July 12
...serving up your daily dish.
It's summertime and the living is... noisy.
Complaints on both the Montclair Watercooler...
Does anybody know if the town has is any code about loud music. We have been lately bombarded by that, and we would like to do about it.
and NJ.com's Bloomfield Forum...
Q: Does anyone (factualy) know when it is permissible (by law) to make excessive noise on the weekends? ... landscapers: 7AM on a Saturday morning. -And I don't have central air, so the windows are open.
Anybody in Glen Ridge getting blasted by inconsiderate neighbors lately?
Why don't we create our own Baristaville-wide noise ordinance? Punishment for keeping your neighbors up late at night, or early in the morning, would result in four hours of forced listening to this.
July 12, 2005 in Controversy | Permalink
Okay, I've just come from Brooklyn with a different set of noises but a leaf blower for 3 HOURS on Sunday-on a not huge lawn-seems crazy. One--it's SUMMER, what offending leaves are we talking about? Two: what's the problem with using a BROOM to sweep the debris from your driveway? The neighbor wears huge sound-muffling earphones so he must realize how loud this thing is! Any thoughts on how to approach the neighbor?
Posted by: linda | Jul 12, 2005 10:29:58 AM
I think giving them a copy of the Annoying Music Show's Songs for People could be a start. Or maybe an arms race: buy the CD and blast it out your window when they're having a BBQ.
Posted by: The Barista | Jul 12, 2005 10:33:59 AM
Serves you right, linda, for not having central air, or better yet, loud window units.
Don't worry, you'll adjust. I too used to pull my hair out over leaf blowers. I once ran across to the neighbors and gently reminded them of the town ordnance against leaf blowers in summer. They turned off the offending machines and promptly began used the even louder lawn mower (apparently the blades create enough wind to blow the debris). Last year, I gave in a bought a leaf blow myself. I made sure and got a nice, big, crackin' 3 horsepower model. Boy, what a noise! I love cranking up that baby. This spring I also bought an edge trimmer. Can't get enough of those two-cycle engines.
Now I say, bring it on! Yeeeeaaaaaaggggghhhhh!!!!!
Posted by: walleroo | Jul 12, 2005 10:42:22 AM
If they're conservatives, blast 'em back with non-stop Noam Chomsky. If they're liberals, do the same with Michael Savage.
Posted by: Miss Martta | Jul 12, 2005 10:42:38 AM
The construction site next to my apartment daily violates the 7:00 a.m. noise ordinance, I called the cops and they asked if I would want an officer sent over and i said yes. But, they have continued to do this. This has been going on since last November, Bloomfield High School construction site.
Posted by: Elizabeth Tims | Jul 12, 2005 10:49:24 AM
I get the landscapers on Saturday mornings too. What drives me nuts is the kids on the little mini bikes or ATV's - whatever they are - up and down my street every evening. Its so loud it blocks out all other noise as they cruise by. And I know as I type this they will be back tonight. Montclair is so worried about noise from a skate park - they should try those things going up and down their block.
Posted by: hrhppg | Jul 12, 2005 11:29:54 AM
Kudos Waleroo!!! I have a backpack leaf blower and a trimmer, all Stihl products. Honda mower. Great stuff! I’m the only person anywhere near where I live (on Ridgewood) who keeps their own yard (I find it oddly cathartic, I think I have “Lawn OCD”!) I try to be VERY respectful re the noise (I blow quickly and always sweep, I hate the landscapers that blow debris into the street to land in someone else’s yard) and won’t use the blower until at least 9AM on Sat and 10AM on Sun.
More offensive to me than the noise is having to look at some yards on RW that could use a good blow and trim (again, the lawn OCD talking.)
Re not being allowed to use blowers in the summer – is that a Montclair thing? What a bunch of BS! You’re telling me the landscapers actually sweep up after they’re done???!!!
Posted by: Rchanin | Jul 12, 2005 11:31:24 AM
I just want to vent today. I'm a Glen Ridge resident that lives on a block with count them 24 dogs. That's all fine and dandy but my neighbor consistently leaves the house to do her day long excercise routine while she leaves the 3 dogs in the backyard to bark not only at 11:30 at night but also 5:00 in the am.
I am so annoyed by this. I havn't gotten any sleep the past few nights. I don't want to just call the cops on her but she is also not so, um, approachable. How does one delicately tell the neighbor lady that she is rude and should not leave her house for hours at a time with barking dogs in the backyard?
Eugh.
signed,
two-jobs-and-a-part-time-student-Sally
Posted by: Negative Nancy | Jul 12, 2005 11:31:27 AM
Walleroo, this is how you satiate your suppressed martial impulses? If so, you really might enjoy a stint in a Guard unit over in Iraq. (Then, when you returned, you'd also have certain training that would allow you to "neutralize" your neighbor's landscaping tools.)
Posted by: cathar | Jul 12, 2005 11:32:13 AM
Negative Nancy: A neighborhood with 24 dogs? That would be Nirvana to me! Any homes for sale? :-)
All kidding aside, all towns have some sort of noise ordinance. Usually, it's no noise before 9 AM or after 10 or 11 PM. If someone is in violation, make a mention of it to the town.
Of coruse, this doesn't preclude ambulances and "po-lice sireens," as my aunt in Texas call them.
Unfortunately, I've discovered that the only way to avoid noise in these parts is to move to Vermont.
Posted by: Miss Martta | Jul 12, 2005 11:42:38 AM
my relatively new downstairs neighbor is apparently a fan of loud, thumping club music. they usually turn it down at an appropriate hour, but it's still an unwelcome accompaniment to my television watching. oh well, the perils of apt living. at least i don't have to deal with housemates that stiff me with the bills anymore.
Posted by: E. | Jul 12, 2005 11:58:44 AM
I was hoping for a nice reply from you, Ms. Martta. Thanks.
I will look into in further. I'm not sure when the cutoff is (in Glen Ridge) for loud music or noisy dogs but the very fact that people can be so unaware of others around them just boggles the mind.
Posted by: Negative Nancy | Jul 12, 2005 12:08:47 PM
I live in GR on the ridge with woods on one side. All we have is songbirds praising the dawn and the occasional Ravens (which used to be plentiful before West Nile) cawing to each other when they spot a hawk. Come on over to God's country!....>(;0})=8---
Posted by: PAZinLV | Jul 12, 2005 12:13:56 PM
Paz -
Unfortunately, God's property taxes are way too steep for my blood! I'm still waiting for the day when the meek shall inherit the earth.
Posted by: Todd | Jul 12, 2005 12:28:35 PM
"Come on over to God's country!"
I'll be right there! Soon as I can wrestle my leaf blower, power saw, chipper and generator (to run the cooler while I work) into the pickup.
Posted by: walleroo | Jul 12, 2005 12:36:55 PM
Too be clear, I DO have central air but when it's 73 degrees outside, I might decide to have the windows open.
Also, I spoke to the town manager's office and the ordinance against leaf blowers in the summer only applies to commercial usage, not residential.
I guess I'm looking for some "good neighbor" policy advice. Cuz you know in Brooklyn, it would not be pretty.
Posted by: linda | Jul 12, 2005 12:41:53 PM
I've got central air and new windows so...for the moment have no complaints. But I MUST say how much I enjoy this place!!! Very entertaining when the subject is light!
Walleroo: I wish you were my neighbor. I'd invite you over for cocktails!! ;o)
Posted by: Surrounded | Jul 12, 2005 12:46:04 PM
Linda, don't sweat it (pardon the pun). New Jersey has its own way of sorting these things out. Stanley the Fish will soon be having a little chat with your neighbors, and he'll, uh, persuade them to hire a landscaping company. Perhaps that nice outfit run by Jimmy the Neck. Then, since they're commercial, they'll be required to observe all town ordinances. And if they don't, well, you won't be able to complain anyway. So I suggest you just relax and learn to love the smell of 2-cycle exhaust.
Posted by: walleroo | Jul 12, 2005 12:57:54 PM
I accept your invitation, Surrounded. I'll have a Dead Guy Ale, thanks. I hope you have a lawn chair wide enough to accommodate my bristling tool belt.
Posted by: walleroo | Jul 12, 2005 1:01:49 PM
I think I know where you can rent an un-muffled Boeing CH-47SD Chinook helicopter. That will not only clean up ALL the leaves in the neighborhood, but it will probably eliminate their sources, too. At about 200 feet or so, it might even be louder than that ...uh... nice, multi-pierced young man in the Honda Civic with the 1600-watt stereo system.
Posted by: conan the grammarian | Jul 12, 2005 1:21:01 PM
Negative Nancy,
I believe that there is an ordinance in GR that says you can be fined if your dog barks for more than 10 minutes. You can call the police on your neighbor and she never has to know it was you. If those dogs are barking like that I am sure that your other neighbors are unhappy too. There is also the S.P.C.A., who will respond if they are left outside for long periods of time without proper care.
I have two dogs, both of whom LOVE to bark. I try to get them inside quickly as soon as they start up and would not dream of leaving them outside without being home myself - hopefully my neighbors aren't as annoyed as you are.
Posted by: grcanary | Jul 12, 2005 1:48:54 PM
Well, as long as we're escalating the War on Noise with dueling stereos, Master Blaster lawn tools, and Chinook helicopters, I just thought we should also consider these military-grade active-noise-reduction headphones.
Posted by: Chris | Jul 12, 2005 2:14:56 PM
Too be clear, I DO have central air but when it's 73 degrees outside, I might decide to have the windows open.
Also, I spoke to the town manager's office and the ordinance against leaf blowers in the summer only applies to commercial usage, not residential.
I guess I'm looking for some "good neighbor" policy advice. Cuz you know in Brooklyn, it would not be pretty.
Posted by: linda | Jul 12, 2005 3:26:21 PM
