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With summer almost upon us, the scourge of the ubiquitous ice cream truck jingle is back to torment New York again. But instead of letting it drive them barking mad, one group of concerned citizens in Brooklyn is taking action against the incessant, insipid jingles reverberating on all sides of McCarren Park. They've put up signs decrying the noise pollution, and formed a Yahoo Group to share and document their noise complaint calls to 311 and the local precinct. To us, they're heroes standing up for mankind's basic right to enjoy the park without resorting to military-style executions. But Miss Heather at New York Shitty, which spotted the group's signage over the weekend, speculates that the campaign is being run by arriviste condo dwellers who ought to just "get over it." And Roy Edroso at the Voice sardonically wonders whether they'll also "protest the crack of softball bats, the sizzling of outdoor grillers, and peals of childish laughter." We suspect these two have never been treated to a non-stop Kool Man "Pop Goes the Weasel" marathon outside their apartments. It is as maddening as it is illegal, and even the non-condo Inwood crowd agrees.
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It really annoys me when people (like Miss Heather) think you're a trust fund kid who sleeps until 1 everyday if you complain about an illegal truck parked outside your house blaring the jingle at deafening levels. Seriously, it's not like they are passing by... they park and illegally continue to play the jingle for hours. It's illegal for a reason. I live in another part of Kool Man's turf (no where near the park). I do not own a condo, nor am I a trust funder. My neighbors and I did a similar thing to The McCarren group a few years ago...calling 311, using the same complaint number and being very persistent. It worked.
Couldn't agree more. Snobs like Miss Heather just want to turn a basic quality-of-life issue into a class/gentrification battle. It's not.
it's not about class, its about knowing what you're getting into before you spend money to buy a property. it's a park, obviously it's going to be noisy during times when the weather is nice, get over it. if you want silence move to a quiet block. the park was there long before the condos were built, and it's going to be there long after they're foreclosed.
just what I was thinking.
What were the people who bought the apartments in the area expecting.
ITS A PARK.
this is really hilarious. I'll gladly trade my digs for something on the park. Jingle or not.
you gotta love these shitty battles. that's why i read gothamist comments. they all crack me up. those dicks.
Deafening?
It's an ice cream truck!
Speaking as somebody who's exposed to REAL deafening noise every day at work (think jackhammers and powersaws) - and speaking as somebody who's had OSHA safety training (so I actually know the federal legal standards on noise pollution) let me officially tell you that you do not know what you're talking about!
If you are that noise sensitive, go to the audiologist and get some prescription earplugs - and hire a carpenter to install insulated triple rock walls in your apartment (he/she will know what that means).
Or, leave New York and move to the sticks, where it's really quiet (may I suggest Delaware County - it's really quiet and rural up there).
The problem isn't the noise outside - the problem is YOU and your hypersensitivity.
It's deafening, yes. You obviously haven't had Kool Man's speaker aimed at your window with its jingle at full volume over crackling distorted speakers for an hour. There's a reason it's illegal. It's crazy loud and NYC has ALWAYS had noise ordinances, jackass. Now, take a pill, a deep breath and chill the F out. Oh and congrats on your awesome job.
Oh, stop with the REAL NEW YORKER bullcrap, that is so done. People are people. Who gives a flip where they come from. "I've lived in NYC 11 years!" "Well I've lived in NYC 23 years SO I AM MORE NEW YORKY THAN YOU!" Shut the F train up.
There are noise ordinances for a reason. Why can't the jingle play while the truck is in motion and then not when it is parked? Or at a lower volume when parked? Why is everyone being such a dicknose about it? All riled up for nothing.
HOW IS THIS SUCH A BIG PROBLEM NOW AFTER SOOO MANY FUCKEN YEARS??? SEND ALL OF THESE PEOPLE BACK TO GOD DAM SEATTLE WHERE THEY BELONG WITH MOM & POP! ENOUGH OF THIS SHIT!
Ice cream trucks cruised the streets of neighborhoods all around the five boroughs for decades. Is it any coincidence from which neighborhoods the passive-aggressive complaints are coming?
Nope.
Uh oh... looks like some transplants forgot that NYC is supposed to be noisy.
not only is NY suppose to be noise but its something you hear in every neighborhood in american from april to october. i just hope these jerks dont ruin it for future generations of kids
jesus, man, writing intelligbly does NOT mean you have to stick your prepositions in the middle of your sentences. that 'from which' bullshit is outdated and annoying when it's shoe-horned in there like that. get over yourself, dick
The word is "intelligibly."
you got me, a typo. good for you. take another gold star, you deserve it.
Time to double up on those meds, buddy.
is it ok to hate both the arriviste condo-dwellers AND the incessant jingles? Both are impugning my health.
Hate on everything, Denis Leary style!
Seriously, my threshold is about an 1hour of jingle abuse at a time on regular side streets.
If you don't like noise you shouldn't live in New York City
The GW Bridge is that way
If you leave now, you'll beat the traffic!
I couldn't give a SHIT about noise. Noise, I can deal with. 6AM garbage truck noise, screaming neighbors noise, house party noise, cars honking noise, dogs barking noise, car alarm noise, whatever.
But listening to the same 25 second ice cream truck song blasting outside of your window for hours on end with diesel fumes spewing out? It will drive anyone into a murderous rage.
I've grown up and lived all over the city and I know that "real NYers" bitch about anything and everything.
So this is why people hate white people.
I think there's a big difference between an ice cream truck using the jingle when it drives and continuing it non-stop when stationary. It's just basic ice cream truck know-how. Growing up in (non-condo) Yonkers, the trucks always used the jingle to get your attention but then stopped the jingle when they were stopped and selling ice cream. Maybe some of the people lodging the complaints do fit the stereotypes described by their critics and are loathsome interlopers among righteous "authentic" New Yorkers, but they're right. That's noise pollution that no New Yorker should have to put up with. If the drivers of these trucks don't know how to operate them properly, they shouldn't be behind the wheel.
what's this? a reasonable response? no place for that here!
(props on the Y.O. love. getty square 4ever)
Passive Aggressive Yonkersite [because you were born on the wrong side of the Bronx/Westchester line to call yourself a "New Yorker"!],
Do you know who drives ice cream trucks?
Hard working immigrants, struggling to get their little piece of the American dream, one fudgesicle at a time.
And you're bitching at them, because you are oversensitive to noise and easily annoyed.
Here's an idea - if your ears are too sensitive for New York City, you should buy a pair of earplugs, and have your apartment's walls insulated, because it is YOUR problem.
The world does not exist for your convenience - if you have a problem, you should solve it, instead of imposing on others.
Well said. I don't get why everyone on gothamist thinks if you complain, then you aren't from New York and you are a transplant. No one here knows what they are talking about, clearly. I can assure you that "real new yorkers" don't like Kool Man idling in front of their basement apts spewing exhaust in and having the jingle at full volume parked in front of their window for an hour or more.
Real New Yorkers have other - important - stuff to whine about.
We don't cry about hard working immigrant vendors trying to make an honest buck.
If you don't like noise, this is not the city for you - if you insist on living in our city, you need to get some earplugs, or toughen the hell up and adjust to the noise.
Born and bred baby. Idiot.
If these were REAL New Yorkers, they would not call 311 like some fucking pussy and register a complaint. They would go downstairs, drag the fucking driver out of the truck and then administer a fucking beating. No more jingles, no more troubles... They sure as hell wouldn't blog about the "torture" of listening to this shit. Grow some fucking balls you "New Yorkers" and give this cocksmoker a fucking thumping. Then call 311 to complain he is bleeding all over the street.
fuhgeddaboudit.
Actually, real new yorkers dont behave like juiced up guidos. We let the guidos behave like animals.
Its illegal for a reason.
Yeah keep calling 311 and whine to someone who doesn't give a shit about you
good luck with that dumbass
Yeah, keep arguing with everyone who doesn't take the same belligerent, assault-y goon approach you think they should - good luck with *that* . . .
JINGLE ALL DE VAY!
Nice Arnie reference.
Get yo' ahz to mahz.
You really must be city-whipped if you don't mind the same tired ass-jingle every day. I got tired of it, noisy spanish music and trashy streets and moved to a "nicer" part of town. Problem solved.
City whipped?
No - I'm from here.
And I'm not a racist like you, so I have no problem living around Latinos - and if you do, this is the wrong city for you to live in, cause they're a third of the population here!
The reason born and raised New Yorkers give so much shit to complainers is because we got used to a lot of the things that send people into a tizzy a long time ago.
In this case, it happens to be something that kids love. You can play that Softee song for hours and kids will not care. Because the bottom line is they LOVE ICE CREAM and find comfort in knowing that it is available nearby.
"Real New Yorkers" get riled up by condo dwellers or hipsters or whatever you wanna call them because a lot of transplants seem to have no perspective of the fact that there are kids raised here, possibly because many of them seem to be here reliving a second childhood themselves.
Kids also love Elmo and Barney, but I don't think I should have to listen to "I Love You, You Love Me" AD INFINITUM when I'm trying to read in the park on my day off from work.
Lots of folks have gotten used to it over the years.
Harrumph. Lots of people also got used to graffiti-coated subways and smoke-filled bars, but we improved on those former NYC "institutions" too. And for the better, I say! Also, if you guys play "Pop Goes the Weasel" one more time in over there I'm going postal.
You see, that's the problem.
You transplant assholes come here from East Buttfuck, Indiana or some whitebread hellhole, and you want to wussify our wonderful vibrant city down to your suburban mayonnaise level - and it's really insulting!
Our city is one of the great cities of the world.
Your hometown is some place that people fly over on the way to LA or Vegas.
You wouldn't go to London and tell them to not eat fish and chips.
You wouldn't go to Rome and tell them to quit smoking cigarettes and staring at women.
You wouldn't go to Paris and tell them they can't drink wine at the cafe.
So what makes you think we want your "improvements" of our city!!!?????!!!!
I never had a problem with smoking in bars - and I never really minded the graffiti - but I DO mind sharing my city with arrogant transplant assholes like you!
If you can't handle life in New York, you need to go back to Nebraska!!!!
You're way too outer borough to be commenting on Paris or Rome.
Speaking as a transplant - yeah, I grew up in the midwest. But oddly, I didn't expect NYC to change to suit me. I had to change to suit it. That's what a lot of people don't seem to get. The ice cream jingles are annoying, but so are a million other things about living here. Why get so worked up about one little thing? Hell, I have fantasies every night about taking a RPG out on my balcony and taking out the first fucker to lay on his horn after midnight on a weekday. But I don't do it and I don't call the cops. Or 311, aka the most useless phone number in history.
Seriously, what do people expect the cops to do about it anyway?
You know, "real" New Yorkers complain a lot. Hell, it's practically a civic pastime -- from nasty old ladies in the checkout to hippie bicyclists riding down Broadway, we're a city full of loud, annoying complaints about anything and everything -- traffic, garbage, Bloomberg, New Jersey, etc. If it can be complained about, we'll do it.
So it begs the question -- if you don't like people complaining...why move to New York?
Amen! As a lifelong born and raised NYer, it is our God given right to b*tch and moan about anything and everything, especially the f*cking ice cream truck that's taken up residence outside your window. Not only is it illegal for those trucks to play their jingle all day long in one place, but it is every resident's right to make a complaint. Forget 311, call 911! My in-laws called the cops on an ice cream truck in Ridgwood (Queens)...problem solved.
I'm no recent transplant, nor am I a condo-dweller but I HATE these fucking trucks. They are not quaint. They are not a throw back to the good old times. They are not 'old-New York'. They ARE fucking noisy, dirty, polluting rat-traps-on-wheels driven by functionally-retarded scumbag drivers who I wouldn't let near a kid let alone serve her food. As for the "aww but the kids love it" argument - kids also love to eat dirt - doesn't mean it's cool. My solution to these fucking trucks is a carton of eggs and good aim.
I agree completely. Filthy trucks driven by filthy people. Summer in the city!
A friend of mine who once worked as a person injury lawyer told me I should never get soft ice cream from one of their trucks because they are very badly maintained. I ignored him -- and sure enough, one day I came down with the worst case of food poisoning I'd ever had hours after consuming a cone from the truck near my office building. So yeah, they are unclean.
As for the noise, I am a native New Yorker and I do not live in a gentrified neighborhood, and I still think the trucks are annoying as all crap when they leave the jingle going when they are stopped.
Well, now, obviously to some here, that means you're not an "authentic" New Yorker.
I have to admit, for a long time, I seriously considered egging the driver's windshield after enduring the tune for more than a half hour. And that was when I was young and liked ice cream. Actually, I still love ice cream, just eat it by the quart rather than by the fudgesicle. Good thing the years haven't quite caught up with me yet or I'd be, uh, "robust."
"one day I came down with the worst case of food poisoning I'd ever had hours after consuming a cone from the truck near my office building. So yeah, they are unclean."
Yeah, and I know someone who once got food poisoning from a restaurant. Therefore, all restaurants are also unclean.
*sigh* OK, I'll explain a bit more. Obviously restaurants can be dirty too, but they are subject to more rigorous inspections than the trucks. I called the inspectors about the truck where I purchased the ice cream that got me sick, and I was actually sent a copy of the report: unsurprisingly, the truck had failed the inspection.
It wasn't a pre-wrapped treat? I say stick with those.
No, it was the soft-serve stuff... you are absolutely right, the pre-wrapped ones are perfectly safe.
Ice cream trucks is a racially coded word for poor minority people and children. It's the equivalent of Fried chicken and blacks.
No child should be deprived of the experience of going ape shit when they hear the sound of an ice cream truck.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JfMCBh1sJQ
These trucks have been in Greenpoint forever and I never heard a native Greenpointer ever once complain. As a matter of fact, it is welcomed by New Yorkers as a harbinger of summer.
Real Greenpointers do complain about newbie transplants who raise the rent and force out working families in yet another wave of gentrification.
The trucks in my part of Greenpoint only play the jingle while driving, once they are stopped near McGolrick, they turn off the jingle.
When it doesn't turn off the jingle, I've heard plenty of native Greenpointers complain about it, in Polish.
You speak Polish?
Miss Heather likes to look at dog shit`.
cripple the city!!
I think people like whitecastlerock, thefacts and billyparker should form their own "Real New Yorker" compound where they can live in grime and graffiti and hard stares and loud noises because that's what "Native New Yorkers" grew up with and they liked it better that way and no way in hell are some uppity transplants or non-transplants or lifelong New Yorkers who disagree (read: non-natives) going to tell them how "their" New York should and shouldn't be.
They could call it "Real Tough Guy Badda-Bing Badda-Boom New York Fuggetaboutit City" and you're only granted access if you can prove that you lived here throughout the 70's and 80's --the only time in history where NYC was ever REAL.
It's real here right now-really lame with bloggers and wimps who hide behind the drapes cowering because Sister Softee is playing the music so loud!!! Boo fucking hoo
Oh don't fret Nice Job. We still love you, even with your suburban attitude. And if you walk down my street, I promise I won't steal your lunch money.
Nice Job,
Some of us have birth certificates that say New York, NY as their place of birth - and some of us don't.
Now, if you want to live in our city and be one of us, you have to toughen the hell up and be like us.
And a big part of that involves not being a blubbering wuss who whines about every little annoyance - or worse yet, a blubbering wuss who tries to wussify our city because you refuse to toughen up.
If you're too weak to live here - you can leave.
And in fact - you should!
No arguing here-keep crying about the shit on the internet-I hope the fuckers park right under your window and blast the music for days straight... Then after you have changed your diapers and called 311, please post about it! Mmmkay? Thanks!
This from the man who calls others bullies. I suggest everyone read every comment he made just in this thread and know once and for all just what kind of man he is.
He's the kind of man who has a low tolerance for crybabies.
And that's not a bad thing - that's a good thing!
These yuppie douchebags need to get a God damned life!
A campaign - against ice cream truck jingles?
They Have Got To Be Kidding!
Are their lives so perfect that the only thing in the world that bothers them is the sound effects of an ice cream truck?
Normal people learn to ignore the sound - unless they are the parents of small children, in which case they get out some money and give the little ones a couple bucks to buy some treats.
All of these yuppie idiots need to be exiled from the city ....or at the very least sent out to Fresh Kills Landfill to live on the waste dumps - it's very quiet out there (except for the rats and the seagulls) - they'll like it!
If you want quietness, go to Kansas!
This is New York Fuckin City and yes it's noisy here!
Mr Butler.
What we need to do to you is sit you in a room and play that jingle nonstop for 24 hours, like you are being hazed, and then we can see how well you deal with the lovely noise.
Isn't that against the Geneva Convention? The Bush Administration thought so. That's why they went with water-boarding.
Isn't that against the Geneva Convention? The Bush Administration thought so. That's why they went with water-boarding.
that's not kool, man.
ima pee on it.
I'm waiting for Bunkless Bovian to turn 18 so I can hand him the keys to my ice cream truck and finally retire.
Wait...If I'm from New York I'm not allowed to hate the Ice Cream man? Because I am, and I do. These assholes drive around the block playing the same damn jingle over and over again until midnight on weeknights. They deal drugs out of the ice cream trucks and give poor minority kids diabetes with their ice cream.
I think the only way you can like these people is if you are not from new york and are caught in some disillusion about supporting a "hard working immigrant" or "keeping New York authentic". This is, of course, total bullshit. My grandparents would have hated the ice cream man if they behaved this way back in their day. And as for this "hard working immigrant" BS; try "neighborhood disrupting illegal person involved in the drug trade who chose an obnoxious and illegal vocation of his own free will and volition".
I hate all of you whom think my city may never improve in any manner because it offends the notion of it you acquired from watching TV as a child in Ohio. Please go the fuck home and stop complaining every time I get an Ikea. It exists because I, and many others, want it.
Here, here. And PS - all the ice cream truck drivers I've talked to are young (late teens, early 20s) and local (they speak English with a New York-ease). And they have an attitude to match - after I asked one if he knew it was illegal to play the jingle while parked, he asked "you a cop?" I wish.
From nyc born and raised in brooklyn south side
In my humble opinion
The jingle aint much of a nuisance they ride around my neighborhood playing their chimes all the time when the weather is nice etc big deal.
lol @ yuppies complaining about the ice cream truck jingle around a park..what did you except I mean seriously it is a PARK and one of the biggest and most active in this neighborhood lol use some common sense when you are choosing where exactly to put your yuppie condo loving self in(its a school omg potential kids! its a park omg potential _____and_____). Funny thing is years ago that park used to be a problem with gangs and fights especially rumbles with gangs sets and other perp characters and now the complaint is ice cream jingles
lol yuppies
rabble rabble rabble.
"They deal drugs out of the ice cream trucks and give poor minority kids diabetes with their ice cream"
They deal drugs? Sounds like a blanket statement to me..I know 2 people personally that used to work in the vans part time in the summer and they don't sell drugs and are not criminals.
Oh and btw the "ice cream man" never forced fed me any ice cream. Us poor minorities have a free will.
1.) Just because you are not bothered by the noise does not mean that your neighbors aren't.
2.) @dogbeater: The statement about merit as a new yorker is a response to the predication by other arguments in this stream that such identification has something to do with whether or not you are bothered by the noise. Check your own relevance and try reading before posting.
3.) Poor minority kids are more likely to succumb type II diabetes. I'm sorry if this contradicts your notion of free will...and do yourself a favor and have your blood sugar tested.
4.) They do deal drugs from the vans.
http://georgeweberthenewsguy.blogspot.com/2008/09/do-you-really-know-ice-cream-truck-man.html
ms. heather needs to get laid
In my neighborhood Mr. Softee plays his jingle on his arrival and ceases when he parks to vend. His generator runs but merges into a white noise made up of the FDR, copters, and the AC from all the surrounding buildings. If they didn't cease the loop I would be annoyed.
Seems like many of the posters here couldn't care less about the jingle issue, but rather suffer the time immemorial taint of fear and loathing of the newcomer. They want you to know how tough you should be, how long they have been here, and how much you don't belong.
I moved here in March and I live in one of those new shiny buildings by the river. What I don't like I will change. This will be the new city. Yammer away beyond the topic of this stream — about who and what is a New Yorker— and you slide further in to irrelevance, arrogant fossil that you already are.
WELCOME TO FNCKING BROOKLYN, quit bitchin'. Jeeeez. In my 21 years in this great city not once did the sound of an ice cream truck bother me the slightest. Get over it. You moved here knowing what to expect.