Need advice, legal and otherwise, or, it's only rock and roll

[fasteddie]

Fight between Jersey City neighbors over loud TV escalates into violence
Published: Monday, December 05, 2011, 3:00 AM By Travis Fedschun/The Jersey Journal

Spat over TV turns violent

A dispute between tenants over the volume of a television set early yesterday erupted into violence, according to Jersey City police reports.

Around 1:45 a.m., a fourth-floor resident of a Kennedy Boulevard building at Orient Avenue went downstairs to tell a third-floor resident to turn down the volume on her TV and the two women started arguing, police reports said.

Edwin Poll, 26, the boyfriend of the third-floor resident jumped into the fray, and then the husband of the fourth-floor resident, Mario Alverio, 36, ran downstairs with a gun, police reports said.

Alverio pointed the black handgun at Poll, who punched Alverio several times in the face until Alverio dropped the weapon and Poll picked it up and called police, reports said.

Police charged Poll with aggravated assault and Alverio with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, illegal possession of a weapon, and possession of a weapon with unlawful purpose, reports said.

[jehu]

This almost sounds like it is Vigilante from AtS.

FE, I moved my 100 lb. tower speakers powered by a 300 watt Monster amp right up against his wall so he can maybe appreciate the music better.

I called the condo association and it seems Ken has filed a zillion complaints against me.  They didn't think it merited bothering me about.  Supposedly, he's got quite a rap sheet himself, though they wouldn't give me the juicy details.  But I do know he's been repeatedly warned for taking the short cut through the gym with his mutt.  I'm gonna ask if I can be the gym DJ.  I filed my complaint against Ken on the condo website, so it's forever a part of the historical rekkid.  As it turns out, no one else complained about me contrary to Ken's bulldingy.  I must be getting old.

[Frank M]

I feel for you, that really sucks.  Listening to music at home is important to me as well, but I’ve been lucky to have relatively good neighbors over the years.  I also ditched a high powered solid-state amp in favor of a 40 Watt tube amp.  It sounds a lot more like real music and still plays loud without shaking the building. 

Annoyances from other peoples’ home stereos are often more related to the nature of the sound, not necessarily how loud it’s being played.  Lightweight, inexpensive satellite/woofer systems tend to produce annoyingly loud one-note bass for example.  That doesn’t sound like the problem in your case, but if there’s anything else that might cause the system to produce excess mid-bass, like tone or loudness controls, consider turning them off.  Unfortunately, it sounds like the real problem is less about your music than an unreasonable neighbor’s bitter disposition.   If I had a solution to remedy THAT,  I’d be able to print my own currency.

FYI, you can find sound pressure level (SPL) meter apps for your smart phone, but just like Radio Shack’s ubiquitous meter, it won’t be up to the task of making accurate measurements that can prove anything.  It’s a pocket computer that makes phone calls, not a calibrated audio instrument.  Even less impressive, many apps don’t indicate if they’re based on A or C-weighted dB scales, which is a major distinction.  Short of hiring a professional to take measurements with the proper equipment and draft a report, numbers won’t mean anything.  Even so, I don’t think there are applicable standards for inter-unit sound transmission within a building.  Unless the management company established specific criteria, even certified measurements would be irrelevant. 

Good luck, man!

[Mr_Grieves]

FE, I moved my 100 lb. tower speakers powered by a 300 watt Monster amp right up against his wall so he can maybe appreciate the music better.

I called the condo association and it seems Ken has filed a zillion complaints against me.  They didn't think it merited bothering me about.  Supposedly, he's got quite a rap sheet himself, though they wouldn't give me the juicy details.  But I do know he's been repeatedly warned for taking the short cut through the gym with his mutt.  I'm gonna ask if I can be the gym DJ.  I filed my complaint against Ken on the condo website, so it's forever a part of the historical rekkid.  As it turns out, no one else complained about me contrary to Ken's bulldingy.  I must be getting old.

[jarze]

Next time, tell him to never knock on your door, speak to you, or otherwise harass you again. Tell him to move to a building with concrete floors and walls if he is so sensitive to sound.

He is the one with the problem. He should change his life to satisfy himself. He cannot ask others to accommodate him.

[fasteddie]

McGrieves, how old is this cranky guy? I'm guessing he's considerably younger than you because well.... who isn't? This is pretty funny actually. I can see this becoming a growing problem across the country. Aging, hearing impaired, burned out hippie baby boomers torturing sensitive new age yuppie/hipsters by blasting their beloved 50 year old vinyl record collection through high decibel 2000 watt vintage electronics.

ring ring ring
"911, do you have an emergency to report?"
"yes, yes officer, there's this doddering, senile old man nextdoor who is always blasting this horrible  weird music, it's driving me MAD"
"oh, is it rap or hiphop? Is it offensive or obscene language?"
" yes, they're singing about a motorcycle gang, it's very violent, it's one of those old girl groups, I think it's The Shangri Las. My child doesn't need to be exposed to this"

Perhaps this guy doesn't realise how lucky he is. He is living nextdoor to one of the world's foremost 60's music scholars. You should give him your blog address and suggest that he email you rather than bang on your door next time he thinks the music is too loud.

[Binky]

"I wonder how much a decibel reader costs."

There's an app for that.

[Mr_Grieves]

Sad story.

I wasn't going to get the condo management company involved thinking it wasn't their responsibility.  I figured it was a civil matter if anything, but more so, I didn't want to get the whole world mixed up in my business.  I don't know if it's relevant, but we both rent from the developer who controls the management company.

But I suppose it can't hurt and I'm almost sure Mr. Dainty Ears has complained.  I'm also planning on mailing him via certified mail the note I left for him.  It's possible he didn't get it, though unlikely.  More importantly, I want to be able to prove I made every attempt to fix the problem short of blowing up my audio system.  I was hoping to keep this thing more friendly and  not get a third party involved, but it's becoming apparent that's wishful thinking.   I am not going to knock on this guy's door.  I tried reasoning with him once in the past.  He's very aggressive and unreasonable and only wants things his way.

I wonder how much a decibel reader costs.

[nugnfutz]

If the problem is in your neighbors head, there is no way you can appease them.

About 10 years ago, I owned a condo in London. I never held parties. Yes, I watched TV and played Playstation games. Nothing that could be considered loud. I tried the nice guy approach. I asked her to knock on my door anytime she had an issue and I would deal with it. Over the next few months, she would barge into my house, telling me to turn down my tv, insisting that I put door stops on all my internal doors to stop them slamming, asking me not to flush my toilet after midnight, asking me not to do my laundry nights or weekends

After a few months of this bizzare nonsense, I received a complaint from the Condo Management agency. Apparently i had been deliberately slamming doors, calling my own home phone and letting it ring for hours, just to annoy my neighbor.

I called my lawyer. He asked a couple of questions - is your neighbor in her 60s? Did she recently lose her husband? Yes to both.

A few weeks later I got a note through my door. It said something like: "I'm sorry to disturb you. I have chest pains and I have called an ambulance. I hope the noise doesn't wake you". It was addressed to a neighbor downstairs, but she put it thru my letterbox. If she had simply knocked on my door, I could have gotten her help faster.
 
Sadly she died that night. But she taught me an important lesson. Not all problems are your own, and sometimes you have got to fight them. Vigourously.

[JCHere]

Code 222: When played in any residential neighborhood so as to produce sixty-five (65) decibels on the A-scale as read by the slow response of a sound level meter when measured at a distance of twenty-five (25) feet or at the next adjoining full property line between the hours of 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. or when played between the hours of 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. on any street, playground, school, park, or common area of any building in such a manner as to be heard by anyone other than the operator of the device.

Emphasis mine.

Avoid court.  Do what you are doing.  Knock on the person's door and talk to them like a grownup and explain that you would like to enjoy your music on occasion.  It's a pain in the ass exercise, but the best method since it doesn't involve money or bureacracy.   

You can always use the police and court, but those methods will not be a path to living together in relative peace with each other.  Just in case, write down in a notebook the comments of the police and dates and times that the neighbor has complained.  Your neighbor now has a public record of your disturbance and you need records of your attempts to be reasonable.

duke

Duke, What great advice. And thanks for finding/posting the city codes on this. You helped me greatly in my situation with two tenants that are "duking"(lol) it out in a 3 family building.
Best!

[duke_of_earl]

Code 222: When played in any residential neighborhood so as to produce sixty-five (65) decibels on the A-scale as read by the slow response of a sound level meter when measured at a distance of twenty-five (25) feet or at the next adjoining full property line between the hours of 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. or when played between the hours of 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. on any street, playground, school, park, or common area of any building in such a manner as to be heard by anyone other than the operator of the device.

Emphasis mine.

Avoid court.  Do what you are doing.  Knock on the person's door and talk to them like a grownup and explain that you would like to enjoy your music on occasion.  It's a pain in the ass exercise, but the best method since it doesn't involve money or bureacracy.   

You can always use the police and court, but those methods will not be a path to living together in relative peace with each other.  Just in case, write down in a notebook the comments of the police and dates and times that the neighbor has complained.  Your neighbor now has a public record of your disturbance and you need records of your attempts to be reasonable.

duke

[jehu]

I'd contact building management or the landlord and tell them your neighbor is harassing you. Send it certified mail and cc the prick.

[Soshin]

I've no idea, but I would suggest playing

this

very loudly indeed.

[Mr_Grieves]

My neighbor complains seemingly at the drop of a pin.  Okay, it’s the music.  I play it a little loud, whatever that means, every so often.  In any event, it’s not blasting.  I really do try to take into consideration my neighbors and keep away from Pink Floyd.  Seriously, the music is a little loud (my subjective description) on weekend afternoons for a couple of hours and for about 45 minutes after I get home from work sometimes, about 5pm.  In any event, I assure you, it’s not blasting.

My building has thin walls and to me, this is the reality of apartment living.  I try to be mindful of this guy even though he really is a dick.  He repeatedly bangs on my front door, frightening the cats and me, instead of ringing the bell.  As a result, it always ends up in an argument and he gets in my face in a threatening manner.

Friday, it happened again.  I refused to lower the music.  He called the cops. The cops came and asked me to lower the music.  I have no idea what my rights are, but I asked them, not trying to be sound like the wise guy I am, “Why should I, it’s not loud.”  And then I asked their opinion.  They said they were neutral.  I ended up lowering it just to put the matter to a rest.  But it’s not settled cuz I refuse to live like a monk.

I wrote a note to the guy yesterday, very diplomatic.  It mostly said that we should talk and work it out.  No response. 

This is heading towards court.  What are my rights?

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