Neighbors Spar Over Brooklyn Woman's Memorial Wind Chime
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A Brooklyn resident put up wind chimes to honor her late mother, but one neighbor made it clear they were bothered by the bells.
As CBS2's Valerie Castro reports, that negative response has many others chiming in with support.
In a city where loud noises aren't hard to find, the sound of wind chimes seems like it would be much more pleasant.
Christine Walczak thought so when she put the wind chime up in front of her home on Kent Street in Greenpoint to honor her mother's memory.
"It's just a reminder of her," Walczak said.
Her mother passed away last year, but just last week an unknown neighbor sent Walczak a letter.
"Basically complaining that the wind chime is bothering them, distracting them at night, keeping them from sleeping," she said. "If it's windy of course it's going to chime, but it doesn't make that big of a chime."
Walczak says she wishes the neighbor had talked to her in person so she asked them to do so by posting the letter and her response on the tree.
"Just to get a reaction from that neighbor to see if they'll come and speak to me," she said.
The reaction that she did get has been both overwhelming and supportive.
"I woke up with a note on my door from neighbors telling me to keep it, notes attached to those notes telling me to keep it," Walczak said.
Some neighbors say they like the sounds, while others have told her to add more like it.
"Part of me wants to be spiteful and do that but I'm a neighbor," Walczak said. "I wouldn't want my neighbor to do it."
Another neighbor took all the notices down out of concern for the tree's wellbeing, but the chime is staying.
"I'm a Greenpointer," says Walczak. "I was born here, raised here. My mom lived here. I'm not taking the wind chime down."
As for all the noise the controversy has started, Walczak says there are far more important issues in the world than her wind chime.
She did remove the screw that was holding the chime in place. It's now hanging from a rope to avoid further damage to the tree.