter, since all I know about them is where they live and I know no other way to get in touch with them. What should I say? Should I remain anonymous or give them my name and cell #? Is there any better way to do this? I would be happy to do whatever it takes, whether that means bribing them or calling the cops (not that either of those would necessarily work, either). My secret fear is that they know how loud it is and they are trying to disturb the neighbors for their own pathetic reasons, but of course I have no way of being sure what their motive is.

Anyway, any advice would be appreciated. And if you've been the loud neighbor, I'd especially like to know what might have gotten you to turn the music down.

Comments

  • armchair_warrior
    armchair_warrior
    just call cops on them. cops would come and they'll lower their sound.
  • em26
    em26
    LOL , somebody is playing some music outside my place right now. They have a table set up outside of my apartment too. It sounds like reggae music or something like that. I really don't care. I have the computer near the window , and I have it open for the nice breeze. When I close the window and watch tv , or get up and do other things , I don't really notice the music anymore.

    I think your letter idea is a good one. Don't give them your cell number. Leave your first name , or just signed "your neighbor". They are gonna do what they want , so giving them your personal info won't help in their decision.
  • brooke lynn knight
    brooke lynn knight
    Armchair warrior, have you ever actually called the cops on someone loud? Do they take noise complaints seriously and actually come and take care of them?
  • 1st_streeter
    1st_streeter
    Post a note on their door asking them to stop or you'll call 311 to make a formal complaint. Try to find out who the landlord is and complain directly. Or discuss it with your own landlord if you rent, he might be able to help. I complained to my landlady about loud music from upstairs and they lowered it considerably.
  • brooklynpotter
    brooklynpotter
    you wouldn't happen to be on 15th street, would you? because there's a group of people on 16th who have fraternity-like parties every weekend all summer.
  • violet
    violet
    I've called 311 about noisy neighbors music (located from me exactly where yours are from you, but in Bed Stuy).

    Last summer a few times about half hour after I called the music got quieter for 10 minutes, then went back up (as if the police had come, they turned the music down, then turned it up again when the police left). So I called again with a new complaint.

    A few times this year the music has gone down a while after I called 311, but I don't know why. Did the police come and ask them to turn it down, or did they just decide, at last, to go to sleep?

    Once this year I called 311, then figured I'd call the precinct for good measure. When I called the precinct the person who answered the phones already knew my information. So I know that the information DOES get from 311 to the police. But a noise complaint - as frustrating and infuriating as it can be - is a low priority call. So if there is anything else that the police have to do they won't be able to address the noise complaint right away.

    But either way, I figure, calling 311 with a quality of life complaint might at least make the statistics reliable, so that when resources are allocated we might get some more. Also, I like to have it on record.

    This year 311 now says that I can call back with my incident number in EIGHT HOURS for an update. That is new. I try to cut my neighbors some slack, so I didn't call, for example, for the party with the SCREAMING children and amplified MC on Saturday afternoon (though I might have had they gone on into the night). But I do call, even early in the day, about those who habitually break the law about volume because they are so disrespectful to the community.

    When you call have as much information about them as you can so that the police know what door to knock on. Walk on their block and get their address, and then tell 311 which floor they're on. (I personally would not go to a neighbor with a noise complaint. Nowadays people who I ask to be quiet in a movie theater, while the movie is running, swear and threaten me, so I figure the noise their making in their homes won't be lowered for the likes of me. And I don't want to fight about it - I just want quiet enjoyment, you know? I would not give the neighbors any of my personal information. 311 does ask - does anyone know why? They say, in case the police want to contact me. Does that sound right?)

    Here's the law: http://home2.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/airnoise.html
    http://www.tenant.net/Rights/Noise/noise4.html

    Good luck!
  • sje
    sje
    Sunday night, we had "Dueling Sound Systems"TM in our back yards, Reggae on one side, and three houses down, smooth dance music. They each kept turning it up, and this lasted until 2 IN THE DAMN MORNING! The reggae "won", because of a louder bassline. I still have a headache.

    Unfortunately, on a Friday, Saturday or holiday night, I believe all's fair, and I didn't call 311. But I wonder, ARE THESE FREAKING PEOPLE DEAF??? How can this be a pleasureable listening or even dancing experience?

    sigh.
  • torisoaw
    torisoaw
    We heard them too last night on 16th Street, cranking up the reggaeton and linkin park (we were on 13th). As long as they're blasting quality musical selections like that, which truly cater to the tastes of everyone in the neighborhood, then good on 'em! I know we enjoyed it immensely! It was like having our very own free neighborhood DJ. Hooray! Thanks guys!
  • brooke lynn knight
    brooke lynn knight
    I guess I'm not surprised to find I'm the only one that's suffering. Seems like most people feel I shouldn't sign the note or put contact info -- I'm glad I asked for advice, because now that I think about it, the people in question are obviously not full of compassion and concern for others' well-being, to put it mildly... so maybe it's better if they don't have my name so they can't connect the dots when I go 311 on their ass.

    I think I may have found a more direct solution, anyway... maybe... I looked on propertyshark.com and found out who owns the house. It's a two-family, which confirms my suspicion that the loud ones are renters. I wonder, if I called the landlord, if I'd get any satisfaction. I think I'll try that first, because a note is so wimpy somehow.

    But I just want to know: Why, why, why do people do this to their neighbors? People will get outraged over suffering Darfur or Tibet or Iraq or New Orleans or whatever, but when it comes to the actual flesh & blood families living right next door, all too often it's strictly 'go fuck yourself, stranger -- I don't owe you shit."

    And we can't blame "poverty" or "desperation" for most of this sociopathic behavior, because a lot of this noise comes from places where rents are thousands of dollars, and frankly, if you can afford a 10,000 watt stereo system, you ain't "poor" anyway. No, I fear we are succumbing to a rising tide of omni-racial, omni-socioeconomic fucktardery.
  • sterling2000
    sterling2000
    Brooke Lynn Knight wrote: Armchair warrior, have you ever actually called the cops on someone loud? Do they take noise complaints seriously and actually come and take care of them?
    Call 311...generally if it's after 10pm, the cops will be there pretty quickly. I've done this a number of times over the years in Fort Greene, Park Slope and Prospect Heights.
  • raw
    raw
    We need a noisy neighbor support group that offers emotional support, tactics for noise termination, and a suicide/murder prevention 24 hour hotline.
  • brooklynpotter
    brooklynpotter
    raw wrote: We need a noisy neighbor support group that offers emotional support, tactics for noise termination, and a suicide/murder prevention 24 hour hotline.
    or a free pod hotel in the park
  • daphnemays
    daphnemays
    raw wrote: We need a noisy neighbor support group that offers emotional support, tactics for noise termination, and a suicide/murder prevention 24 hour hotline.
    Isn't that what bars are for? ;-)
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