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I-TEAM: THOUSANDS OF CITIZEN-ISSUED NOISE VIOLATIONS PROMPT NYC REFORM


OWNERS OF SEVERAL NEW YORK CITY BARS, RESTAURANTS, AND SHOPS SAY THEY’RE FED UP
WITH AN AVALANCHE OF CITY SUMMONSES FOR NOISE VIOLATIONS

BY CHRIS GLORIOSO • PUBLISHED JUNE 29, 2023 • UPDATED ON JUNE 29, 2023 AT 12:03
AM


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After a News 4 I-Team report on a city law allowing people to cash in on issuing
noise violations to businesses, that law could be changing. Chris Glorioso
reports.

The New York City Council plans to consider removing a portion of the city’s
administrative code that permits ordinary citizens to issue noise violations,
which add up to millions of dollars in fines for pubs, restaurants, and shops.

“It was hidden. Somebody found it and now someone’s profiteering off of it,”
said Council Member James Gennaro (D–Jamaica Estates), referring to the
provision that legalizes citizen noise enforcement. “We’ll take a look at it,
but I think we’re just going to get rid of it.”

As chair of the City Council Environmental Committee, Gennaro said he is
drafting legislation that would ban citizen enforcement of the noise code
altogether. 

Currently, citizen enforcers stand to collect between 25 and 50% of fines
collected if they can prove in administrative court that a business played music
heard on the sidewalk that was intended for “advertising purposes or to attract
attention.”

> Get Tri-state area news and weather forecasts to your inbox. Sign up for NBC
> New York newsletters.

Dietmar Detering, one of the city’s most prolific writers of noise violations,
defended the work of citizen enforcers, insisting they do the work city
inspectors are unable or unwilling to do, and thereby make New York City a
quieter, more pleasant place. 

“The [Department of Environmental Protection], so far, has proven to us, and the
NYPD, that they are not enforcing it” Detering said. “Who is going to do it if
I’m not supposed to do it anymore and the other citizens now following in my
footsteps cannot do it either?”

Detering, who says he makes his living issuing citizen summonses, has declined
to say how much money he has collected thus far. 


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Rohit Aggarwala, commissioner of New York City's DEP, said the law must be
reformed and compared some of the citizen-generated ticketing to bounty hunting.

The DEP is now asking the City Council to consider a list of changes to the law,
including:

 * Removing ambiguity about when music heard on the sidewalk is prohibited
 * Adding a decibel level threshold to qualify for a noise violation
 * Requiring businesses be served with one noise violation before additional
   summonses can be filed against them

In many instances, businesses say citizen enforcers are issuing multiple tickets
with escalating fines before owners are aware of the first ticket.

“Unfortunately one of the patterns we have seen is the citizen enforcers seem to
go where it is easiest to make the money,” Aggarwala said. “If they are playing
gotcha, if they are looking to rack up multiple violations for example without
letting the business owner know about the first one – that is not legitimate
enforcement activity. What that is, actually is bounty hunting.”

This week, a group of 28 pubs and restaurants in midtown signed on to a letter
urging the City Council to put an end to citizen noise enforcement. 

“It is absurd that the person who is primarily issuing us these tickets does not
even live in the neighborhood,” the letter said. “Some businesses have ticket
amounts that equate to the amounts of the SBA loans we received to stay afloat
during Covid, which we are still paying back.”

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A quirk in the city's law allows residents without badges to issue city noise
violations directly to businesses, and keep a portion of the fine. Chris
Glorioso reports.

But some neighbors fed up with noise say lawmakers who acquiesce to complaints
from businesses, may underestimate how much support there is for peace and
quiet.

Diane O’Connell, an attorney from Brooklyn, said she’s been complaining to the
DEP about neighborhood noise for years without a satisfactory resolution. She
sees citizen enforcement of the noise code as a terrific way to fill the gaps
city inspectors are unable to fill.

“I don’t understand how it’s not a win-win,” O’Connell said. “Quite frankly the
DEP doesn’t have enough inspectors to go around and inspect all the noise
complaints in the city. They’ve proven that.” 

Copyright NBC New York

THIS ARTICLE TAGGED UNDER:

noise complaintsNew York CityI-Team


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