Witch-it is my ever so humble opinion that when my noise level becomes **consistently **and egregiously obtrusive- I am violation the tenets of good neighborliness and being a rude lout. That applies whether I live smack dab in the middle of downtown Boston or in BFE.
Witch, I haven’t seen anything posted by Danceswithcats to warrant your outrage. If you have some kind of deep-seated rage about townies moving into your rural area, why don’t you go start your own Pit thread about it instead of crapping all over Dwc’s thread?
Actually, I’d rather hear 'em on a 4-wheeler than masturbating. Course, that’s just me.
From one relocated country bumpkin to another: what the fuck is your malfunction, Junction? That’s a mighty wide brush you have there.
Witch, are jake brakes and air horns just another part of country living? Maybe rural Mass. is much louder than I ever imagined.
Every group can retaliate and every group can vandalize. It sounds to me like the OP didn’t want some sort of escalating, immature feud with his neighbors: not that he assumed his neighbors would behave like “hicks” because of his history with them or their cultural background.
He never said anything about the retaliation coming in some stereotypical “hick” or “redneck” form.
You’re the one that did that.
Now THIS is painting with a wide brush.
Oh, and sejal, unless danceswithcats has a ATV with a jet engine in it…I stand by my statement that it’s bullshit.
But you’re right Cadbury. danceswithcats never did say the reason he was afraid his neighbors would vandalize his property was because they were “hicks.” I should not have implied that he did, and I apologize for that danceswithcats.
BUT
I’d be interested to know what the reason behind his concern is. Very interested. Why the fear danceswithcats?
Are there are other neighbors around? If this is such quality of life altering noise pollution, why hasn’t anyone else brought this to the attention of the authorities?
You’re all very quick to jump on me for taking the side of the neighbors here. Seems to me you’re quite willing to convict on next to no evidence of wrong doing here. I’m disappointed.
**How much land do you both own? How close are your houses to your property lines?
At what times are they making all this noise?
Are you blameless in the “making of noise” department?
Why are you so worried they will vandalize your property if you report them? You don’t even know these people.
Why haven’t you ever spoken to your closest neighbors in all the years you’ve lived there?
Any other neighbors? Why haven’t they complained? **
danceswithcats is offering little to no information to warrant such knee-jerk support.
So is implying that all hicks are good 'ol boys.
Yes, it can be illegal, you see, it depends upon the decibal level among other things. I don’t know the laws where danceswithcats lives, but here in the Municipality of Anchorage (which has many heavily wooded and isolated areas), as well as outer lying areas, it’s illegal for your noise to pass beyond your property lines.
There are distinctions made for those who use their property as a business that have to do with the times of day noise can be made and what types of noise and so on, but basically, noisemakers aren’t just allowed to “rev away”.
Blowing an air horn all the way home isn’t unreasonable? Loud “Glasspak” type exhaust on racecars revving night and day and all other manner of vehicle sounds that run without cessation aren’t unreasonable?
Sheesh!, your poor eardrums must have given up the ghost long ago!
“All the way home”? “Night and day”?
Go reread the OP Canvas Shoes.
I see no claim of either.
Oh, come off it, Witch. If I have a loud and obnoxious party then the neighbors would be fully within their rights to call the cops, despite whether it’s the first or the last party.
You’re assuming the worst of the OP for no good reason. Unless, of course, you’re defensive because you are one of these loud, obnoxious jerks?
On the contrary witch, danceswithcats has answered most, if not ALL, of your questions in his continuing posts in this thread.
You just haven’t been “listening” and are the one with the “knee-jerk” reaction.
Danceswithcats “until well after dark”. And “runs everything at high idle, continuously (paraphrased)”. And she (he?) also goes on to explain further in her (his) other subsequent posts.
I agree with another poster here, sounds as if YOU are one of those noisy obnoxious louts and are just hyper-sensitive to this thread because you are an example of what the OP is ranting about (sorry folks, dropped prep, lol).
Attempting to clear up queries posted since I was last online:
As another poster wisely observed, I do NOT wish to become involved in an escalating feud with a neighbor, which is why I’ve been gritting my teeth. I know nothing of them, and based upon their candor towards the rest of us out here, I care not to. My concern is based on the property being vulnerable, owing to location and my work schedule. A friend sold his second home because he was tired of break-ins and vandalism, and he didn’t have any form of beef with a neighbor. I’d like to think they wouldn’t behave that way, but their conduct to date is indicative that they don’t dive a Tinker’s damn about anyone but themselves.
I’ve spoken to my other neighbors, and everybody is of the same feeling. The fellow in between me and Asshat has already stopped using his outdoor porch because of the dust that drifts downhill from the quad runner. He tells me he can’t leave windows open on that side of his house because of the dust. To my knowledge, no one has spoken to them because they’re all supremely pissed off.
To answer the distance/lot size question, most parcels are between 1.5 and 3 acres. Linear distance between my office and their property line is around 500 feet, as the lots are much deeper than they are wide.
Nobody is envoking any form of racial or class anger on this side of the fence. I don’t consider myself any better than they, except in the consideration department, which is why I limit noisy activities to business hours, e.g. 9 to 5. I am a music fan, and sometimes like it cranked, but walked the property lines while some Aerosmith was running, with the windows open. The sound heard was conversational in level. As such, I’m confident that I am not a presenting a holier-than-thou position.
The hated quad has run as early as 0700, and as late as 2300, depending on weather and season. Race car work is a tossup, as it occurs at any time, daylight preferred.
My office is closer than the bedroom to the street, perhaps 100 foot setback. A large canopy of trees on three sides keeps things cool, so I don’t have central air. I use a whole house fan to draw in air during the summer. Keeping windows open is essential to air exchange, but I’ve had to trade temperature for auditory comfort.
Perhaps this will answer some of the allegations put forth by Witch . If not, put a sock in it.
Well, if it helps any dances, I went through a similar, though not rural, situation up until last summer.
I own a little trailer (OMG, I’m trailer trash, yes it’s true, lol and HEY! just kidding!), on a nice piece of land in a mixed zoning area.
My property, along with several other houses and/or trailers, sits west and parallel of a retail strip off of a main road, the east side of which is zoned all residential.
Most of the retail strip is fine. But the McDonald’s/Chevron Mini-mart directly across the street from mine and three other neighbors houses was a local hangout for teens and what appeared to be a juvenile deliquent element.
They would come in at all hours starting when school let out, and just congregate (in clumps of 15-20 vehicles) with their loud stereos booming (note aforementioned Anchorage Municipal ordinance regarding noise). Not only that, the station was constantly having items shoplifted and had a lot of “drive-offs”. And yes, being that I was right across the street I observed a lot of this myself. Such as the little brats throwing beer bottles at the clerks for asking them to turn down the music.
We, the neighbors along this residential strip, complained and talked to the store. We went and talked to the perpetrators, the store, we constantly called the cops, we went to assembly meetings, we talked to and wrote everyone from the headquarters of Chevron and Mcdonalds to the mayor and ombudsmen of Anchorage.
It took us about two years, two years of campaigning, walking the streets getting our neighbors involved, of videotaping the teens, of calling cops and the store to complain.
We finally got the “hangout” closed down. Just in time for me to move out and rent out my trailer and move to a truly quiet neighborhood, LOL.
Anyway, the moral of the story is that “the squeaky wheel gets the grease” hopefully it won’t take as long since you live in a rural area and only have one set of “offenders”.
Good Luck!!!
CanvasShoes I’ve been facing a similar problem to the hangout one you described. The parking lot of the strip mall where my business is located is one of the hangouts here in my town. I have called the police a number of times and what usually happens is that the police drive through the parking lot and leave without ever stopping… So I call again… This time they usually stop for a minute but then leave without making the people leave. So I call AGAIN. I have on more than one occasion been told that the police want these kids hanging out here so they know where the kids are and that I shouldn’t mind my common area maintenence bill going up because of the extra cleanings that the parking lot needs from the trash they leave strewn about. They also told me that the beer bottles smashed against the side of the building couldn’t have come from the kids because they weren’t drinking, even though I personally witnessed the bottles being thrown. They tell me that it is up to me to get these kids’ names. I can just imagine how that will go over… “Hi… I’m no one of any real authority, but can I have your driver’s license please?” They’d be targetting me with the beer bottles. I have also been told by the police that this parking lot is public property and as such I have no grounds on which to demand that these kids leave. How dense can these cops be? Public property is property that is owned by a city, county, state or federal government, designed for public access, and maintained by taxpayer dollars. This property is owned by a private company and maintained by occupant dollars… I hope the OP has better luck with the authorities than I have had, should he (She?) choose to go that route…
dances, I really think someone should approach the noisy neighbors in a diplomatic way. If all that you and everyone in the community does is stew about them and talk behind their backs, naturally your resentment is going to grow until it’s unmanageable.
You might want to express some concern for them, as well. If their whole property is torn up due to the trucks and quad, that’s probably not good for the foundation of their house.
We faced similar opposition. It’s worth it to perservere though. I don’t know what the laws are in your neck of the woods, but as far as the parking lot being “public property”? Unless it truly IS a public parking area (like one of those centered ones, or off-street parking maintained by the city), it’s probably part of the property in which your business is located.
I’d contact all sources in your area if I were you:
Ombudsman, local papers, owner of the mall (to find out whose property is whose and if he/she will enforce rules against misuse), police, also, filming the “perps” works wonders toward discouraging them.