Noisy Late-Night Construction In Lower Manhattan Infuriates Residents
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – You've heard of noisy neighbors, but residents in lower Manhattan said recent overnight street work has taken it too far.
CBS2's Steve Langford went to the South Street Seaport neighborhood to find out for himself.
The city that never sleeps was one tired slogan in lower Manhattan this week.
On Pearl Street, late-night road work jackhammered normal sleep patterns to pieces.
"The noise was just shaking the whole apartment," Betsy Schainholz said.
Schainholz said she rolled video of the midnight madness before calling 3-1-1, twice.
"Well, the first person hung up on me because they couldn't hear me," Schainholz said.
Even at the best of times, it is not the most peaceful part of the city. Neighbors said they've already been dealing with construction noise from the Brooklyn Bridge and post-Hurricane Sandy rebuilding work, Langford reported.
"Most of the time I can't even sleep because of the noise," one man said.
"Terrible, all night long, bang, you know, banging noise," one woman said.
The Department of Environmental Protection said it was going to investigate the noise complaint.
"I just don't want the city doing this kind of work at this hour of the night. It's not fair," Schainholz said.
But some believe complaints will fall on deaf ears.
"There's no use complaining, believe me," one man said.
Late Friday afternoon, the city's Department of Transportation reported it issued a construction permit for the project because of a steam leak emergency, but the DOT said the permit, which runs until Sunday, included a no-noise stipulation for any work after 10 p.m., Langford reported.
A contractor believed to be doing the work on the project did not immediately return a call from CBS2.
Con Edison said it was doing asphalt work in the area at night, but added there was no steam leak emergency, Langford reported.
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