There’s a constant cacophony in New York City. Some find comfort in the hum; others, not so much. In Upper West Side forums, residents have complained about hearing concerts from Central Park, whether it’s Billie Eilish or Stevie Wonder performing at the Global Citizen Festival. New Yorkers can report noise violations through 311, and in 2024, Manhattan’s District 7—covering the Upper West Side, Lincoln Square, and Manhattan Valley—ranked third in noise complaints, according to NYC OpenData.
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ILTUWS has covered the local grassroots movement Stop the Chop, which has been fighting to end non-essential helicopter flights, including tourist, charter, and commuter trips. “They dramatically reduce the quality of life for millions of people in the New York metropolitan area. They pollute our environment, pose significant safety risks, harm our children, and make us miserable,” reads the group’s mission statement.
Noise cameras were installed on the Upper West Side in 2023, following an outpouring of complaints to Councilmember Gale Brewer’s office about excessive noise coming from the West Side Highway. The cameras were installed by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which wrote Brewer’s office a letter approving her request.
“Many of the issues are the result of illegally modified car mufflers,” the DEP explained in the letter. The noise cameras are “paired with a sound meter and activate when the meter detects a noise of at least 85 decibels from a source at least 50 feet away.” The video then captures the offending vehicle’s license plate, the DEP reviews the evidence, and the car’s owner receives a notice to appear in the mail. First-time penalties are $800, second offenses increase to $1,700, and any further violations result in a $2,500 fine.
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ILTUWS has reached out to the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) for a list of all Upper West Side noise camera locations. A New York Times report from December 2023 noted that the Upper West Side “is home to at least one of the noise cameras the city is testing,” though the specific location was not provided. Councilmember Gale Brewer told The Times that she hopes the cameras “will catch the person, they’ll get a ticket and then they won’t do it again.”
Edging out District 7 in the rankings was Manhattan’s District 12, covering Washington Heights and Inwood, with 31,982 complaints. Topping the list was the Bronx’s District 12, with a staggering 73,014 complaints, many related to fireworks and outdoor speakers.
The noise camera pilot program launched in 2021.
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How many of those are related to Jacobs Pickles?
Bannin fireworks in Central Park would be a good start. So would demanding that Mount Sinai ambulances turn down/off sirens when the transportee isn’t in immediate danger. Other ambulance companies are better.
Yes! Totally agree. Please someone make this happen.
Love hearing the music from Central Park concerts. What a treat. Love the cacophony of the city. But….. ouch ouch ouch on the ambulance and police sirens. Why am I the only one holding my ears and turning away on the sidewalk like some kind of weirdo? If siren is, at times, not essential, please turn it down or off.
Excessive use of ambulance sirens is the single greatest source of noise pollution! Are there regulations that ambulance operators are supposed to follow?
Exactly. We shouldn’t be drowned out 20 flights up with closed windows and doors from sirens outside. The volume of sirens has increased to a ridiculous degree.
Gale Brewer has been a leader in addressing the public health hazard represented by the gratuitous, unnecessary, and dangerous use of ear-splitting, high-frequency sirens. She has been pushing legislation in this regard. We should all support her and encourage hospitals and other emergency responders to abide by the first principle of health care : “first, do no harm.”
“Redesigning the Siren What if the piercing wail of emergency vehicles was replaced by something else altogether?”
https://www.curbed.com/2023/08/siren-bills-brewer-rivera-two-tone-noise-hearing-loss.html
NYTimes: “Sirens: Loud, Ineffective and Risky, Experts Say”
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/19/us/sirens-noise-ambulances-fire-department-police.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb
I hold my ears for sirens also. BUT WHAT I HATE ARE THE HONKERS. I am startled as a walker! Again and again. It is like a stew of rage. Gayle please help.
It should be possible to point alarms to sound directly in front of an emergency vehicle (just like a megaphone), instead of 360 degrees all around. The need for this alarm is only to notify traffic ahead so that it should move to the side and especially at intersections to announce that the emergency vehicle traffic is coming and may want to go through a red light. It’s like using a flashlight instead of a light that projects in all directions.
He’s another one “street” performers playing amplified music in Strawberry Fields and elsewhere in Central Park.*
Amplified music without a permit is illegal in Central Park.
Strawberry Fields used to be a reasonably quiet place to read, but back then the lawns were also well tended, now the “lawns” of SF are packed earth, never aerated in the off season.
*Street performers blasting music on the street can also be a problem; there’s a guy who likes to sing Sinatra outside of Alice Tully who should really be… Not clear if NYC forbids unpermitted amplified music performances on the street, but playing boomboxes, and the modern replacement bluetooth speakers, aren’t allowed on streets. Does the City care? Nope.