Photo from the 47th precinct’s Facebook page.
Amid the ongoing, opening hour restrictions imposed on clubs, bars and restaurants, currently subject to a 10 p.m. closure, one Bronx district is experiencing skyrocketing, loud music complaints. Since moving to Williamsbridge in the upper Bronx, Venus Carey has had to endure unbearably loud music from neighbors’ parties. She said it has gotten so bad, at times she and her roommate have resorted to booking a hotel to get some respite.
“It’s affecting my productivity,” said Carey, 38. “It’s affecting my mood. It’s affecting my sleep,” she added. “If it happens on a weekend, even on a Saturday, I don’t want to be awake at 2.30, 3 o’ clock in the morning. I would like to be in bed. There’s a party bumping next door. I can’t do that.”
Parties and loud music complaints are surging across the city in recent months, but no other area has seen more complaints than Bronx Community District 12 in the North Bronx. Police at the 47th precinct, which shares boundaries with the district, have seen an increase in loud music and party complaints amid the pandemic, including pop-up parties in people’s homes.
The City’s 311 service registered 340,607 loud music/party complaints from June through October, a 138 percent increase compared to the same period last year. Bronx District 12 Manager, George Torres, said he’s been getting tons more noise complaints lately, especially those linked to parties and loud music. “I would say that’s like 90 percent of the phone calls these days,” he said.
Bronx District 12, which includes Williamsbridge, Wakefield, Woodlawn, Baychester and Edenwald, had more than 57,944 complaints from June through October, more than any other district. During the same period last year, the district only had 2,333 complaints related to partying and loud music.
Image via Datawrapper
The district might have the most complaints, but it’s no exception in the borough. The Bronx sees the lion’s share of noise complaints, with over 133,000 loud music/party complaints registered between June and October. Community Board 7, for example, had 11,357, more than double the complaints for the same period last year.
Torres said while noise complaints are common in the summer, now residents are complaining about cars blocking their driveways, double parking prohibiting traffic flow, and loitering because of winter house parties. He said he’s heard of promoters reaching out to homeowners, some who might be financially struggling, and asking them to rent out their homes for parties.
He urges all residents experiencing unacceptable noise in the district to call 311, so that, at least, there will be a record of what’s going on, which will eventually inform the district’s needs statement. In fact, in six out of the top ten expense budget requests, the community board asks that the NYPD equip each patrol vehicle with a sound meter to better monitor noise complaints.
“They’re calling 311 because they’re frustrated,” Torres said of the residents. “These are our stakeholders. We should be responding to the complaints.”
Erik Hernandez, who recently transitioned from commanding officer of the 47th precinct to inspector, said there are significant issues related to parties in private homes which have only ramped up with the pandemic. “It is a legitimate issue where many private homes, whether it’s the summer or the winter, are turned into unauthorized social clubs,” he said.
Photo from the 47th precinct’s Facebook page.
Hernandez said officers have seen people wearing shirts with the word “Security” on them, standing outside private properties frisking people. Because the district is more spread out, and has a significant number of private, single-family homes, he said the precinct lends itself to more party activity.
The precinct has shared images on its Facebook page of items recovered from house parties. “Our officers confiscated sound equipment and alcohol fit for a nightclub from various locations throughout the 47th Precinct,” the Facebook post read.
Other than the complaints, Hernandez said a bigger problem is that such parties have a propensity for violence. However, he added that there’s little the department can do without a warrant or an emergency call. To stymie the parties, he said police have been tracking social media posts of upcoming planned private events and have had neighborhood coordination officers reach out to the homeowners to let them know that such parties are not allowed.
Norwood News also reported recently about the New York City Sheriff shutting down a Bronx super-spreader “fight club” event in Hunts Point.
For Carey, she said she’s reached out to 311 dozens of times since she moved to Williamsbridge. She now submits complaints through the website because she said it yields more concrete records than any phone calls she makes. However, in general, she’s not sure reaching out to 311 leads to much of anything.
“It’s so fruitless to try to call 311,” she said. “I’ve had operators on the phone. I’ve asked them if they can hear the music through the phone, if they can hear the parties through the phone, and a couple of them have said, ‘yes,’ and I said, ‘So, what can I do? You hear this through a phone, so this is clearly a huge problem.’ They’re like, ‘I can submit this claim for you.’ It’s like talking to a wall, calling 311,” she said.
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.
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