Midnight Mass for Feast of Our Lady of Guadelupe

[kphechtny]

The Blessed Sacrament Church on 93rd/35th is having a midnight mass complete with loudspeakers and a horn section. This sucks. Freedom of religion is one thing but not at the expense of your neighbor. Uncool.

[lindsey]

Out of curiosity, did you call 311 to complain? If so, was there any response?

[kphechtny]

I did. I called 311, 911, the police and the parish. They were finally "unplugged" at 1:20ish AM. And this was after I heard what sounded like the speaker saying there had been a lot of complaints. Again, the service was in Spanish (of which I am not a native speaker) so maybe that was about something else. I intend to visit the parish personally some time next week. Thanks for asking.

[lindsey]

You may be interested to know that 311 only accepts noise complaints about houses of worship when a service is not being held, and that the police will not respond to complaints about a religious service:

http://www.nyc.gov/apps/311/allServices.htm?requestType=relatedService&serviceName=Noise+from+House+of+Worship

I've been trying to learn why this is, and why religious services get special consideration under the city's noise code. All seems a touch unconstitutional, eh?