There's a family living across the lawn from me in my apartment complex which has a bunch of kids. They're pretty little (toddler to elementary school age, looks like) and like to run around playing on the grass between buildings. They yell, laugh, and occasionally screech, as kids will do. But, you know, it's kid noise. Happens during the day, outside, and is far less disruptive than either the landscapers or even the damn Carolina wrens (those tiny birds can screech.)
I went outside to check the mail and the family was out there, kids and adults, hanging out with some other folks. As I passed by them, the mother stopped me to ask if her kids bothered me. When I told her no, I learned that another neighbor had filed a noise complaint against them and they received a 7-day eviction notice because of their kids' noise. I could not fucking believe it.
Anyway, I've written a letter on her behalf and signed her counter-petition, but I am just so mad. For one, people are far too intolerant when it comes to children. No-one wants them in restaurants, in stores, in movie theaters, and now, apparently, they're not allowed to play in their own yard.
The fact that this family is black has, I imagine, a great deal to do with the neighbor's intolerance. Besides the children playing, the adults like to stand outside and chat with their friends and neighbors, many of whom are also black. The result is that I have black people hanging around outside my apartment all the time. The horror.
Of course, the woman who instigated the complaint (and who, apparently, lives in my building, not theirs, so she can't hear anything I don't) told them that "this isn't the ghetto." Fabulous. Anyone think this society is post-racial?
This is some fucking bullshit. Anyone good at brainstorming activism out there? We need to come up with something, ASAP.
ReplyDeleteI think we should demonstrate, loudly, in front of the complainer's apartment. I can also make Pumpkin stay up for at least 10 hours so she's tired, cranky, and LOUD.
ReplyDeleteQuestion: Are there EVER loud parties in your complex? Late at night?
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. Always involving white students. I've had to go out several times to ask them to be quiet. I once had to call the police on someone who had locked their dog out on the balcony to bark for hours and hours. In comparison, I'm surprised that anyone would even notice the noise these children make.
ReplyDeleteYou might want to contact the folks at Gainesville's Equal Opportunity office. They started the Dismantling Racism, and may have some good ideas for responding to this in a way that begins a dialog rather than putting up walls.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how strict the policies are at your apartment, but the 7-day eviction notice seems very severe, and a bit odd, for a single noise complaint, especially one filed about kids playing during the day time. (Personally, I enjoy the sounds of kids playing outside in the afternoons. :) To my knowledge, eviction is a very long, very intense, very last-resort process. Perhaps the racism extends beyond that neighbor into the apartment managers?
ReplyDeleteIt really makes me sad to see the waning rights of kids nowadays. When I was growing up, kids were always running around the neighborhoods! We played football, made lemonade stands (well kool-aid stands), and got to know all of our neighbors well.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I see kids playing outside now it makes me so happy, since it seems so rare. The nerve of that woman to file a complaint! Doesn't she have to put up with it until 11pm, anyways? I thought that you couldn't file a noise complaint before then.