“Dear PoPville,
The last week of May, the co-op next to our co-op experienced a major malfunction of their HVAC system. Their response was to have a crane deliver a temporary HVAC unit the size of a school bus and a gasoline powered generator the size of a box truck.
The way the buildings are arranged, the neighbors’ mixed use (residential
and business) parking lot is between us along an entire side of our building, and within about ten feet of the exterior wall of our building.
Both of these machines were parked on the very edge of the parking lot, as close to our building as possible.
The generator was removed after four or five weeks. The HVAC machine remains (it has been seven weeks so far) and os possibly going to be here through October.
The HVAC machine sounds like a cross between a jet engine ready for take-off, the train-crossing alarm, a tornado warning siren, a glass harmonica, and someone sanding floors. This sound goes on around the clock. The sound is LOUD. The sound is both deep AND high pitched, so it both shakes our walls and floor AND penetrates through the glass and a variety of types of earplugs.
We have been told:
by Police 311 that this is not a criminal matter, because there is no single individual they could tell to stop making the noise or arrest.
by Dept. of Buildings (DoB) that this is neither a noise ordinance violation (based on automated notification from the complaint system, they apparently did a virtual inspection by having a Zoom call with the managing realtor.) and it is not an illegal construction issue (we were advised by either the Office of the Department of Energy and the Environment or the DoB to file that form.)
We are being harmed by this noise.
We are both working on recovering from serious health issues, but have not slept in seven weeks.
I have been making a bed of sofa cushions on the floor in the kitchen and wearing earplugs, to no relief from the burden of this noise. My spouse and I have not been able to sleep together in our bed in seven weeks.
I am neurodivergent (I prefer neuroadaptive) and have Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) that we have been working ardently to get under control. Part of this is hyperacusis. I have had more episodes of autistic meltdown, autistic burnout, and paroxysms in the past seven weeks than cumulatively over the past twenty years.
We have written to the manager of our own co-op, the Board of our co-op, the manager of the neighboring co-op, we have contacted the police, the DoB, the Office of the Attorney General, the Office of the Chairman of Energy and the Environment, the office of Representative Brook Pinto, and the office of our Ward representative.
Of those who did respond, no one has even partially mitigated any aspect of this nightmare.
Can you and the community please help us? We need to know of someone who can take action, even to move the machine away from our building and erect the sound barriers that are required according to the noise ordinances guidelines for residential noise from machines.
Or maybe someone can suggest a lawyer to help us.
We can’t leave- there is no where else to go and we can’t financially afford to pay to live somewhere else for the next four to five months anyway.
I am past my limits. I am generally “high masking” or “high functioning” but at this point it is all I can do to not just scream around the clock. 95% of my thoughts are negative ideation that is grossly uncharacteristic for my personality. My recovery is reversing. My wellness is being taken from me. I am being harmed.
Can’t anyone do anything?!
Please help,
Neuroadaptive in Noise Crisis”