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.
there were 1.5 billion people on this planet in 1908. Now there are almost 7 billion. Let’s keep having children and let them do whatever they want to do.
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.
In those days it was the “inner city” read “hellhole”.
Period.
Next question?
12:30 – have you tried talking to your neighbors? Asked them to keep their kids in areas not above your bedroom when they wake up early (if their apartment is big enough?) They may have to child-latch the door to keep the kids out of some rooms. Good luck.
You have to get in there and set the rules early on when you move in. I live next door from a very jumpy 3 year old boy. The boy was super quiet as a baby (no crying) but as he grew up, he started jumping up and down. This does not work well in a wood beam structure building.
The neighbor is a nice guy, we go next door and ask our neighbors to either take the boy outside for a walk or make him stop jumping. It is quite disturbing to hear a thud and have the floor shake every 10 minutes if not less. It is alarming, and really does not induce relaxation after a hard day at work.
I feel like in the past, adults/parents would not put up with this kind of behavior. It seems that now people don’t want to tell their children what to do, fearing that they are not letting their children “be themselves”. I don’t find this a great excuse, or a great way to rear children.
I never walk in my apartment with shoes because I respect my downstairs neighbors (having lived below a woman who walked around the apartment in high heels all the time). I love loud music, I don’t play it loud everyday. If I wanted to “be myself” I would play it everyday.
Parents should get a grip and realize that their children they so glorify are not glorified by their neighbors. Also, some mothers walk around the streets expected to be treated like queens with their babies. They block the sidewalk, expect to be allowed to pass ahead of you with their bulky strollers. Just because you have a baby, it doesn’t make you special. It was your choice to have a child after all, not something forced upon you. So live with it and face the responsibilities that come with it. It smacks of a sense of entitlement to do otherwise. Train your monkeys! Respect your neighbors!
Oh yeah, and NYC 20-30, 40, 50, 60, etc. years ago was mostly a middle class/working class city. It wasn’t just poor people and rich people … it was basically a totally mixed economic environment.
When things got bad the middle class left to Jersey and Long Island. My neighborhood in Jersey was full of kids fresh from Brooklyn.
The midwest is not depopulated. It has cities. I was raised in one, and taught to be considerate.
They know, they just don’t care. Sometimes they don’t want to curb the kid’s expression; sometimes they are just lazy about it; sometimes they just don’t like someone telling them what to do. It is the parents attitude that sometimes needs adjustment – I don’t blame it on the kids.
Did any of you retards even read the f’ing article? While I know it doesnt fit into your NIMBY, everything old is good- everything new is bad Agenda – but the article (CORRECTLY) cites PRE_WAR construction in smaller buildings (read = BROWNSTONES) as having horrible noise characteristics.
Quote – from the article ““Any building that has a wood beam floor construction†— which includes most prewar buildings up to six stories tall — “is going to be more prone to these problems,†said Mr. Hauenstein, the acoustics expert. And even high-rise prewar buildings, with masonry floors, don’t necessarily live up to their reputation for being quiet. The insulation, which resembles ashy debris, can settle over time, and contractors sometimes remove it by mistake during renovation.”
So is it inappropriate to ask an upstairs neighbor to ask them to keep their 3-year-old kid from running around from 530am to 7am on Saturday & Sunday mornings? We are up at 4am on weekdays & are very sensitive about our neighbors below, but the running around & stomping from above seems inappropriate before 7am on a Sat/Sun. Any thoughts…we do not blame the kid, she is only 3.
12:27 – do you have an impacted stool? prune juice might help. good luck!