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Newsy Neighbors - City Apt Noise Rules, Redux

Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
edited January 2009 in Strut Central
So after a blissful few months with no upstairs neighbor, the daily drilling and banging and dragging noises indicated about a month ago what I had long feared - they were renovating. New neighbors were on the way.Which to me is no big deal - I live in a pre-war building of approx 20-25 apartments and I've never had a problem with any of my neighbors - even the ones that go door to door passing out Jehovahs Witness material. Even the ones that drink Henny in the lobby at 2am. Even the ones that beat on each other (also in the lobby) at sometimes inconvenient hours. And nobody's ever registered a complaint with my weed smoking, beat banging, wife arguing, loud TV watching, even loud phone conversating ass.Well, when I returned from Brazil I found a note under the door stating that the upstairs neighbor was moving in over several days and to let her know if anything was a problem. Since it all happened when we were away, there were no problems. Not that I'm ever really one to complain. I figure, I live in the city - Harlem, no less - and noise from outside or from other apartments is kind of a given.So it kind of rubbed me the wrong way when we got a knock on the door this morning - rather, a number of knocks, doorbell rings, and yet more knocks (I thought it was the aforementioned Witnesses) to let us know that not only was our upstairs neighbor trying to sleep directly above my turntables/records/studio, but that the mere sound of our voices had kept her up when we had a little blow out a few nights prior.Now I'm a reasonable guy. In fact, everywhere I go, people say to me: "Jonathan Sklute, you are a reasonable f*cking guy". (Landsman: "you are reasonable, sir.") I don't want to wake this lady up at 9am with my music (which I may have done this morning. My bad.) but I also don't feel like walking on eggshells all the damn time. I like to raise my voice occasionally. I like to bang my music, within reason. And none of this is to mention that Shorty And Them like to do all of these things at all hours without a care in the world to what the new 45-year old white lady on the 3rd floor thinks. Nor is it to mention that the fine people preparing her apartment had no problem doing major industrial renovations at 9am every single day for a couple weeks.What's the line here? 10am - 11pm? 9 to 9? Like I said, this is NYC... Harlem... Madison Ave. I'm trying to let her live but I'm not going to change my lifestyle. That would be unAmerican. What say ye, Soulstut?
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  Comments

  • Garcia_VegaGarcia_Vega 2,428 Posts
    Jonathan Sklute, you are a f*cking reasonable man, and your trifling neighbor needs to, as they say, deal. Want to live in silence? Move upstate.
  • ageage 1,131 Posts
    That's wack, tell her to stop walking around and she should learn to levitate from place to place!
  • willie_fugalwillie_fugal 1,862 Posts
    You're gonna have to sit down and pow-wow with this biatch (I mean that not in a chauvinistic way, but as in "this woman is being a bitch by being so uptight about noise). The first rule of city-living should be "Thou shalt live and let live when it comes to noise from other apartments". The people that live in the apartment next door have a loud ass dog that's always barking and I can hear them watching tv all the time, but I let it go because I know they can hear me banging cheesy modern soul jams in the wee-hours. You're going to have to explain all this to her and try to come to a compromise in terms of hours or what types of noise are acceptable, etc... I don't say anyway for this to end well other than talking face to face about her bitchy problem. And even then, it ain't ending well.
  • The_NonThe_Non 5,691 Posts
    Jonathan Sklute, you are a f*cking reasonable man, and your trifling neighbor needs to, as they say, deal. Want to live in silence? Move upstate.

    The magic of upstate does not cover this scenario. Get your own crib and commute in if you wanna make your speakers pop.
  • dreskieboogiedreskieboogie 951 Posts
    Next time she comes knocking on your door tell her that you guys can hear everytime she moves around and that her fugly shoes / heels trips you out.

    Peace,

    Dress
  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    Yeah - I've thought of that. Thing is though, I don't hear JACK from my other neighbors. Not a squeak or mumbling word. Up until now, I thought we had a pretty damn well insulated building.

    What I'm really worried about is that this person is like my sister - or a neighbor I had back in Oakland - who can just hear EVERYDAMNTHING. My sister used to tell me keep it down - but she was on the 2nd floor and I was in the basement! She said she could hear my voice through the heating grates. And the Oakland neighbor used to tell me to turn down the music - which I was playing on a Caliphone portable! One time he got so mad he said my music made his baby cry and next time he wasn't going to be asking nicely. This was on a portable on top of a chest of drawers.

  • Garcia_VegaGarcia_Vega 2,428 Posts
    Jonathan Sklute, you are a f*cking reasonable man, and your trifling neighbor needs to, as they say, deal. Want to live in silence? Move upstate.

    The magic of upstate does not cover this scenario. Get your own crib and commute in if you wanna make your speakers pop.

    But Sklute is a reasonable guy, and I'm sure his speakers don't pop beyond consideration for his fellow neighbors. If this lady doesn't want to hear noise she should buy some acres upstate, not move to Harlem.
  • The_NonThe_Non 5,691 Posts
    Jonathan Sklute, you are a f*cking reasonable man, and your trifling neighbor needs to, as they say, deal. Want to live in silence? Move upstate.

    The magic of upstate does not cover this scenario. Get your own crib and commute in if you wanna make your speakers pop.

    But Sklute is a reasonable guy, and I'm sure his speakers don't pop beyond consideration for his fellow neighbors. If this lady doesn't want to hear noise she should buy some acres upstate, not move to Harlem.

    Excellent pt, but I'm rural and crankin dat shit 4 life.
  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    I'm sure I bang kind of loud. I'm not trying to take myself off the hook here, just understand from my fellow strutteurs (who do, in fact, know all things about life and people and the illuminati and such) what the line of restraint should be.

    I am not in the nice new building called LENNOX TERRACE ARMS with the doorman or some such. I am next to a vacant on Madison Ave.
  • ageage 1,131 Posts
    Also, you should say to her,

    "Miss..No offence, this is an Apartment building. With thin walls and floors ,We all have to make due with our surroundings and deal[/b]. I will try not to be as loud, but I'm not going to to change my daily routine."

    I dunno.I had to say the same thing quite a few to a lady before who complained about noise(and we were never really lound and most of the time, I had my headphones on). She seemed to be calm after I came at her like that.

    Hope it gets resolved homie and welcome back!
  • The_NonThe_Non 5,691 Posts
    It might be sensitive ears too. I used to hear everything my neighbors did, and it pushed me to move to my own private island. I don't want neighbors being cocksuckers at 2 am playing Guitar Hero Rock Me Like a Hurricane and "The Way I Are" by Timbaland b4 da club. Inspires an urge to kill inside me I don't want.
  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    That shit is real.

    I have a new neighbor downstairs and ive cutback on blastin my shit during the week.

    She turns her TV up if im blastin my shit, but usually she's quiet.

    Your gonna have to talk to her and explain your steez.

    Anything(crazy) after 10:00pm is kinda suspect.

    Nobody has yet to knock on my door.

    The weekends are a free for all - IMO.Unless your blastin shit after 2:00am.
  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    I'm headed home now. I'm going to drill a new deadbolt into the door (unrelated) and bang out.

    I'll report back...
  • BurnsBurns 2,227 Posts
    It might be sensitive ears too. I used to hear everything my neighbors did, and it pushed me to move to my own private island. I don't want neighbors being cocksuckers at 2 am playing Guitar Hero Rock Me Like a Hurricane and "The Way I Are" by Timbaland b4 da club. Inspires an urge to kill inside me I don't want.

    spokin' like a real ruraler.
  • RockadelicRockadelic Out Digging 13,993 Posts
    I think 10:00 - 10:00 during the week ....midnight on the weekend is cool.

    I'd ask her where her bedroom was and if possible, keep the party going, a little quieter and as far away from where she sleeps as possible.

    If she still complains tell her you can hear her having sex.
  • RockadelicRockadelic Out Digging 13,993 Posts
    And don't underestimate the audio power of a portable player.....I got kicked out of a motel in Lubbock back in '92 for playing records from a big road trip vinyl score at 1:00AM.
  • street_muzikstreet_muzik 3,919 Posts
    Give her a gift.

  • RAW_HAMBURGERRAW_HAMBURGER 1,438 Posts
    i used to live in an old artists loft in the south end of boston. split level, with a roomate. the roomate had been there since 77'. well, i had my mini studio set up and would do my thing. the walls there were very very thin.
    one night i had a female over and had some jams on, not that loud as we were talking. around 7pm ..dude from next door...opens the sliding door/windows to the roofdeck and pops his head inside my room, and tells me to turn the music off ! lets just say a mini war had started. my roomate comes up from downstairs....he knows the neighbor, trying to diffuse shit. im already to beat his ass..how rude of this guy just coming in my spot like that. it gets worse.
    2 months go by, my boys are over...beats are banging...about 7 730 again.
    knock on the door downstairs, which i can hear over the music.
    i go downstairs, open the door...its the dickhead from next door telling me if i dont shut the music off hes calling the cops.
    go head...call them, do what you need to do...im not turning shit off.
    i go to close the door, he slips his foot in the doorway preventing me from shutting the door. he is now 1/2 in my apt.
    he then gets choked and thrown against the wall...then thrown into the hallway where we square off, he screams " if you ever do that again...ill f*cking kill you...im calling the cops".
    ok...dont forget to tell them you just threatened to kill me.
    cops come, knocking on my door...expecting a raging party only to find 3 dudes rocking beats. basically, they were like yoooo, isnt this an artist bldg, "yup" cops tell me..."F*ck him" play your shit...we thought we were here to break up a party.
    turns out we had to have meetings with the bldg mgmt...this asshole had been making noise complaints since 1978 ! all logged into files in the office of mgmt. he played himself ....hard. mgmt was on some, uhhhhh youve been complaining about your neighbors for 20 years or so...seems as if your the problem.
    his windows in his car were smashed that week, and he was also kicked out of the bldg, he had owned property outside of living in this bldg....which was a violation of the bldgs policy...since it was on some artists must meet approval type shit.
    now its mostly all yuppies paying $2500 a month.

    i guess, there really isnt an answer...just things can escalate quickly with 2 people that are confrontational.

    show her whos boss jonny ! get shorty and them to chill in her hall...blasting arab money and drinking henny.
  • SoulhawkSoulhawk 3,197 Posts
    soulstrut advice:

    a. move

    b. choke a bitch

    c. all of the above
  • soulmarcosasoulmarcosa 4,296 Posts
    I had the same problem when I moved into my apt a few months ago. Somehow the sirens & traffic noise of Sunset & Alvarado, a complex full of crying babies and talking parrots, and bands practicing across the street was fine with my new downstairs neighbor... but my watching TV and listening to my computer speakers was enough to call the cops and the property manager on me.

    J*nny lemme know if you ever wanna move to Echo Park - I'll tell my people there's an awesome NYC apt waiting for them with a wonderful upstairs neighbor.
  • SoulhawkSoulhawk 3,197 Posts
    I envy you guys who live places where the cops would bother to show up for a noise complaint

    where I live I don't even think a call about a murder in progress would guarantee a 5-0 response

    lol
  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    That is kind of my attitude here though. There is absolutely no f*cking way the cops are showing up for a noise complaint - I made one, once, back when I was living in the Lower East Side and Con Ed was tearing up the street at 4am. The precinct told me to call 311. 311 forwarded me back to the precinct. Who then told me that if Con Ed was out there at that time, there was probably a good reason.

    The only time I've ever gotten the cops out for a serious noise issue was in the same neighborhood, when the young dunnies from the Lower East Side Houses were wilding uncharacteristically late and going bad and worse with each passing hour (yelling, to throwing bottles, to a big ass rumble across the entire block). And even then, I had to lie my ass off about the gravity of the shit...

    "THEY SHOOTIN!"

    for real, got that woop woop action pronto...
  • SoulhawkSoulhawk 3,197 Posts
    maybe your problem is that you ARE a reasonable person

    presumptous people always make unreasonable requests of reasonable people

    become an unreasonable person & no one will ask you for shit
  • Controller_7Controller_7 4,052 Posts
    eat a bowl of chilli, build a contraption that will allow you to sit on the ceiling, and spend the day just blasting rumblers on that fool.

    if she complains, just say "oh really? you're telling me that my digestion is too loud!? I think the problem is you madame. Good day."
  • breadwinnerbreadwinner 535 Posts
    arab money

  • ScottScott 420 Posts
    No one's going to be 100% happy in this situation, but keep the lines of communication open. The worst is when it deteriorates to passive-aggressive notes, calling the police, landlord snitching, etc.
  • selperfugeselperfuge 1,165 Posts
    this always happens when someone moves in and gets adjusted.

    happened to us when we moved into our spot. it drove us nuts that the lady upstairs had two puppies clawing away running around on a non-carpeted floor. after a few restless nights we just got used to it. i don't even notice it anymore, it's like those people who live next to the airport or highway.

    same thing is happening now. we have a new downstairs tenant. he starts complaining to the landlord about pipes rattling around and the heater making crazy sounds. landlord asks me to check it out and the guy is already acclimated to it.

    yes, there's an off chance you got one of those hypersensitive people. be polite, placate without giving any ground and give it a week. then go back to your old routine and check up on how she's doing.
  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    Old girl came down last night to complain about the music.... only problem is, we weren't playing any music!

    I think she might have... uh, issues.
  • catalistcatalist 1,373 Posts
    Give her a gift.


    something tells me that butt plugs might not be the best remedy for this situation.
  • hemolhemol 2,578 Posts
    issues

    Well if that's the case you and your wife should invite her over for sexual escapades. That'll definitely fix it.
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