Noise Annoys, Rugrat Edition
The most frequent noise complaint real estate lawyer Stuart Saft hears nowadays concerns kids. “Fifteen years ago or so, it used to be that the noise complaints were all about loud stereo and TV equipment,” Saft is quoted as saying in a Times story about the pitter patter of tiny feet driving neighbors crazy. “Now…
The most frequent noise complaint real estate lawyer Stuart Saft hears nowadays concerns kids. “Fifteen years ago or so, it used to be that the noise complaints were all about loud stereo and TV equipment,” Saft is quoted as saying in a Times story about the pitter patter of tiny feet driving neighbors crazy. “Now it’s kid noise more than anything else, and I think it demonstrates the changing demographic of the city. You have more kids living in the apartment buildings, and parents who feel their children have the right to be children.” The story focuses on people like a Slope couple with two kids who try to keep their children from running around before 8 a.m. because their downstairs neighbor finds the tots’ noise “exhausting. Even my boyfriend doesn’t ever want to come over — it’s so horrible.” Another Slope mom says she “probably tried a little too hard” to keep her kids quiet and not upset neighbors when, at the end of the day, “They were not doing anything outrageous. They were just doing normal kid things. But small children, especially toddlers, have this clumsy flatfooted walk. It’s impossible to control.” The article says noise carries in a lot of prewar construction, especially in smaller buildings, and when apartments are renovated or combined, the end result is often the loss of some insulation. Some co-op boards install sound meters in apartments to determine if neighbors’ complaints are warranted, though the most frequent solution appears to also the most time-trusted when it comes to New Yorkers and their tight quarters: Compromise. “We do indeed walk on eggshells, and I find myself on tiptoes if I have high heels on, even when I’m not home,” says another Brooklyn parent.“I’m a trained monkey. But my 19-month-old is not.”
The Noise Children Make [NY Times]
Photo by Joey Harrison.
12:04, that’s not the least bit true. This used to be a much more middle-class, middle everything city. When I was a kid here twenty years ago, my extremely middle-everything family could afford to live in a big old apartment building, full of other families like us and also old German Jews who looked out for/yelled at us when we played outside. We were of modest means, and so were all of my friends in the neighborhood. Now, all of that is gone. Only the very wealthy can afford to live in many parts of the city, a subject that has been covered exhaustively elsewhere. Besides, what does that have to do with the stompity-stomp of little feet? Kids make the same amount of noise no matter how much money their parents make.
We were taught to be considerate of everyone around us, and the kids around me now seem to be taught the same in my very middle-class part of Brooklyn. It’s adults who are the problem. Someone in the building next door to mine plays mariachi music at ear-crushing volume, at 3 in the morning, a few nights a week in the summer. Someday someone’s gonna hurt that guy. And the woman next door has an ancient air conditioner that sounds like a jet engine. She also screams and curses horribly at her kids every morning. I’ll take kid’s-play noise over that any day.
I dont know why this is so controversial. I moved to the city so I could have some peace and quiet and respite from all the early morning lawn mowers, leaf blowers, bouncing basketballs and driveway mechanics in the suburbs – and of course the minute I move to the city – obviously expecting peace and quiet – the kids and the noise seemed to follow me here.
12:04 – yes lets all hope that middle class people with children in NYC is a passing trend – the sooner we can revert to a completely stratified society with as few children as possible the quicker we can have all the crime, misery and problems that used to make NYC so much fun.
Yeah, I am rather sensitive to noise, so I prefer top floor apartments when looking, and I also check out the backyard areas to look for bars and restaurants, especially ones with backyards. I also avoid restaurant fans – had a friend in Manhattan who was kept awake by a very powerful, noisy restaurant fan outside the window of her studio apartment.
That’s one reason I like Brooklyn livign better – it’s more residential, thus easier to find an apartment on a quiet street with nothing commercial out back. Of course if something opens up back there after you move in, you’re out of luck. And no, I’ve never lived in a suburb, I’m a city person. I just recognize there are apartments that are noisier than others, and have learned this the hard way.
when i was 11 months old and learning how to walk – and i remember this very clearly – my parents gave me giant levitating sound-absorbing bean-bag boots. and each morning after fixing myself a cup of soothing chamomile tea i would strap them on very carefully and practice my walking. then i would make some low-carb frittatas for my neighbors (having been taught by my parents the value of smart food choices), separating out the yolks for myself (because i wasn’t old enough for eggwhites, natch!) and the whites for the grown-ups. while the frittatas cooked, i worked on a composting plan for the building or, sometimes, rearranged the spice rack. then, when the frittatas were done, but never before the church bell across the street rang to signify that it was 10am (i guess i was a slow learner and couldn’t yet tell time on my own), i would use my levitating boots to deliver the frittatas all around my building.
once, when i was 13 months i forgot to close the door behind me when making my deliveries. later that month, my dad showed me how that had resulted in a 10% increase in the heating costs for the day compared to the prior year. so i learned my lesson!
anyway, as i was saying, because i couldn’t talk or write the neighbors may not have understood why there was a levitating bean-bag-booted baby outside their door bearing a healthy egg breakfast. but they were always very, very grateful anyway, even though they did sometimes ask me why i didn’t bring them coffee and fresh-squeezed orange juice, too.
think how much more wonderful this world would be if everyone was raised like i was. actually, think how wonderful this world would be if everyone was just like me in every regard!
twenty years ago the kids you would see in the city were usually the really poor kids and the rich private school kids. Now, the middle class has somehow decided (I think it isn’t a great idea) to pretend they are rich, send their kids to $30,000-a-year elementary schools, and cram themselves and their ever-expanding belongings into modest apartments that were deigned for elegance over function. Insane. These people are affluent, they could have tons of space anywhere else.
I agree with the poster that hopes this is just a passing trend. It is too illogical to be anything else.
Bigger noise problem is Union Hall and all those bars with backyards open late and disturbing people that keep working hours.
I’m 10:28 – and I didn’t mean to imply that some parents aren’t considerate or that all feel put upon – what I was commenting on are the ones I know who AREN’T considerate and do feel put upon, and my surprise at that.
And money was no object to my friends in buying floor coverings. And shouldn’t be for most people anyway – you can always buy very nice quality, clean, cheap used rugs from folks who are moving on Cragislist. You could just as easily say – “trash cans and trash bags cost money, so I think I’ll throw my garbage out the window.” There are many ways in which we have to spend money to comply with laws and contracts – it’s part of living in society rather than as a hermit.
I had to laugh at the part where the kid asks his mom about the downstairs neighbor “Why is she sleeping?” The kid of a friend asked me the same question – I explained to her that not everyone gets up really early in the morning as she does. She looked at me quizically and thoughtfully the way toddlers do when assimilating new information that never occured to them before. (I do think some sleep-deprived parents somewhat resent that they can no longer ever, ever sleep in – hell, just sleep through a night. Some have told they resent their neighbors who can. That’s natural, to an extent, but leads sometimes to their not being terrribly understanding of those who still can, or still could if not awakened by neighbors.)
I have lived below kids a few times – their parents were fine about doing what they could, and it wasn’t terribly noisy and all was fine. By far the worst, most sleep disturbing neighbors I have ever had have been people, singles and couples, with no kids.
I agree taking off shoes when entering an apartment is the single best noise preventer (from adults footsteps anyway) – but taking off the shoes late at night and throwing them on the floor one at a time in the bedroom just above a sleeping neighbor – as was my nightly routine with one 20-something entitled rich b**ch whose parents bought her the apartment above (the coop learned the hard way, through a series of incidents not related to noise, why some coops frown on such purchasers) – is not the way to remove the shoes! (Hence the origin of the phrase “waiting for the other shoe to fall..”)
Wear earplugs at to bed and get a loud A/C in summer for white noise. Also get to know your upstairs neighbor, since in my experience the noise made by strangers is harder on the nerves than that made by people you’re familiar with (dunno why).
My own “modest proposal”.