Shrieking Greystone Children

[Ms. Jackson]

I am really anti-leaf blowing. It is unbearable. And, some people don't stop when you walk by on the sidewalk!

Shrieking kids I can stand (for a little while at least), but non-stop leaf-blowing all day yesterday had me ready to go out and crack some skulls.

[80JHer]

Greystone garden today,  What’s more offensive to your ears realitycookie?
45 minutes of children laughing
Or
5 hours straight of construction

[twmeb]

Greystone garden today,  What’s more offensive to your ears realitycookie?
45 minutes of children laughing
Or
5 hours straight of construction

Here's a thought: two (2) different sources of noise can be annoying. Several people have posted on this topic like it's an either/or situation. "Well, I'd rather hear kids screaming than airplanes, leaf blowers, construction, etc."  Some people don't mind the sounds of children screaming; some people do. 

And this is an unfair comparison, 80JHer. The original poster, realitycookie, did not say it was 45 minutes of children laughing. He/she said it was "shrieking", and as several people have acknowledged, there is a difference between the sounds created by lighthearted children's play, and the noise created when kids get too loud and they are screaming and shrieking. Also, nowhere was it stated that it was 45 minutes. For all you know, it could have been several hours. (I know I have witnessed 3+ hours of kids screaming, and it was very disruptive). Presumably, the construction work on the building is a necessary project and, by its very nature, it can't be done elsewhere. Parents can, and should, take kids to Travers Park for loud play activities.

[petegart]

In that case, thank goodness that the weather is getting colder & wetter, so you can simply close your windows against the horrible noise offending your ears.

[r]

In that case, thank goodness that the weather is getting colder & wetter, so you can simply close your windows against the horrible noise offending your ears.

The heating in most Jackson Heights apartments is designed so that you are supposed to keep your windows open all year, even during the coldest days of winter.

Much of New York City’s overheating problem can be attributed to the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918, said Dan Holohan, a historian of heating and the author of 18 books on the subject. “I first spotted this in my engineering books from the 1920s,” he said. “The authors would mention the ‘Fresh Air Movement’ and caution that both boilers and radiators now had to be much larger because of the need to keep windows open by command of the Board of Health.”

[crocketnyc]

Good lord, seems like there are some cackling hens who have nothing better to do than complain.  Children are not monks - they make noise.  I am rather certain that any of you complaining made noise.  As for leaf blowers, you do your super's work with a broom. I dare you for a whole season doing that EVERY day once the leaves start to fall all the way through mid December.   Supers do not get paid enough to deal with tenant bullshit.  This is NYC, with helicopters, ambulances, planes, construction, buses, emergencies, children, people smoking pot out and shooting at 3 am outside open wide.   If this bothers you, MOVE to the country on a deserted street.   

[dd_nyc]

And with the fall come the leaf blowers which are the worst noise makers of all (even worse than the honking) because they go on and on and on and on. 

A brief digression to mention those awful things never left. There hasn't been a day where it doesn't sound like a lawn mower outside as each super walks out of his building with a darn leaf blower in the morning and lets it rip.

[Bill]

I tend to agree that the sound of children playing is hardly a social problem. Leaf blowers are another matter. The gas-powered ones not only produce noise, but also substantial pollution that is a threat to anyone who uses them or is around them. They have been banned in a number of municipalities. There are things that we can control and things we cannot. Helicopters, ambulances and 3am shootings obviously fit in the latter category. However, in the case of leaf blowers, there are battery-powered ones that produce nowhere near the noise and pollution and are already being used by supers in a number of buildings.