Noisy Neighbors
Okay, so in this case, we’re the “noisy neighbors.” We recently moved from Manhattan into a brownstone in Park Slope. Our new place has outdoor space (that we pay a premium for) and we’re definitely planning to utilize the space during the summer months. My husband and I both work until 7pm so the only…
Okay, so in this case, we’re the “noisy neighbors.”
We recently moved from Manhattan into a brownstone in Park Slope. Our new place has outdoor space (that we pay a premium for) and we’re definitely planning to utilize the space during the summer months. My husband and I both work until 7pm so the only time to take advantage of the backyard is in the evenings as we tend to travel on the weekends. Over the past week we have been out back gardening (trying to beautify our new outdoor space) until about 10pm and one weeknight we had friends over until just before 10pm. I would say that 99% of the time it will just be me and my husband out back and when we’re out there we often play music, but at what I would consider a reasonable level (for example, I can’t hear it when I enter the apartment and close the door). Coming from Manhattan, we’re used to playing music and in most cases being some of the quieter people in our old building. We understand that we live near a lot of families with young children now and we’re trying to find a balance between enjoying our outdoor space and being respectful of our neighbors.
We received a complaint from one of our neighbors that we are being too noisy and that music is meant to be kept indoors in our new neighborhood. As I said, we want to be respectful of our neighbors and certainly don’t want to start off on the wrong foot, but we also want to enjoy our space. When we signed the lease on our apartment nodoby mentioned a “music indoors” rule.
So, here’s my question, is playing music at reasonable levels until 9 or 10pm disrespectful? If so, what would be a reasonable time to play music until?
We would like to come to some sort of arrangement with our neighbors where we stop playing music at some designated hour, but that we still have a right to play music until that point in time without complaints or dirty looks on the street. We think that requesting that music stay indoors at all times is somewhat unreasonable. Would love to hear your thoughts…
In response to 3:40, as well as the exclamation point happy 3:35, I don’t have to have everything my way, which is specifically why I posted this question. I wanted to get a real feel for what people feel is appropriate in Park Slope. People who have lived in the neighborhood for many years need to understand that those of us who have been living in Manhattan for many years and dealing with an entirely different living environment don’t always know the standards that they live by. We’re considerate people who are attempting to make our neighbors happy while still enjoying our space. That being said, our neighbors also have to realize that everything can’t be there way either. We did not receive a visit or call from an unhappy neighbor, but instead an anonymous letter requesting that we keep all music indoors. The letter was very nicely written, but it didn’t give us anyone to respond to, or allow us to reach a mutual understanding with the person who wrote it. Accordingly, I have to resort to this message board to attempt to find out what’s reasonable for members of the community and parents with small children. I am happy to listen to my music at lower levels and even to turn it off altogether by 9pm, but asking us to never listen to music outside is somewhat unfair to us as well. Certainly if a neighbor ever requested that we turn the music off for a certain reason then we would be happy to do that.
“But someone else’s private taste in music — a very personal experience for most people — is not something I want imposed on me. EVER. ”
Anonymous 3:40pm
You have made a very good point, as did the poster right before yours… just because we can,
doesn’t mean we should, due to the “rudeness” factor.
Holy crap. That’s a few very lenient, understanding posters you just found yourself. I wonder, though, whether they’d be so understanding if your music was streaming into their subconscious. It’s like smokers. I don’t care if you smoke. But don’t let that get near my lungs if I’m in my house or my garden.
I can tolerate any amount of white noise. But someone else’s private taste in music — a very personal experience for most people — is not something I want imposed on me. EVER. And I bet you that if some jackass was playing something annoying while you were trying to work/garden/relax next door, you’d have a problem with it too.
Maybe that’s what your neighbors should do. Play music at the same time as you, at the same volume as you, right next door.
Do you really have to have everything your way, including the airwaves?
Privacy in new york is so rare and, to me, so sacred. Have some respect.
I say turn off the music outside if it’s bothering a neighbor. I think it’s ok to socialize in your garden and that 10Pm is a fair knock off time. I don’t think the OP’s closed door test is good though, because not everyone has their house closed up and AC’s on. Many people have their windows and backdoors open and sound really carries in the rear yard donut.
And to 3AM eternal. I go to bed at 10:00 and get up at 5:00. I wouldn’t mind listening to music outside while I have my breakfast at 5:30 AM but wouldn’t do it because it would be rude.
Most yard space is meant for the “quiet enjoyment” of folks during the evening hours (after 7:00pm) you mentioned that you’re entertaining friends, playing music, and fixing the yard… that’s a lot of activity and sound coming from an attached yard space for evening hours on work nights.
If your activities weren’t a disturbance you wouldn’t be getting dirty looks from your neighbors… your weeknight activity and music
are disturbing your neighbors right to quiet enjoyment of their homes.
That you travel on the weekends isn’t your neighbors problem, nor a reason that they should be subjected to a breach of their right to quiet enjoyment of their home on weeknights.
You sound as if you’re a thoughtful person, so I’m sure that with a little tweaking of your weeknight activities in the yard you will be greeted more frequently with smiling neighbors.
Good luck!
3:19’s bird comment should be engraved upon the doorposts of every home in the slope. actually i think some residents would consider that a compliment!
tell your neighbors i will take them on a guided tour of my bushwick neighborhood. let’s see if they think you’re making too much noise then.
I find outside music generally quite annoying! It’s like a loud cell phone conversation on a train–the people doing it are either manifesting a cluelessness that they are inflicting their noise on other people, or they don’t care if other people are forced to listen. I always feel as if the person playing the music just presumes that we like their music too–which is frequently far from the case!
If you are receiving complaints, your music is clearly bothering someone. Either you should turn your music way down, or stop playing it by 9 pm for sure!
Who goes to sleep at 10pm? I say you can play music until 11pm. What kind of “rule” says you can’t play light music in your own backyard? Just turn the volume down a little bit if people are complaining. They can turn on the a/c if it bothers them.
I agree with the previous poster. Reasonable lever before 10pm, fine. If it bugs neighbors or keeps their kids up, maybe turn it down a bit, but no need to go inside…