Noisy Super
Ok, so this morning at 2:30AM at least 4 people in our building were awoken by the neighboring building’s super who was noisily removing the trash from his building. It was being done in an extremely careless manner as he threw planks of wood into the dumpster and kicked bags of recycled glass / aluminum which had fallen to the ground. In short, a veritable racket. A few of us asked him from our apartment windows if he wouldn’t mind stopping the work as it was very late (early). He responded with answers like “Be quiet” and “I’m doing my job”. Someone in our building called the police who briefly showed up but left without anyone speaking to them. At that point, I ventured next door at about 3AM to talk to the super directly. We had a 2 minute conversation on the sidewalk which ended with him flatly stating “I’m the super in this building and I’ll work whenever I want”. What should or can we do?

jumpingin
in Quality of Life 9 years and 7 months ago
14
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janeinteriorsnyc | 9 years and 7 months ago
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Hope it wasn’t the drunken super who used to work in my building and thankfully no longer does…..

no-permits | 9 years and 7 months ago
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im sure if he had the communication skills you describe, he wouldn’t be a super. give the guy some slack.

thetinkerswagon | 9 years and 7 months ago
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no-permits: the super should have the communication skills to say “I am sorry, I was (or am going away) ….. and had to do this now but it will not happen again. Stev

no-permits | 9 years and 7 months ago
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can the OP answer my question? was this a one time thing? if so, you are overacting. maybe the super was away for a few days or couldn’t put the trash out during the day, and had to get it out for pickup the next day.

actionjackson | 9 years and 7 months ago
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I had the same issue with the maintenance company “servicing” the condos next door at 4am in the morning, twice a week. Send a note to a neighbor who’s on the board. The maintenance company now shows up closer to 7am. Communication with the board or owner is key, as obviously the super is unresponsive. Good luck.

slimc | 9 years and 7 months ago
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You and your neighbors should have an arsenal of water balloons ready for the next time he “does his job”.

dorkofwindsor | 9 years and 7 months ago
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You will have to speak to this person’s landlord. Either the building owner or the board. Have your lawyer write a letter if it is a large building with an unorganized or insensitive board. The list of options i can think of involve a) yell and insult b) move c) contact the board / owner or d) or use the services of a lawyer to claim that you are not being given enjoyment of your property – but based on the little i know about the law it must be substantial and continuous – although that does not stop a lot of people sending the letter. Ultimately this guy is a super but even if he was a building owner I am not sure if you can do much about this unless it rages on. People have a need / right to take their trash out, and I am not aware of any rules against when that is or a litmus test of how quiet one needs to be. The police might care if they have to respond to the call a dozen or more times, but otherwise i wouldn’t hold your breath. Many of us near the avenues have private garbage companies that come at 2-3am to pick up business trash – and they could not be louder if they tried. I mean insanely loud, yelling and screaming, smashing things in the truck. What are we going to do? People are jerks, and this is new york. There are legal avenues that can be taken but it is certainly not an overnight affair (sorry of the pun). Sleep is a big issue in this city and if this goes on long enough you may be able to claim both a private and public nuisance.

tm07 | 9 years and 7 months ago
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I suspect that if the board members of the super’s building were not awakened by the noise, then they probably received complaints from other people in their own building. As a board member, I would not speak directly to the super but would email a report to the management so that they can address the incident and I can have it on record.

no-permits | 9 years and 7 months ago
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i can’t tell from your post if this is a one time thing or it happens all the time?

thetinkerswagon | 9 years and 7 months ago
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and the board members may not even be aware this is happening, so maybe you will just need to say this during the day to them nicely. I know where you are coming from though. this is NYC and right away we have to assume that someone is going to give us attitude instead of saying “I am sorry, it will not happen again”. so right off you are thinking of plans b and c. try plan “a” first and mention it to a board member.

thetinkerswagon | 9 years and 7 months ago
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try the board members. actually, see if you can get the home phone numbers of the board members and ring their numbers and ask them to ask the guy to stop while it is happening.

thetinkerswagon | 9 years and 7 months ago
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what you need to do is call the number to the precinct and have your neighbors call as well (so they roll in on different phone numbers). this is what happen quite a while ago when I lived in Sunnyside: at certain hours during the night bar staff and other late workers would come into the neighborhood looking for parking. they would circle the blocks and keep circling until the found a space. one time this kid with one of those loud exhausts kept going around the block. I called the precinct and the cop said to me “this is the third call we have had about this guy and we are sending someone over to see what his issue is”. if you are the only one to call the police on this issue they will think you are the problem.

jumpingin | 9 years and 7 months ago
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someone did. a police car showed up. by the time i got outside to talk to them, they had left. I could see the police getting involved the night of, but is there anything we can do the day after? FWIW both buildings are co-op / condo associations so obviously there is a formal channel we might pursue. Just trying to better understand the legal issues around all of this.

thetinkerswagon | 9 years and 7 months ago
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I would have called the police.