Noise leads list of complaints to city's hotline

Since January 2007, area residents have made more than 2,000 calls to the city's 311 line to complain about barking dogs, cacophanous construction sites and nerve-wracking neighbors.

By N. Clark Judd

Noise complaints continued to be the main quality-of-life concern for Riverdalians in 2007, according to city data on non-emergency services request calls.

For Fort Independence Park Neighborhood Association leader Phil McDonnell, noise isn't as much a concern as the spotlights shining on Kingsbridge Heights Rehabilitation Center near his home - but since the city doesn't take complaints for so-called "light trespassing," his call to the city non-emergency services hotline, 311, is being handled as a noise complaint about the sound of the lights' generators.

In response to the strike now ongoing at the center, its owner, Helen Sieger, erected a series of generator-powered lights she keeps on from sundown to sunrise, said a police spokesman. The lights shine so brightly that they keep her neighbors up at night, said Mr. McDonnell.

His is one of more than 2,000 311 calls about noise received from Riverdale since January 2007, according to requests for service summaries obtained from the city. As with the prior year, noise complaint calls peaked in April, but the number of calls was higher in winter than in summer

"The weather gets warmer in April. The windows open up, dogs are left outside in people's yards," explained Brad Trebach, vice-chair of Community Board 8's environment and sanitation committee.

Mr. Trebach said noise has been an issue in Riverdale for years. In 2004, the community board held an entire special session about noise and the noise ordinance.

"If you look at the effect noise has, it leads to stress and physical and mental problems, and if you take a look in offices and schools for example it's been shown to reduce concentration levels, affect longterm memory and attention span," he said. "When noise invades one's home, it's very frustrating because we suffer a perceived loss of control in what should be a nonthreatening protective environment. It's your home."

Police say noise is a pressing quality of life concern throughout the borough - but as the 311 system gets more use, more people are complaining.

"I'm sure it's the same in every precinct," said a police spokesman. "It's just being more noticed now, because before people didn't call. You might see the increase because more people are using 311 now."

In Riverdale's 50th Precinct, graffiti is a constant source of grief - but because graffiti complaints are taken in a number of ways, not just from 311, the system's sparse numbers on the subject are not an accurate representation of just how much of an irritation it is.

"Graffitti's big in any neighborhood," the spokesman said. "We've made a lot of arrests, I think we tripled the amount of arrests compared to the year before. We just had seven 14-year-old kids the other day here for graffiti or possession of graffiti instruments."

The police spokesman added that quality-of-life concerns change from neighborhood to neighborhood and even vary depending on the time of day.

"In the morning, it'll be a blocked driveway. In the evening, it might be noise," said the spokesman. The city received 537 complaints of blocked driveways in 2007, according to 311 data supplied by the city Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications.

"There's more noise in the southeast corner of the precinct, more south of the Marble Hill area and all that, compared to more graffiti issues in the Riverdale area, the south and central Riverdale areas, and so on," the spokesman said.

Not all of those calls are received through 311, either, he said - often people will call the 50th Precinct directly. Those calls will be logged separately and handled after emergency calls are cared for, said the spokesman.

This is part of the February 28, 2008 online edition of The Riverdale Press.

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