As you may know, my husband and I live in Smicha
housing at XXX, at the corner of XXX.
Since 3 this afternoon, our street has been pounding
and shaking with noise. Noise from cars blasting
music, noise from people drag-racing, noise from
people partying in the street. There has been a
constant bass thrumming, vibrating my apartment and
everything in it.
My husband and I called 311. We called 911. We
called YU security. And yet we have not seen anyone
respond to our complaints. It is now 10 o'clock.
This has been a constant thorn since the weather has
gotten warmer, affecting my sleep, and obviously my
job performance.
I find it unacceptable that this go on without anyone
caring. We cannot take it anymore, and are now
looking to move out.
This experience has been the worst I have been through
in the Heights. It is constant, grating, and just
wears us down. I call and report the noise as often
as I can deal with the run-around of making the
reports. I am losing my mind from it.
I would have to recommend that a system be instituted
by which people who live in YU housing that is not
directly on the main campus can be afforded the same
privileges as people who live on 184th and 185th. We
deserve to be able to rest. We deserve to be able to
sleep. We even deserve to be able to spend a day in
our apartment without getting migraines.
Until this is addressed, I doubt that a community can
ever grow here. I would never consider raising a
family under these conditions. There are nights, such
as tonight, when we have to turn to the mercy of our
friends to get any sleep at all.
I understand that security cannot respond to this
situation personally, but someone needs to ensure that
the police take these complaints seriously and follow
up on them!
I also cannot recommend to any young couples to move
into the YU community as it would be dishonest of me
to do so.
Please look into this, and please email me back about
it. I look forward to hearing what ideas you feel can
be implemented to resolve the problem.
Thank you,
DWB
1. 'A visitor' posted on the Mon 18 Apr 2005, 3:48 am
ReplyDeleteYes, the summer is the worst time to live here. The worst.
That stupid "ice cream" truck used to park on my corner last summer and stay there for hours. I was considering blowing it up.
Really.
Jeremy
2. 'A visitor' posted on the Mon 18 Apr 2005, 9:37 am
ReplyDeleteLast summer, we were seriously considering buying an RPG launcher (they couldn't be *that* hard to find around here, right??) and picking the motorcycles off as they sped down Amsterdam. We figured after the first five or six exploded as they passed our corner, the rest of them would learn to stay away. It turned out to be just one of those ideas that we never followed through on...
Avraham
3. 'Dani Weiss' posted on the Mon 18 Apr 2005, 11:21 am
ReplyDeletealso, after akiva's story, i'm less inclined ot inflict actual dmage. instead i'll sit and sing my songs about them being in pain.
(akiva's story, very quickly, is that there was a guy zooking around on a motorcycle who pissed someone off, so the pissed off person threw a bottle at the motoryccle person, who crashed and bled to death in the street before hatzala could get there. keep in mind, hatzala is about 4 blocks away from where this happened. since that story, i'm less inclined to feel like throwing things at them, cause i don't want to kill them.)
4. 'Dani Weiss' posted on the Mon 18 Apr 2005, 2:49 pm
ReplyDeletei got an email back :
"04/18/05
Dear Daniella, note the mispelling of my name
Sorry to hear that you are experiencing noise problems
from the street, however, to suggest that the University
is to blame for your discomfort appears to be a bit arbitrary.
I'm sure that you understand that Yeshiva does not control
the streets of the city. Nevertheless, I brought your email to
the attention of Mr. D__ S______ at YU Security who, I'm
sure, will contact the NYPD to see what they can do to
assist in this matter,
There was no recollection by Mr. S______ of being contacted
previously about this situation. If this is fact, don't you think it
is unfair to say "I find it unacceptable that this goes on without
anyone caring"?
If you wish to contact Mr. S______ to discuss this matter with
him personally, he can be reached at 212-xxx-xxxx.
Best wishes for a Chag Kasher V'Samayach."
and i responded:
ReplyDelete"Thank you for responding.
I have to say, I'm shocked that Mr. S______ has never
heard of this problem, as every time I've called
security they have assured that they will let the
supervisor know immediately. I had understood that to
mean that there would be reports filed, which would be
reviewed by the supervisor, and naturally would be
reported to Mr. S______ as well.
The reason I addressed this to security is that there
is an inherent danger in placing students and faculty
in an area where this goes on, and that should be a
University concern. The noise is a by-product of
dangerous streets, drug dealing, and by the next
morning, has left it traces in the broken glass
littering the sidewalk.
When the police don't respond to our calls, I always
call security and ask them to contact the police as
well as I know that the local police are far more
likely to respond to YU than to myself. I am not in
any way placing the balme for the noise at the hands
of the University (that would be absurd). I'm asking
that
1. the University create a system by which students
and faculty can report problems to them and get
results from the police and
2. that the University recognize that this needs to
happen if there is ever to truly be a community along
Amsterdam.
Thank you for writing back."
5. 'A visitor' posted on the Mon 18 Apr 2005, 6:50 pm
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you guys have to deal with that, and kudos on your attempt to address a maddening situation civilly. Unsurprisingly, your missives are very well-written, but I'd be most interested to know if anything changes in the least. Sorry to say, but the odds are against any lasting change, because D__ S__ has been around a *long* time, and he knows the deal, which is that YU is mainly concerned with avoiding the more egregious violent incidents that generate enough outside attention to dissuade parents from sending their kids to YU and MTA.
Viewed through that prism, noise complaints of any kind, no matter how bad, just don't rank, in their view. When I was at YU, I personally witnessed four drive-by shootings: one on Amsterdam proper, one on Laurel Hill Terrace right in back of Rubin (with my parents in tow), and two on Audubon and 185th. There was also about one mugging every other week around the parking lots. As long as that sort of stuff isn't happening much (puh-puh-puh as my grandmothers say), expect no action by YU Security. Keep looking for another place.
Daniel
6. 'Joe Socher' posted on the Wed 20 Apr 2005, 2:36 am
ReplyDeleteBoy I miss the heights.
(Look no abbreviations!)
Joe