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.
1:51 – video or it didnt happen
1:24 – I totally agree that the stroller ramming stories are infrequent, made up, or slight accidents blown out of proportion.
But it is my opinion that many kids aren’t taught to behave even reasonably well in restaurants and stores.
I don’t have an anti-kid or anti-Slope agenda, and hate reading from those who do. I like interacting with kids and am not hypersensitive to what they do – I know they have limitations in their capabilities. But opinions do differ – even from reasonable, non-haters. Recognize that.
As another NYC born and raised kid, i agree about the class issue. Once upon a time, middle class families could afford to live in the city. I grew up on the UWS, and except for those on Central Park West, lower Riverside Drive and West End Ave, all the kids were middle class. Our parents were teachers, therapists, government workers, computer programmers, accountants. And we all lived in rambling apartments, which were affordable. We had friends in brooklyn, and except for a few in Brooklyn heights, most were also middle class. Not anymore. The families that are now moving into those apartments are not middle class by any means. No way that my family or the families of my friends could ever afford to live in the city today.
1:38 I am not exempted from getting old – but you can (until physical ailment prevents it) maintain an accurate picture of history (both personal as well as societal) and thereby not be the idiot that glorifies the “good old days” since they weren’t and never were.
“Except for Jewish families, Gays, and a few eccentric left-over communists and artists, there was practically no middle class in the areas we so lovingly call “browstone brooklyn” in the 1970’s & 80’s.”
Wrong. There has long been and continues to be a solid black middle class in Crown Heights and Bed-Stuy, Clinton Hill and Fort Greene. But because most these people don’t post on Brownstoner, and the media (including Brownstoner) prefers to focus on marauding black teen-agers as opposed to law-abiding, black middle class folks, you don’t know anything about them.
There are ways to teach kids to behave without being verbally or physically abusive. Really. They actually work better.
sure, I’m older, but I don’t say the things you suggest I do. (though I do very well remember what kids were like – they came in all varieties of behaving, just as they do today.)
and you think growing older is a fate you are somehow exempted from? get a clue…
1:27 – the point could have been made without it, but I want my posts to match the judgmental generalizations that make everyone here so smug.
1:21 – Your nerdy childhood not withstanding – you grew up in the 60’s and 70’s – were you so sheltered or are you already so senile to not be able to recall what “kids” were like then.
Arent you at all embarrassed (or at least upset) that you have become that person who says “kids today!!!”, “when I was young…..” etc…. obviously not realizing that it isnt kids (or parents) who are different – it is YOU. You have become OLD