Noxious Neighbor Help
Our neighbor seems to be developing a car repair business, in his driveway, which involves cars idling for long periods and the exhaust wafting into our home. We have told him on numerous occasions that the idling cars are causing us discomfort, and sometimes he responds in the short run by turning off the car….
Our neighbor seems to be developing a car repair business, in his driveway, which involves cars idling for long periods and the exhaust wafting into our home. We have told him on numerous occasions that the idling cars are causing us discomfort, and sometimes he responds in the short run by turning off the car. But our concerns have no lasting effect on him because obviously this is how he is supplementing his income (in addition to the illegal basement apartment and the questionable daycare business, but I digress). Yes, of course, we should call 311, but I’m aware of the downsides of outing your neighbor, plus I’m skeptical that there would be any enforcement. So, any other suggestions?
Your right vanburenproud, the neighbor won’t care how much club soda you put in your spritzer. That’s a personal choice and frankly none of his business!
OMG, your neighbor won’t care about your CO2 meter… framing the issue selfishly, in terms of your house, your comfort, your health is a one-way ticket to being ignored/ridiculed.
Thanks most of you for your helpful comments. I am definitely going to give the polite conversation another go — we are generally on polite terms and of course I don’t want to start a war with a neighbor. There’s a certain beauty to the CO detector idea and maybe I’ll give that a go. He might take our complaints more seriously if he knew that the fumes were literally setting off alarms.
Tough shit. Buy a fan.
He’ll stop when the weather gets cooler or it rains. It is his driveway, and as long as he isn’t doing anything explicitly illegal.
BTW: he’s not idling the car — he’s testing it or using it to charge the battery. That’s allowed.
Stop being a nanny.
Idling vehicles are illegal because they are a serious health issue. City kids get asthma because of idling cars. Prioritizing the needs of the many over the needs of the few, Rob, is what city living is all about.
The last thing you want to do is frame it as an issue of your personal discomfort. That strategy makes people like Rob make decisions and statements that work against the good of everyone, because they’ve been personally irritated by what they feel is your personal tenderness.
The most effective thing to do is impersonally lean on the law and law enforcement, and tell idling drivers in a “hey buddy trying to help you out” kind of way that the police have been giving out a lot of tickets for idling on this street lately. They know how expensive a ticket is, and will thank you for telling them to turn off their engine.
Surely there’s a similar strategy you can use with your neighbor.
I have the same issue on my street with a Rapid Armor terminal outside my building. They let their trucks idle constantly, and worse–I live in a school zone. Return to Ralph, it IS illegal to idle more than 3 minutes in NYC, and no more than 2 minutes in a school zone. I’m still trying to decide the best way to approach them, because I also think 311 would be a waste of time.
it’s normal city smells and living!
*butterfly*
“i think it is technically illegal for a vehicle to idle longer than 3 minutes.” Why is that? I have that problem all the time — garden apartment and buses hang outside with motor running, especially in the summer.
i think it is technically illegal for a vehicle to idle longer than 3 minutes.