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.
actually, there are a lot more kids in the city than there used to be.
something like 40% more under-5yos than just 10 years ago. more people used to move to suburbs than now.
i know everyone thinks that it’s JUST like it was when they were a kid, but it’s not.
11:46, you are lucky that I dont live there. I’d make you buy earplugs for yourself and all of your uncontrolled brats! You’d be buying carpet to drown ME out! LOL, what a buffoon.
We all have the ability to make noise. Dont force us to use it . . .
of course noise is expected in crowded inner cities, that is not the issue. The amount and frequency of noise is the issue. Just because we live here doesnt mean that we consent to unabated hollering/hootimg/stomping/rap/crying/whateverelse.
I’ve been here in excess of 20 years, so dont be so quick to say its newcomers with unrealistic expectations. Again, it all comes down to being considerate of others. If we all thought that noise should be the norm, then none of us would ever get any sleep. I could just blast my music, use my speaker-phone, and crank up my music and television at all hours. I think that would end up hurting the people with kids more.
You know what I love….that none of the people who get so upset over the noise (my) kids make, have the balls to do anything about it, except perhaps whine on a message board.
But if any of you pu$$ies had any guts to say anything to me – I’ll give you my response now – Go f yourself! If the noise isnt bothering me (and I’m in the apartment with them) then you’re just going to have to live with it – and there isnt a damn thing you can do about it – except perhaps sell me your apartment so I can expand a bit.
I live in a typical older multiple dwelling with wooden floors. The noise from upstairs was pretty bad. When I renovated, I pulled down the ceilings (it wasn’t hard, they almost came down by themselves) and put in thick insulation between all the joist then I hung the new ceiling from straps rather than nailing it directly to the joists. The noise was cut down almost completely. an incredible difference. I skim coated and added crown moldings and no one could guess it is a new ceiling.
You cannot change people’s behavior, change your ceiling instead.
11:24–
There’s plenty of entitlement to go around on this issue.
What a bunch of kid haters. Noise is a fact of life in a big city. It seems to me the entitled ones are the singles or childless couples from the suburbs and realizing that their high priced apartment is less soundproofed than their cheap unit from suburbia.
You are going to hear noise, even in a soundproofed unit. In order to soundproof correctly, you have to adhere to building a “room within a room” construction method. But, people don’t want to since they already have a tiny apartment and have no wish making it smaller. That is one reason why people like older buildings with higher ceilings so that you can raise the floors and drop the ceilings for soundproofing.
-carpenter
Is there anyone here that understands the difference between entitlement and self-entitlement. What a shower of dimwits.
Whenever issues like this come up people blame it on parents who are trying to bring suburban lifestyles and attitudes to the city. But it sounds like a lot of single people in the new New York have the same problem.
If you move into an NYC apartment and expect not to hear noise from kids, or people moving furniture, or the old guy with his TV cranked up, or the young college grads having a party–maybe city life is not for you.
I think part of NYC’s problem is that as it’s become safer and more attractive to people who–20 years ago–never would have lived here, you now have a breed of “New Yorkers” with unreasonable expectations of city life. And that includes the people without kids.