When Lewis and I travel out of New York City, we remark about how peaceful those places are. We look forward to living in an orderly city where we can actually enjoy "simple pleasures"... such as occasionally sleep with our bedroom widows open. Or spend a week without hearing the noise pollution from overdevelopment (and poorly-maintained construction equipment) all around us. These short videos prove the amount of disturbance: demolition/construction sounds. Notice how the seasons change, but the noise pollution doesn't. Imagine that for 10 consecutive years.
This video was made on New Year's Day of 2023: no change... and no consideration for people who want to sleep late.
The city's Noise Ordinance laws allow noise pollution from construction/demolition to occur between 7am and 10pm. However, work crews still maneuver their trucks after 10pm, and the beeping of their "reverse-gear/back-up moving alerts" echo loudly.
This video was made on Father's Day (a Sunday) at 8:30 in the morning! Greedy developers commanded their workmen to ignore a federal holiday and demolish a house, so their tumult disturbed/woke the entire neighborhood of fathers who might be sleeping-in. It's terrible...
Thanks to NYC's corruption, overpaid road work crews rip up and repave the same parts of streets... for years. Only one mayor got the municipal agencies aligned for efficient road construction... but they quickly reverted. They don't care about fixing the pavement; their priority is absorbing a lot of civic funds for overtime payments, pricey construction supplies (of low quality), and "administrative" costs. Consequently, jackhammering often begins at 7am, as it does in this video. We heard jackhammering in our vicinities for years.
Four days later, another crew jackhammered the same area and ripped up asphalt pavement.
Even Christmas is not spared from jackhammering!
As months go by, the noisy commotion erupts on neighboring streets, echoing all over the area.
NYC is notorious for trucks that have bad engines: post office trucks, buses, UPS vans, construction trucks, and cargo trucks. Greedy/cheap companies refuse to invest in good machinery, so bystanders endure loud clattering engines that sound like Soviet-era tanks. Some are so noisy that we hear them from a half-mile away, as they cross over the bridge.
The amount of dust that floats through our window screens is disgusting.
There was also the night (summer solstice) when somebody ignited a car on the street outside of our building! Here is my video...
Months later, a fiery explosion occurred near the river, but it was never explained.
One month later, fire trucks used their sirens relentlessly at 11pm for a false alarm at a neighboring apartment building.
Car alarms seem to blare unnecessarily day and night, due to an irrational overcrowding of automobiles.
In other instances, immature drivers won't get out of each others' way. Obstinately, both of them refuse to move. Full of aggression, they honk their horns at each other for several minutes--uncaring of their noise pollution in the neighborhood.
Other noisy vehicles are ambulances. Driven with the slowness of ice cream trucks, they seem to be focused on an hourly-rate of payment. So, the incessant wailing of sirens disrupts the air for several minutes each time they go by! In other nations, emergency vehicles pass through quickly. But in NYC, their noise tends to linger in areas. Police are the only ones that enjoy speeding. In other countries, emergency vehicles only activate their sirens when needed; otherwise whey merely drive fast. (European sirens are less screechy and are only focused forward to reduce noise pollution). But in the USA, the vehicles make a show of themselves and certainly don't care about keeping the peace. Watch this video of a typical/slow NYC ambulance (this is why sirens linger for so long)...
Without exaggeration, Lewis and I hear disruptive sirens at least twice a day, every day, and they take at least 2 full minutes to move out of earshot.
At night, it is unpleasant when the perpetual sirens linger for 2-5 minutes each time, as we try to sit on our baloney, eat dinner, or have a dinner conversation with friends. Residents go to sleep with that noise pollution, too.
This one was recorded at 11:30, and you see the ambulance ignoring urgency to drive slowly--yet blaring its siren needlessly.
This next video was made at midnight, and you hear a wailing siren (almost like a banshee or a snoring sheep) being needlessly used throughout the tranquil streets--which were void of traffic. Instead of letting overworked Americans sleep, the fire department likes to blare its nasal-sounding sirens. Imagine trying to sleep with this noise...
After two years at this address, we notice a pattern. Six times per week involve fire truck sirens going to the same cluster of buildings. The dilapidated buildings are part of NYC's Housing Projects (a.k.a. The Projects): "affordable housing" that is overrun with unstopped crime. Almost daily, the overpaid fire department responds to "false alarms" there. (Evidently, they are false alarms because there wouldn't be any buildings left if all of their weekly arrivals were due to actual fires). In NYC, when the fire department arrives at a false alarm, they fine the building-owner for their "inconvenience". (The police due to the same thing). In this corrupt city of wasted tax revenue, the government-owned Housing Authority allows its outdated buildings to trigger several false alarms EVERY WEEK, and the overpaid fire department makes a flashy show of parading to the area to do nothing and get paid extra. It's a scam that funnels money into their pockets. (It is similar to how the Metropolitan Transit Authority allows overpaid workmen to accrue huge amounts of overtime while not actually fixing anything). Both situations are huge inconveniences taxpayers. Clearly, the fire fighters don't care that they are away from their station... unconcerned that a real fire might require their presence. The worst part is that they drive slowly while making a lot of noise with their sirens. They are never in a hurry to get to there. So, why use the noisy sirens?
Furthermore, NYC's fire truck sirens sound like a nasally whine--or a snoring sheep. Please watch my video to hear it...
A century passed, and New Yorkers hate the ugly sound of those sirens, but because the manufacturer was founded by JP Morgan, nobody is allowed to stop that company from making money on sirens that disturb every community in America's largest city. Even so, the sirens should be used less. In civilized cities, emergency vehicles only activate sirens when needed; they don't add noise pollution needlessly.
Today, fire truck sirens woke us at 6:30am and wailed aimlessly for five minutes. Five. It seems as if they drove in circles, instead of making progress to a destination. We doubt there was enough traffic on a Sunday morning to necessitate those whining sirens. At 10:30, the sirens came back--slowly moving to the Projects. At 3pm, the nasal-sounding sirens returned, going slower than a garbage truck. I heard them again at 5:30, and then at 10:30. It is unreal.
Lewis and I resided in Astoria for 10 years. When we moved away from its center, we went to its edge along the riverfront. Alas, NYC is greedily full of noise pollution, so the ruckus is inescapable. Our friends living in a Penthouse in Sutton Place experience the same never-ending tumult. So does our friend who lives on the top floor of a hi-rise in Long Island City. Brooklynites and friends who dwell in the West Village or Upper East Side suffer from the same plight. NYC is the most expensive city in the world, and it makes residents pay dearly for the privilege of hearing its noise.
Therefore, when I mention how nice it is to be somewhere where peacefulness has a chance to exist, you'll know what I'm talking about.
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