Sunday, April 22, 2018

Noisy Neighbor Problems

I've got a noisy neighbor whom we'll call Tyrone.  He lives alone, plays loud rap music anytime he's conscious and the thought occurs to him, and likes to sit at the entrance to his garage smoking hand rolled cigarettes that smell funny and sucking on a 40.  He works on his car in the driveway with his bare ass hanging out for all to see.  I live in a condo and have a home owner's association, but the HOA would rather not get involved.  On several occasions they have outright refused to get involved.



Two of my neighbors, whom we'll call Mortimer and Persephone, live right next door to Tyrone and have been subjected to his bad behavior for a little over four years.  The HOA is giving them the run around, although to be fair, Mort is not well-spoken and tends to wander around a lot.  Mort is also on the board of directors of the HOA and still can't get anything done.

This wonderful Sunday morning (4/22/18) Tyrone turned on the rap music and everyone within earshot was treated to a profane litany of black people chanting about how much fun it is to kill white people.  Mort wanted a witness, and so called me.  He also called the president of the HOA, who finally did come over and heard the volume and content of the rap.  I don't want to call it music, because it isn't.  Mort called the Columbus PD.

Officer Friendly's sister, Officer Affable, arrived in about ten minutes.  As soon as the PD pulled up Tyrone shut the music off.  He's been through this before and he knows the game.  The police verified that there was little they could do unless they actually heard the music.  They could have a little talk with Tyrone and explain that he isn't allowed to behave this way, but unless he commits an actual criminal act complete with evidence and witnesses, they couldn't arrest him nor charge him with a crime.  Officer Affable, was helpful and had a talk with Tyrone on her way out.  She also had an extended conversation with the president of the HOA, which I wasn't privy to.

Tyrone's Place

Columbus PD

HOA rules prohibit this kind of behavior.  In the section General Information and Policies of Mcnaughten Village Condominium Association, under General Conduct, HOA rules state:
All unit owners, residents, and their guests shall at all times conduct themselves in a manner that shows consideration for all other occupants of McNaughten Village regarding noise, behavior, and conduct which disrupts, interferes with, or infringes upon the rights of others. No owner, resident, or guest shall permit any action or behavior to occur at any time which would disrupt or interfere with the quiet and peaceful enjoyment by each occupant of any unit in McNaughten Village Condominiums.

Under the heading Respect for the Rights of Others, in Item 2:
2. No person shall begin, create or continue any noise or disturbance, if said activity interferes with the peaceful existence of any other person.

Under the heading Quiet Time:
Excessive noise is not permitted between the hours of 11:00 PM and 7:00 AM on weekdays, 11:00 PM and 8:00 AM on Saturday and Sunday.
Not that this means anything to Tyrone.

My question is: What can be done to silence Tyrone?

11 comments:

Grog said...

Well, one idea comes to mind, stereo systems are not invulnerable to pump action kinetic energy, however that would most likely cause you no end of grief.

The HOA needs to find their balls and remove said stereo from his house or kick him out, even though the latter would take some time because of the "legal" system being what it is.

Tewshooz said...

Get the neighbors together to read him the riot act. There are many ways to harass somebody like that without leaving a trace. Use your imagination. This is why I don't have neighbors.

Bob G. said...

Mad Jack:
---Well, my FIRST (and politically incorrect as well as ILLEGAL) solution would be a .45 ACP in the melon on top of his shoulders, but I digress...
---I don't live in a condo, but we DO (supposedly) have an HOA (that we never hear from or about).
Ours is a community of single family houses (some have been turned into multi-family "apartments" thanks to the Latinos. But they seem a quieter bunch for the most part.
---Yet people like Tyrone are the WORST of the lot. They take over the houses (now rentals, because the owners have moved or died off), get their gub'ment checks, reduced rent, utilities, food and whatever else they snag from taxpayers and do whatever the hell THEY want to...to ALL hours 24/7/365.
I often call the police and they shut them up for a while (we have a 30 ft law in Indiana), but it never REALLY stops. You can hear some of these mooks BLOCKS away!
We even have an old black guy who rides around on a velocipede with a STEREO SPEAKER attached...JUST so he can blast HIS music (80s R&B, but loud enough to drown out the battle on Omaha Beach), as well as black motorcyclists (Harley) with a LOUD STEREO).
It was bad enough with the boomBOX brigade into the early 80s...now, we have MOBILE house-shaking vehicular morons all over (big rims, naturally and gag-a-maggot paint jobs).
No one wants to really shut these people the hell up, and after damn near 20 years of this crap, I:m reaching even MY limit.

The best I can offer (after my tirade) is to KEEP calling the police and hope you get good response time (our noise complaints take up to 40 minutes, so you can figure out how often the noise stops). Sometimes, if these idiots get tired of always have the po-po come by, they might even MOVE.

This IS a RACE-related issue (believe it or not), and that's why no one wants to really get involved...
Then again, all that noise causes surges in ENDORPHINS and these idiots want more of that "rush"...addicts all.
(yeah, after all this time, I've done my homework on this issue)
Good luck with this.
We're all in the same boat...just at different oars!

Roll safe out there.

CWMartin said...

Bob hit it right- if Tyrone was, say, Timmy, he'd have likely been out on his butt a long time ago. Unless your HOA is more wussified than PC-phobic. Perhaps if you hit him with white spray paint...

Old NFO said...

Hammer the HOA. Threaten a lawsuit against them for failure to enforce the rules, saying you've lost value in your place and you want the HOA to buy it for FULL value. And yes, keep calling the cops!!!

Anonymous said...

Documentation is your friend. Get yourself a decibel meter. There is probably a cell phone app for that! document the volume at set points when he plays the "music".
Volume inside my front door 12db at 6am
Volume at end of my driveway 14db at 6am
volume at end of his driveway 18db at 6am

Get Mort and Persephonie in on it.

I don't think the police are going to be able to do anything for you but your HOA when presented with a "Do something or we will be talking over assault lawyers" might develop a lawsuit allergy.

Unknown said...

Anon. has the right idea. Decibel meters are cheap, and there are phone apps. I use one on construction site. Document. Document. Lawyer with HOA.Document

Andrew said...

If you do the documentation, do it with some sort of video system that has a time stamp on it. Just writing it down does no good.

And do what OldNFO says. Make the HOA live up to their damned rules. You all signed a contract, a legal binding contract, between yourself, your neighbors and the HOA. Do whatever you can to make the HOA squeal like a pig. But, of course, be prepared for blowback. Thus the video and audio documentation. Just don't tape yourself doing anything stupid.

Have the same problem with some residents in my apartment block. Asked one guy what was wrong, as every time I would use a meat mallet in my kitchen (around 6pm) he would go out and honk his horn, turn up the radio loud and start shouting. He called me a 'cracker' and threatened me with harm. Fortunately my landlady believed me and he was ordered out in 7 days (contract we all signed said no 'racial slurs' would be used.)

Good luck with dealing with the idiot, and the next idiot that does the same. Hope it works well and in your favor soonest.

Mad Jack said...

Thanks guys.

I'm ordering Mort a DB meter; they cost about $20. I'm also encouraging him to grow a pair.

I think there's a lot more to this ongoing problem than anyone is willing to talk about - or at least, talk to someone who'll talk to me. Check the latest news on Part 2.

bart simpsonson said...

Keep your AR close and the food for it closer. Any criticism of an african is racism, yo. On the encouragement to Mort to grow a pair, I think it takes a physical encounter (on Mort's part, as a true victim) with the type to precipitate new growth of a pair. Or, it could just precipitate white flight. Said white flyte works. For a while. Soon you are followed, by the african stalkers. It is a tale told again and again.

Mad Jack said...

Thanks Bart. I have a 12 gauge coach gun with open hammers that I keep nearby, never mind exactly where. I use number four shot, high brass. The arguments for double-ought buck are not lost on me, but at the ranges for self-defense number four turns anything into ground meat. I pray it never comes to that.

There's also the intimidation factor. A friend of mine was a deputy sheriff in Bowling Green, OH, and this was his long gun of choice. Once the bad guys saw those hammers pulled back they tended to become enthusiastically cooperative right away.

The safety factor is that even if you're all set to shoot, should you decide you don't want to shoot all you need to do is break the gun open and it's safe as a paperweight.

It's also dead easy to use. Two barrels, two hammers, two triggers.

Plus I like it. :)

I really appreciate everyone's help on this one.