I guess I don’t understand the law. the way I read it, a person living in a residential areas can’t generate music or noise from any machine that can be heard 50 ft away. It doesn’t say the noise has to be audible outside their residence, or heard off their property, the rule is 50 ft. period. I assume the county felt safe writing that on the assumption that if no one can hear the noise off the property there would be no complaint. It seems amazingly strict and easy to enforce. If anyone can hear the noise 50 ft away, the generator is in violation. The idea that your townhouse is physically 50 feet from theirs seems to be irrelevant. Perhaps you have paraphrased the law, since as posted there is no audible limit. But as posted, you look like you have only to call the police a few times and the noisy neighbors will either get the hint or a fine.
The OP is mainlyl looking for informed opinions. So, moving this to IMHO.
samclem GQ moderator
Mountain bike shop on one side of the alley. Hoodlums on the other side.
The hoodlums liked to play their stereo loudly, with the speakers in the second floor window sill.
One of the mountain bike shop owners connectd a copper tube to a compressed air tank, loaded it with wheel bearings, and opened the valve.
Problem solved.
Um…call the cops. We have the same problem with our annoying upstairs neighbors. A couple anonymous calls to the cops complaining about the noise shut them up right quick.
Quite simply, if they know that the cops will come everytime they have a bunch of people over and start playing music real loud (and presumably they are drinking as well), eventually they, and their friends will realize that their place isn’t the best location to have a party.
I’m fairly certain that they don’t care about their neighbors and couldn’t care less about being “shuned”. Generally, young people who rent and have loud parties have little interest in the older homeowners who happen to live in their building.
That hasn’t always, or even usually, been my experience, msmith537. My younger neighbors always bugged me for all sorts of stuff. And besides, I didn’t realize there was an age difference between the OP and the ruffians. Could be, though.
Anyway, I merely suggested that action in addition to all the other advice presented.
Can’t hurt, eh!
Have you asked your neighbours to tone it down? It doesn’t say so in your OP.
It might work to ask them to come over to your house, so they can hear what you hear.
He has.
. And agreed, these people probably wouldn’t respond to anything other than (law-enforcement) force.
What planet do you live on? I want to move there. My own experience with noisy next-apartment-neighbors (electric guitar through amplifier, screaming on telephone at 2 a.m., parties with noisy music) was that the police couldn’t be arsed to do anything because it “wasn’t important”, and the management openly laughed at me when I reported it.
Okay, I take that back.
I hate to bring this up, but if people would interview landlords/sellers and talk to neighbors before committing to a move-in, you might have a little better luck with your surroundings. Also, go meet new neighbors.
Only Mostly Dead;
RE post #5
Have you ever heard music? Might work.
Peace,
mangeorge
Well, I think it’s incredibly arrogant on your part to assume that the police behave the same in every jurisdiction across the country. And that’s another thing you might want to consider when you’re looking at a place to move to.
I’d be a little concerned about living in a community where the police couldn’t be bothered to respond to noise complaints. That would likely mean they are either grossly incompetent and lazy or they’re too busy dealing with real crimes. Either way, not a place I’d want to live.
The OP has not even tried the cops yet so maybe start there.
Not really an age difference. El Perro Fumando and I are in our mid 20s. This is the first house either of us has owned, and was the best we could get on two start-of-career salaries.
The house in question appears to be a single mother with (I think) two kids, a girl about 16 and a boy about 20. But it might as well be the mother and twenty kids, for the large social group that the children (especially the son) have.
msmith537, I do call the cops. About once a week, when I’m really at my last nerve. And it might give them the idea for a day or two, maybe three or four max, but in the end, they always start back up with it. I try to call the cops only when there are a fair number of cars parked around the neighborhood, so it’s not too obvious who could be calling, because I really don’t want any stupid retribution. But the cops are just a stopgap when these people just don’t care.
Slightly off topic:
I know the mother is a bit of a winner on her own, because she bitched to some new renters that moved into the house between us and her about the parking, without any real justification except self-entitlement, and told the new neighbors to work it out with me. She brazenly made her first meeting with one house be an unjustified bitch, and has never formally made any acquaintance of us, but made sure we’d hate her all the same.
I guess that would depend on where you live. I used to be in a place where I had to call the police most weekends with a noise comlaint, and they always came to settle down the noisemakers. If they were busy, they might take over an hour to arrive, but they always came and quieted things. If my complaint was about noise from furniture being thrown or noise from a woman screaming in pain, they always came immediately and hauled the abuser off. (Once I came across one of these violent abusers in the holding cells the next morning, with his arm in a sling from having been stabbed in self-defence by his girlfriend – I couldn’t help laughing when he asked me to represent him, given that I am the one who called the cops on him).
I motivated the landlord by always calling him every time I called the police. This resulting in a lot of calls to him in the middle of the night. He would evict the troublemakers (one time getting in trouble with the police himself for getting in a fight during an eviction). Unfortunately, he had shit for brains when it came to selecting tenants, for he usually ended up renting to further noisemakers, drug dealers, and generally violent types.
Eventually, a quiet fellow moved in below me, but above the ground floor trash. The frequency of police attendance significantly increased without my having to pick up the phone, for the fellow below me had far less tolerance than me for the ground floor scum.
Things eventually improved for the second floor fellow, when a couple moved into the ground floor apartment where the boyfriend made the calls to the police on his girlfriend, rather than the fellow on the second floor having to do it.
As soon as I had the cash, I moved out of the slum and into the forest outside of town. Life is good again. Deer are not noisy.
Huh?
Supposedly, a microwave cannon can be very effective at silencing a noisy stereo permanently. It is probably illegal to do such a thing, and it could potentially cause someone caught in the beam to have their testicles explode from what I’ve read, so I can’t really recommend that you do that. Still, it’s a wonderful fantasy.
Silenced music, and they can’t reproduce? We have our winner!
From the OP: “The ordinance prohibits any person from operating a radio or similar sound device, as well as a machine, tool or similar device in a residential district where the sound generated by the device can be heard at a distance of 50 feet from the device.”
So this says if it can be heard 50 feet away, that in itself is a violation. That’s pretty restrictive. It doesn’t say it has to be loud at 50 feet, only heard.
Nor does it say that’s the only possible violation related to noise. There are almost certainly other ordinances about disturbing the peace which are being violated. I’d be inclined to have a chat with the police and maybe the prosecutor’s office, to see if they’d be willing increase the legal pressure on these thoughtless clods (rather than view you as a whiner and start ignoring the complaints). If so, some fines might get their attention.
[ Channeling Dan Aykroyd from SNL]
**MMmmmmmm that’s good bass !! **
[ /Channeling Dan Aykroyd from SNL]
I used to live in a townhouse development with a Homeowner’s Board, etc. etc. There were some true lunatics who preyed upon neighbors believing that as long as there was no physical evidence when the State Police showed up, they could continue to torture endlessly.
They used to walk their dog RIGHT behind a neighbor’s back sliding glass door. Now, like a lot of these communities, nobody individually “owns” the lawns, including the area just past the small cement apron adjoining the sliding door that passes for a “deck area”. Their dog would drive my pal’s dogs insane, causing loud barking and snarling at all hours of the night. Yes… they would wait up late, incredibly late, then walk their dog. My pal was up at 4:00 am because of his job. ( See below )
Eventually, the offending homeowners got caught out. The people they were torturing kept a video camera handly and taped the incidents whereby they would traipse along close to the door, allowing their dog to drive my friends’ dog insane.
It went to court. We all showed up. Their attorney was as smug and abusive as the obnoxious homeowners. I will NEVER forget the interchange:
Lawyer: You seem very sure of what time each incident took place.
Pal: Yes, I am sure.
Lawyer: Why should we believe your accounting of these times?
Pal: I took notes, and have videotape that is clearly shot at night, and I know what I saw.
Lawyer: Yes, well why would we believe that you are telling the truth? You’re under oath, you know- and yet there is no way to verify what you are saying. Do you know what perjury is?
Pal: Yes, I know what it is.
Lawyer: Oh? From watching cop shows on t.v.?
Pal: No, from having testified under oath before.
Lawyer: Oh, so you have a HISTORY of taking people to court??? ( he got himself very wound up at this point, indignant tone, etc. )
Pal. No.
Lawyer: Then why would you have testified under oath before?
Pal: I am a New York City Police Officer. I’ve had to testify under oath many times in the last 12 years.
Lawyer: Oh. I see. Um. No futher questions.
Applause broke out, and the Judge- while smiling himself- had to warn the people in the courtroom. The asshole lost, a restraining order was issued and commonly owned property or not, they were prevented from walking their dog anywhere near my pal’s house.
Here is what I would do. Get on eBay, get a Decibel Meter with a recorder/ printer built in. Document the offenses. Videotape the Decibel Meter running so the shot CLEARLY SHOWS you are in YOUR home.
Do it for many days. Call the police and tell them you have proof of this behavior, and would they like to see it? If they refuse, sue the fellow AND tell the Homeowner’s Board they are going to be named, since they are charged with enforcing the rule and are not doing so.
You may not get him to stop, but again you may. It is torture. I pity anyone living in anything akin to “apartment living” these days. Apparently decent manners and respect for the rights of others is a quaint concept whose time has gone by.
Cartooniverse
You should do what this guy did:
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070415/NEWS/704150338/1116/ENTERTAINMENT
He should be an honorary Doper!
I 'spect ball bearings and compressed air are, too. 