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April 10, 2009
Teen Challenge loves Basketball
My next door neighbors, the Teen Challenge men's dormitory, play basketball incessantly. I don't need an alarm clock because every single morning I am woken up by the dribbling, grunting, shouting and fights. It's pretty much right outside my window and it's driving me insane. It goes on all day long and I mean ALL hours of daylight non-stop. The only time they aren't playing is at night when I'm usually at work. They constantly lose their ball over the fence and yell into our windows for us to go into the buildings' yard and get it back for them. We told them to get it themselves and they said they aren't allowed to leave the property. Anyone remember the Saturday Night Live Skit with Mrs. Delvecchio screaming "I keep it now!" whenever a kids ball went in her yard? That's gonna be me soon. Has anyone ever tried dealing with these people? It's completely ridiculous. I know silly me should have known I was moving in next door to a drug rehab or whatever it is, but it was the dead of winter and they weren't playing as much then. The house just looked like another pretty mansion from the front. I can only imagine as the weather gets nicer they will be playing even more. This is partly a rant and partly a request for suggestions or anyone else's experience with them.
Comments
lol...I would never have moved right next to a basketball court in that area...dont you see what goes on at inner city basketball courts? Drugs, fights, stupid kids yelling...
Posted by: nybk01 at April 10, 2009 12:46 PM
lol at your SNL reference, i totally remember that hahaha. at first i was going to be like oh deal with it, but actually that has got to be annoying. so i do feel for you. will you be putting an Air conditioner in the window in the summer? that will help a lot. i dont know if this is absurd or not, but maybe you can build a brick wall or something? it would probably be terrible to look at but would block some sound and also keep the basketball from going into your area.
maybe polish up on your skills and go over there? kidding.
*rob*
Posted by: PitbullNYC at April 10, 2009 12:52 PM
Have you tried setting up an appointment to speak with the director, counselors, etc., and approach it as a good neighbor, good citizen learning opportunity? In anticipation of that meeting, apparently Rev. Don Wilkerson, Teen Challenge's Executive Director, has authored a book just for you: "Within a Yard of Hell." http://teenchallengebrooklyn.com/html/about_our_director.html
Posted by: vinca at April 10, 2009 12:53 PM
It's not a basketball court..it's a backyard of a house that they have turned into a basketball court.
Posted by: boofer at April 10, 2009 12:53 PM
Vinca has the right approach.
Posted by: slopefarm at April 10, 2009 12:59 PM
Vinca "Within a Yard of Hell" how hilariously ironic.
Rob I can't build a wall cause I'm renting. Maybe I could convince my landlord to put up a wooden fence to replace the chainlink one we have now.
Posted by: boofer at April 10, 2009 1:02 PM
You moved in next to a basketball court and now you're upset that "these people" are playing basketball when it's nice out?
That's just silly and even more silly that you're here complaining about it.
Posted by: SJ at April 10, 2009 3:01 PM
Consider yourself lucky you are renting. Just move out when your lease is up and consider it a lesson learned. No way you are going to go toe to toe with a social services agency and win.
Posted by: newsouthsloper at April 10, 2009 3:42 PM
Sj maybe you missed the part where I said that I did not move in next to a basketball court. It is a backyard of a mansion where the residents play basketball. I do not want to move out, I love my apartment and I wouldn't move out over this, but imagine you moved somewhere seemingly normal and then discovered that your neighbors are reliving march madness every single day.
Posted by: boofer at April 11, 2009 4:13 AM
Boofer I think your problem here is two-fold.
First you seem to be on an opposite sleep schedule than most people (work at night, sleep during day) and basketball noise could just as easily be major construction noise outside for the next two years, etc. You risk that living in a city, but planning to sleep during daylight hours.
Second, you already said the residents there are apparently not allowed to leave the grounds, which means they are probably bored out of their minds, and on nice days are going to be outside making noise and being active.
I think your best bet is to sit-down with one of the directors and have a clear idea of your goal (they don't start playing basketball until after 10am, etc). If that doesn't work obviously you need to suck it up or move.
Posted by: setancre at April 11, 2009 10:58 AM
throw a little bit of mr. brownstone over the fence along with the ball
Posted by: 11211 at April 13, 2009 6:50 PM
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