loud neighborhood - noise ordinance? (Pittsburgh, Washington: house, living, bus)

[fleetiebelle]

Originally Posted by selltheburgh

The horn used as a doorbell thing baffles me. especially when I see somebody doing that while holding a cell phone. I think some people just weren't raised to know any better.

I live across the street from a bunch of these people (or I live across the street from the people they're giving rides to, I guess) I understand that they don't want to climb up all those stairs to ring the doorbell, but send a text, for crap's sake.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by selltheburgh

The horn used as a doorbell thing baffles me. especially when I see somebody doing that while holding a cell phone. I think some people just weren't raised to know any better.

Prior to my neighbors across the street being displaced due to gentrification (that "g" word City-Data aficionados like to pretend doesn't exist in the East End) a school van would reliably come by around 7:20 AM every morning and BLARE its horn SEVERAL times to function as a "doorbell". As someone who goes into work late in the morning and often works until 9 PM or 10 PM (necessitating "sleeping in") I was always outraged and would give a dirty glare out my window to the bus driver. Why those parents couldn't keep look out their window for a bus or why the driver couldn't text the parents is beyond my realm of comprehension.

[ebyrnes]

OP, I think that you live on the block next to me, lol! The sound of the kids playing is okay with me, but the taunting of the dog would make me furious and I would try to engage the dog's owner on that one (not likely to work, though). And the loud radio thing is horribly annoying; here's the Pittsburgh code http://ecode360.com/13705918:

Amplified noise from vehicles or handheld devices.
(1) No person shall transmit noise from a vehicle being operated on a public street, or alley, or in commercial or residential parking facilities, by playing any radio, tape player, compact disc player, loudspeaker, or other electronic device used for the amplification of music or other entertainment, which is plainly audible to an officer at a distance of 75 feet from the source of the noise.


(2) This provision also includes portable, hand carried, audio amplification or reproduction devices including, but not limited to, hand carried radios, cassettes, or compact disc players.


(3) Vehicles with permits for activities consistent with the transmission of amplified noise shall be exempt from this section.


I do agree with others: if the neighbors have been living like this, they are probably not willing to change their collective behaviour for you; but if you can find a few neighbors who are also interested in having a quieter place to live, then you might be able to band together and diligently calling 911 with noise violations. Even then you may not get any positive results but I wish you luck!

[szug-bot]

I might be a curmudgeon when I get into my older years....or maybe I'm one now.

Noise bugs the *expletive deleted* out of me. Not so much outside, but INSIDE.

There is one resident on this floor that brings something large and metal off of the elevator - one of those grocery wheelie things? From the elevator to her door, it sounds like she's trowing hammers onto a loose pile of metal decking panels.

And of course, when she gets into her apartment, she is courteous enough to notify the earth that she is home, safe and sound, with a hearty SLAM.

Everyone in this building slams their doors.

The person above me, too, with this stomping, dropping stuff, and other activities that would make one think there is a loose chimpanzee up there....

So I DO sympathize about the loudness of neighbors OUTSIDE (let me guess - you live in Beechview?), I would gladly take that as opposed to night after night of stomping above my head. OUTSIDE is one thing, but above you and within your own building, and you feel like you're being cheated out of enjoying your abode.

And I thought the Hill was noisy.

[Hopes]

I have two loud neighbors. One is a father and the other is a mother of different households two houses apart. The father stands on his porch and screams at his daughter and the other neighbor's children who torment him. The mother yells at her children, who are destine to be juvenile delinquents. I empathize with the stress of raising hooligans, but these two parents are louder than their children.

I solved the problem by telling the father that he disrupted my day with his yelling, he needs Prozac, and should stop letting the kids get a rise out of him because they truly enjoy seeing him blow. When I was having a casual conversation with the husband of the mother who screams, the father of the other house came out onto his porch and screamed. My neighbor, the husband of the mother who screams, commented on how loud he was. I told him his wife was just as loud. You should have seen the look on his face.

It's funny how people respond when they are told directly. They'll either retaliate with more of what you complain about or they become embarrassed and comply. In both instances, they complied. I haven't heard any noise from either house in over four months.

My way of doing things only works if you pre-establish relationships with your neighbors. If you're just a random person who never speaks to neighbors, they're not going to give a damn what you think. If you're friendly and talk with them regularly through the years, they care very much.

[selltheburgh]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Prior to my neighbors across the street being displaced due to gentrification (that "g" word City-Data aficionados like to pretend doesn't exist in the East End) a school van would reliably come by around 7:20 AM every morning and BLARE its horn SEVERAL times to function as a "doorbell". As someone who goes into work late in the morning and often works until 9 PM or 10 PM (necessitating "sleeping in") I was always outraged and would give a dirty glare out my window to the bus driver. Why those parents couldn't keep look out their window for a bus or why the driver couldn't text the parents is beyond my realm of comprehension.

I had the same situation with a rental near me, yet there weren't any kids there. I don't know if the woman who lived there had foster custody of a kid for a bit or was an aunt, but she didn't have kid. Yet every morning for one week a bus would honk at 6:55in the morning. I called the bus company daily because there weren't kids there and it woke my child up. They finally stopped honking in the morning. The manager said that the driver can't get out of the bus and leave other kids there. Soon the bus stopped coming, the woman moved out, and hipsters moved in a month or so later.

Some might think she was displaced due to gentrification, but the truth is that she was a 19 year-old who got pregnant and moved back in with her mother.

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Prior to my neighbors across the street being displaced due to gentrification (that "g" word City-Data aficionados like to pretend doesn't exist in the East End) a school van would reliably come by around 7:20 AM every morning and BLARE its horn SEVERAL times to function as a "doorbell". As someone who goes into work late in the morning and often works until 9 PM or 10 PM (necessitating "sleeping in") I was always outraged and would give a dirty glare out my window to the bus driver. Why those parents couldn't keep look out their window for a bus or why the driver couldn't text the parents is beyond my realm of comprehension.

Why can't the students be responsible to wait for the bus on their own?

[DaisyDaisy]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Prior to my neighbors across the street being displaced due to gentrification (that "g" word City-Data aficionados like to pretend doesn't exist in the East End) a school van would reliably come by around 7:20 AM every morning and BLARE its horn SEVERAL times to function as a "doorbell". As someone who goes into work late in the morning and often works until 9 PM or 10 PM (necessitating "sleeping in") I was always outraged and would give a dirty glare out my window to the bus driver. Why those parents couldn't keep look out their window for a bus or why the driver couldn't text the parents is beyond my realm of comprehension.

A horn blare, especially regularly, would annoy me too. Doubt the bus driver saw, or would have cared about, a glare. The parent should have had the kid outside at the appointed time -either standing with their kid or watching from the window, unless inclement weather- but not all parents would care to do that. Maybe there wasn't even a parent home.

Originally Posted by Copanut

Why can't the students be responsible to wait for the bus on their own?

Depends on age of kids and possibly where the stop is located.

[Tallysmom]

Kids playing I'm fine with, but it seems at a certain age, some little girls shriek like they are getting murdered in a ghastly horrible slow painful way. I can assure you, they grow out of it. Takes about a year.

The bass thing? I don't have a clue. It's so bad around here, I'm seriously considering new windows and big time insulation. My windows rattle and buzz and the house shakes... go outside to find the music is seriously low and beyond the bass you can barely hear it. Bass travels like you can't believe, often it's not even on my street. And it's always cars.

[sparrowmint]

Originally Posted by Tallysmom

Kids playing I'm fine with, but it seems at a certain age, some little girls shriek like they are getting murdered in a ghastly horrible slow painful way. I can assure you, they grow out of it. Takes about a year.

I hate this because you never know what it is. I often rush outside to see what's going on, and it's always nothing. But while statistically rare, there have been attempted abductions around here, so it feels like crying wolf even though they don't even know they're doing it. I'd hate to ignore something.