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While it's always a treat to make fun of the mayor (and he makes it so easy for us), it turns out that many New Yorkers are actually supportive of Mayor Bloomberg's proposed changes to the noise code. The Daily News talks to many residents, who agree that noisy neighbors, barking dogs, and loud establishments are annoying. Even Howard Stern said about Mayor Bloomberg, "I love this guy. This guy is right on the right track. ... No one's respectful anymore. Sometimes you walk in a park - you've got guys blasting music. It's not fair."
Of course, some City Council members state how the part of the proposed noise code that would affect Mr. Softee trucks is stupid and they don't support it, clearly being cognizant of their future constituency of voters who are now little kids that love Mr. Softee. Mayor Bloomberg is pro-ice cream truck, but is sympathetic to those who are driven crazy by the music: "I like ice cream. My personal opinion is chocolate-and-vanilla swirl ... and I like to have a truck that can sell me an ice cream cone when I want it. But a lot of people find the constant playing of the jingle to be annoying when the truck sits in one place." Gothamist bets there's a secret truck that follows Mayor Bloomberg around, stopping whenever Bloomby has a hankering for some ice cream, kung pao chicken, red wine, or other vittles. [PS, the Post article has headline, "Mike Gets Creamed"...yes, dirty! Or we're just immature. Or both.]
Mr. Softee's website has the sheet music that Mr. Softee trucks play. And Gothamist on the proposed noise code changes.
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Even though it's summer, the kids in some local high school marching band should get that sheet music, learn it, and start finessing their way behind the mayor in every parade for MONTHS.
Hear hear! (Pun intended) Nothing like excessive noise in a residential neighborhood to make tthe old blood boil. Feh to car alarms (surely there must be 'silent alarms' by now)--the sound makes me wish the person's car would be stolen.
i think it's okay for the ice cream trucks to play the jingle here and there, but sometimes it's just too much!
at my old apt. in the e. village the ice cream trucks weren't too prevalent, but i recently relocated to brooklyn near some public housing and there seem to be a lot more! i also notice in red hook near the ballfields [and again, public housing] there are a TON of ice cream trucks. anyone else notice this?
why doesn't the city and the ice cream trucks reach some sort of agreement. for example, one jingle every 5 minutes at a certain decibel level? there would be a clear and measurable threshold for enforcement and mr. softee (and others) still gets their jingle and people get some sort of quiet and sanity.
Like Tien's idea... you get one jingle per block, none while parked, and then current voters who remember Mr. S. from years ago in the Bronx can relax.
Jen... where did you get the way cool model trucks? (Fine, I'm a dork, deal with it!)
Am I the only one here who thinks that all of these pro-banning people are lame, whiny softies? (Sorry for the pun.) A lot of them aren't even consistent in their support of frivolous bans (they're anti-smoking ban, pro-bags-on-subway-seats ban, anti-subway-photography ban, anti-dogs-barking ban, pro-ice-cream-truck-music ban).
New York has existed for a long time with all of these things, and I never heard anyone ever proclaim "Oh no, here comes that Mister Softee truck. The noise! Oh the humanity! By the Grace of God, one day, on one glorious day, we'll have an honorable, knight-in-shining-armor mayor who will rid us of the plague of the Mister Softee Ice Cream Truck Song."
I for one hate the Mister Softee jingle in all its loud obnoxiousness. Last summer, a MS truck was parked outside my apartment at 9 PM blaring the jingle for a solid 20 minutes, drowning out all other sounds. I went outside and asked the driver why he was playing the jingle so loudly and incessantly. "So the kids will come out," he replied. "Has it worked?" I asked. "No," he said. "Then maybe you should try another spot?" I suggested. He agreed with this logic and drove off. I also complained to the Mister Softee company about the exessively loud jingle. It's the loudness and the duration of the jingle that bother me. There wouldn't have to be a ban if they were considerate and moderate about it in the first place.
Glad to see you found a use for the link to the Mr. Softee song! Anyone who doesnt agree the ice cream truck music must be stopped must live Up Very High in an entirely air conditioned apt. Those of us with windows open to the city know visions of a music seeking bazooka dance in our head when the truck parks downstairs...
Anyone on a busy street knows motorcycles without mufflers area bad thing...
It's noise pollution, who could possibly be For Pollution?
Glad to see you found a use for the link to the Mr. Softee song! Anyone who doesnt agree the ice cream truck music must be stopped must live Up Very High in an entirely air conditioned apt. Those of us with windows open to the city know visions of a music seeking bazooka dance in our head when the truck parks downstairs...
Anyone on a busy street knows motorcycles without mufflers area bad thing...
It's noise pollution, who could possibly be For Pollution?
must be a Brooklyn thing - I had the same experience in Fort Greene. MS guys would park outside the housing projects and play the song incessantly. the part that amazed me was how late at night it lasted - often well past 10 p.m. when i was a kid, we weren't allowed out at 10 at night.
it's kind of sad they do so well targeting low-income kids. but i'm sure it's successful. we also had lots of chinese restaurants around that also sold fried american food. i wondered why, until one day i was home sick & went in around the time school gets out - all these fat little 10 year olds came in and ordered chicken & fries. at 3 p.m, like it's an after-school snack! sure makes us 70s kids and our box of raisins look quaint in retrospect.
this city's going to have a diabetes epidemic soon enough with all the crap kids eat. (maybe once we do, the mayor will ban carbohydrates?)
I think brooklynbee hit the nail on the head. "Considerate" and "moderate" are not in a lot of people's vocabularies.
You drunk girls want to stand in front of the 12th Street Bar at 12 a.m. on a Sunday (Monday morning) and sing the Barney theme song at the top of your lungs? Fuck you! And fuck the 12th Street Bar for not being sensibly neighborly to think to regulate on those bitches. (It's off 8th Ave. which is hardly bustling, and connected to a nice restaurant. Not a lot of foot traffic--not like 5th Ave. where the noise would be just a general din. Where are people coming from that they take a car service home from here? Let's not even get started on car services who leeeeeeeeaaaaaaan on the horn.)
The Mister Softee truck is permanently parked at 7th St. and 7th Ave. in the Slope (right by the hospital and the Barnes & Noble). That has to grate on people.
I long for the manual bell that I had as a kid upstate - it was loud, but kind of charming compared with mr. softie...
Of all the noise problems in this city, the ice cream truck music is the least of the issues. In fact if you could get rid of stupid car alarms, the ice cream trucks would actually be a pleasant thing occassionally.
But I think there should be a ban on ice cream trucks after--let's say--10:00pm. No kid is up that late and the truck is obviously a front for something else if it's around at that time of night.
Vote Cookie Puss!
let's just ban ice cream.
ive only heard 1 person defend mr softee and thought what he said was funny since so many people have problems with mister softee why dont the towns quit giving him business permits.
me im just sick of him.