Archive for Neighbours
HUD to investigate landlord’s complaints against Belleville
Posted by: | CommentsA representative from the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, part of the Midwest regional office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, sent a letter to Belleville resident, landlord and business owner Rick Brown, acknowledging his complaint and announcing that the agency will complete an impartial investigation within 100 days. Brown received the letter, dated Aug. 14, through the mail Monday, and announced it to the council at its regular meeting Monday evening.
Mayor Mark Eckert, who has defended the city’s practices and said leaders have focused on strengthening neighborhoods, said it would be “premature” for him to comment on the federal HUD complaint, other than to say he had received correspondence Monday from HUD and that he would work with City Attorney Robert Sprague to prepare a response to the complaint.
The office of Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan also has confirmed an investigation of Brown’s allegations. Brown has notified the U.S. Department of Justice, though he hasn’t filed a formal complaint with that agency.
In Brown’s complaint, he accused city leaders of revising zoning ordinances to reduce the amount of minority residents and limiting rental opportunities for African-Americans. City leaders have said Brown’s allegations are not true.
A Club’s Closing: It’s the Old Issue of Neighbors vs. Noise
Posted by: | CommentsUntil early April, the Beatrice Inn was a busy nightclub in the basement of a residential building on quiet, cobbled West 12th Street in Manhattan. Since then, the club — a hangout for fashion, music and film insiders — has been silent: raided and shut down by the city, according to the official complaint, for overcrowding and “inadequate means of egress.” Shortly after, an angry message was posted on the front of the club: “The neighborhood wants this place closed permanently stay closed!!”
The closing followed a raft of community complaints dating 2007, said Jason Post, a spokesman for the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement, which was responsible for the raid.
Marilyn McDermott, 47, an executive assistant for a real estate company who lives directly above the Beatrice Inn, said she called 311, the city’s telephone number for complaints, five times a week until it closed. She grew to loathe the song “Stuck in the Middle With You,” by Stealers Wheel, a favorite at the nightclub that she could hear despite earplugs, a soothing CD, “Sounds of the Ocean,” and owners’ efforts to soundproof her apartment.
Noise has come to dominate complaints to 311 since 2007, according to statistics on the NYC.gov Web site. “Last year 311 fielded over 300,000 noise complaints — the top complaint,” said John Feinblatt, the mayor’s criminal justice coordinator, when asked about relations between nightclubs and residents.
Many club and bar owners say the city favors those, like the West 12th Street residents, who seek a quiet night. And, they say, their cultural and economic contribution to the city is ignored: over $700 million in taxes and 95,500 jobs, according to a 2004 study by Audience Research and Analysis for the New York Nightlife Association — the most recent figures available.
“Nightclubs are now seen as nuisances,” said Steve Lewis, a nightclub designer and a founder of the Nightlife Preservation Community, a group started this year. “The attitude is that if clubs just went away, everybody could have a quiet life.”
A little night music in Pleasanton prompts some complaints
Posted by: | CommentsDowntown businesses are banking on a little outdoor music to help them score bigger bucks from their evening clientele.
But some neighbors are complaining about increased music and other noise at night.
The Pleasanton Downtown Association applied for and received a temporary permit June 19 to allow any downtown business to have outdoor music until 9 p.m.
Barone’s Restaurant took advantage of the permit, which lasts from July 1 to Dec. 31, and now wants the music time extended until 11 p.m. and its hours of operation to as late as 2 a.m.
In a letter to the city, owners Joseph and Maricela Barone cite the poor economy and say they are seeking the extended hours to help “offset declining business due to the recession.”
At least two other nearby residents have e-mailed their concerns about the proposal to the city, according to the staff reports. There has also been support from one resident as well as the Pleasanton Downtown Association.
“When you have outdoor music, it creates a vibrancy,” Salidivar said. “It’s fun to stroll downtown and hear all the different music. … It adds to the atmosphere and for a lot of people draws them down for the concept of music.”
The association has used live music as a draw for its Wednesday Night Live events throughout the summer.
Salidivar said increased activity at night could benefit daytime businesses by luring those nighttime customers, who may see sale signs or merchandise in the windows of closed stores, back during the day.
The city’s staff is recommending approving the request but having outdoor music on the restaurant’s rear patio end at 10 p.m. and to keep the noise levels in line with city codes that does not allow it to exceed 60 decibels, which is equal to conversation in restaurants.
TOP 10 WORST NEIGHBOURS
Posted by: | Comments#10 – ROBERT PICTON
There is not much worse then living near a pig farm. You have to experience the smell first hand, as no words can properly describe the foul stench to which you are exposed. Now imagine that the pig farm next door is owned by Robert Picton. More then a simple pig farmer, he is Canada’s most prolific serial killer, accused of murdering 27 people.
#9 – HOMER SIMPSON
Where do we start? At one time or another this neighbour will steal everything you own. He will cause your business to fail. He will be partially responsible for the death of your wife. He will teach your children to swear, mock your faith at every opportunity, scratch himself in front of your guests, and reject every overture of kindness and generosity you send his way. When the world is ending he will even kick you out of your own bomb shelter. His children will be encouraged to hate you and will bully your children. He’ll stuff a hornets nest into your mailbox and for an encore his irresponsible actions will have your entire community doomed to be eternally sealed inside an impenetrable dome.
#8 – BRITNEY SPEARS
Living next door to Britney Spears would be its own special form of hell. You get the endless stream of paparazzi and their flashbulbs going off at all hours. You can enjoy screams of pain when someones foot is run over as part of her daily parallel parking lessons. The traffic and chaos as another promotion seeking celebrity shows up offering to ‘help’. The nightly crying and whining of a neglected child, not to mention the noise her children must make.
#7 – DICK CHENEY
Good luck with any home improvement projects you have planned. One day you casually mention to Dick that you need a new roof, the next day there is somehow a signed no-bid contract with Haliburton nailed to your front door and you owe him $8,000,000,000. Then he will turn around and tell you to invade your other neighbours house so you can steal his roof.
#6 – WAL-MART
Shopping at a Wal-Mart is bad enough so can you even imagine having to live next door to one? To hell with the convenience, what about the glare of the parking lot lights in your bedroom window? The endless stream of delivery trucks backing into the loading docks. The teenage employees hiding behind your fence smoking weed or swapping spit during their breaks. Even worse they are now open 24-hours a day and encouraging people to use the parking lot as an RV campground. You couldn’t even have fun people watching, unless you enjoy watching poor, fat, overweight people.
#5 – WARREN JEFFS
Living next to this santimonious religious nutbar pedophile would be a real treat and put a whole new meaning to the term “lock up your daughters”. You would have one of his brain-dead followers knocking on your door every day telling you they held the only true path to your salvation. Plus when they ask if you want to buy any cookies the parents would push their 8-year old daughter in front of you and introduce her as ‘Cookie’. Be warned that when your 50-year old neighbour asks how your wifes pregnancy is coming along and what her due date is he isn’t being friendly, he is planning his wedding day.
#4 – MEXICO
Your neighbours are crawling over or under your fence and sneaking into your home every time you turn your back, and sometimes even when you don’t. You go to work one day to find out they took your job, so you manage to find another job and go to work one day to find out they took the whole factory and moved it into their yard. Half of your TV channels are suddenly speaking a language you don’t understand, your politicans are pandering to them in order to get their vote, there are hundreds of thousands of ‘visitors’ in your home, and you still can’t find a decent burrito anywhere.
#3 – OSAMA BIN LADEN
The worst thing about living next to Osama would have to be that you are probably living in a cave somewhere in the mountains of Pakistan. Instead of a cup of sugar he is always coming over to borrow your video camera or a roll of toilet paper.
#2 – SUMGAYIT, AZERBAIJAN
“Worlds Worst Polluted Places” for 2007 by The Blacksmith Institute. This home of over 40 Soviet-era factories was the industrial center for the manufacturing of pesticides, chlorine, detergents, and plenty of other noxious garbage. Today it is a cesspool of untreated sewage, mercury contamination, and some of the highest rates of cancer and birth defects anywhere in the world. And if you think that is bad, most of the factories have closed, so you can’t even get a decent job in this town.
#1 – THE DEATH STAR
Seriously, can you even imagine a worse neighbour? Not only can the Death Star blow up your house, but it can blow up your whole planet when you forget to return that 30′ ladder or fail to pledge allegiance to the Emperor. Even worse, if you move it can follow you anywhere in the galaxy. Don’t even get me started about the parking problems you would experience when the entire Imperial fleet shows up for some big meeting. To make matters worse you’ve got those peksy Rebels launching suicide attacks against the thing every couple weeks, so its only a matter of time before you have an X-Wing fighter or some other piece of random space debris crashing into your living room. Then when the damn thing is finally blown up they start rebuilding it but never finish the job, turning your street into a permanent construction zone, and you don’t even dare to ask to see the permit.
TIA neighbors lodge fewer noise complaints
Posted by: | CommentsTAMPA – Noise complaints from residential neighbors of Tampa International Airport declined from 278 to 174 from April through June compared with the same period a year ago, airport officials reported.
The airport received complaints from 16 different residents in the recent quarter, including one household that filed 83 complaints, 47 percent of the total.
Five individual callers accounted for 94 percent or 163 of the total complaints.
The airport reported that the number of jet landings declined in recent months on Runway 36R, the parallel runway on the east side of the airport whose approach patterns over nearby residential areas south of Tampa International.
However a disabled US Airways aircraft that temporarily closed the west parallel runway on June 27 led to 81 takeoffs to the south and over the neighboring residential area that day.
Now hear this! Noise irking boro
Posted by: | CommentsThere may be music playing, but not everyone in Brooklyn feels like dancing in the streets.
Only 32% of Brooklynites feel the city is doing a good job of controlling street noise, according to Mayor Bloomberg’s Citywide Customer Survey.
Brownsville was the borough’s noisiest neighborhood with a mere 18% of residents believing the city does an adequate job of preventing roadside racket.
“Sometimes I don’t get enough sleep because of all the noise,” said Alba Martinez, 22, a student who lives on Chester St.
Martinez has dialed 311 to complain about noisy neighbors with little results. “Even at 2 or 4 o’clock in the morning, they’re still out there with the music. The city should do something about it.”
Bedford-Stuyvesant ranked second in the borough for noise pollution, with 19% of residents feeling the city was doing enough to curb street noise.
“It’s like a competition on this block in the summer to see who can get the loudest,” said Ty Williams, 30, an engineer living on Halsey St. “Everyone stands in the street, music blasting.
“Sometimes people call the cops and everything quiets down for like 15 minutes,” Williams said. “Then, when the coast is clear, the party’s back on. It’s annoying.”
Brownsville and Bed-Stuy weren’t the only Brooklyn nabes in need of ear plugs. Less than 30% of residents in Williamsburg, Bushwick, Flatbush, Crown Heights and Coney Island think the city does enough to prevent unwanted street noise.
“Some people put speakers in their windows and play loud music, even at 3 in the morning,” said Erskine Pierson, 77, a retired drug counselor and life-long Crown Heights resident.
“Other people pull up right in front of your house, with that loud bass going ‘boom, boom,’ at all hours of the night. It’s always been like that here.”
All of Brooklyn isn’t turning into an unwanted block party, however
My car is my friend, and your enemy
Posted by: | CommentsThe problem, of course, is me. I love my car. I need my car. I want to get as fast as I can because I am only thinking in my driving monologue. I will get angry if you drive your car in a way that slows me down or if your bike interferes with my trip, or if you walk in front of me.
I am a tunnel-visioned horror show when I get behind the wheel. Selfish. Single-minded. Protected and invulnerable inside that ton of steel that is my car. Even without my cellphone.
These are all perfectly good reasons you really do want to keep me off the street where your children are playing, where your elderly parent is trying to cross, where neighbours are using bikes or skateboards or in-line skates or just hanging out in front of their homes. I am your family’s and your neighbours’ worst enemy.
If you can’t keep me off your street, then you will want to manage my driving, slow me down, and build a better connection between me and your child. A 30 km/h limit does that.
A major difference between 50 km/h and 30 km/h is that at 30, the driver can make eye contact with the pedestrian, and the pedestrian becomes a person. That makes the connection between drivers and pedestrians and cyclists more effective. We tend not to hurt people we really see.
Reduced injury was the first byproduct of this slow-neighbourhood movement
Pushing around.
Posted by: | Commentsit’ horrible how everywhere you walk, you see people pushing you around in the halls. you end up bruised at the end of the day…why are people in such a hurry to get to class?