Ask Chicagoist: Fighting For Your Right to Not Party
By Sarah in Miscellaneous on May 13, 2005 9:30PM
My neighbors are constant partiers--midnight to 6am, three or four days a week! I try calling the cops when they're blaring their music at 3am or throwing up in our alleyway but the cops take hours to come, and then when they do they just tell the party people to "quiet down" and then leave. The partiers quiet down for like, 5 minutes and then start up again. I find myself wondering, what are my rights as a neighbor other than calling the cops?
Thanks,
Ms. Shhhh
Dear Ms. Shhhhh,
So sorry to hear you live among drunk vampires! You should be very very careful after dark, and stock up on wooden stakes.
Blast the Beastie Boys at the stroke of 8am, just as their bloody fangs are drying out!
Anyway: our best friends at 311 have this to say: unfortch, the Fuzz can't arrest your partying neighbors simply for being noisy. You can lodge a formal complaint with the coppers, who would then issue a ticket, but you have to sign your name on it--meaning: this ain't no anonymous phone call. Might not be any fun to actually LIVE near these ding-dongs after you bust them thru the formal channels! (but its an option nonetheless)
However. Do you live in apartment? If so: your building management can and should address this problem. Either way, you aren't alone in this situation--how are your other neighbors responding? Why not rally the non-vampires and campaign to tame the wild beasts?
And don't forget the power of shame. You can embarrass them by arriving at their door in your bathrobe and fuzzy slippers. Just be nice. Or, write them a straightforward note: "Hi, I know you guys like to stay up late having a great time, but I live next door and have to sleep at night so I can get to work each day. Could you please hold it down?" They'd have to be complete Mo-Fos to disregard a note like that.
And when all else fails: earplugs.
Best of luck to you and your ZZzzzzs.
Something suckin' your blood? Need some advice? Email ask(at)chicagoist(dot)com.