How can I view a report released to the media by NYC's 311 line?

December 12, 2007 8:16 AM

NYC's 311 Citizen Service Center apparently just released a list of neighborhoods in order of how many noise complaints they get. I have a mad desire to view that list; is there any way I can?

In classic New York style, I called the Service Center's published number and they told me to call 311; then I called 311 and they told me to call the Service Center. I called the Service Center again and they told me I can use the Center website's "My Neighborhood Statistics" tool. But with that tool, you can only see ONE neighborhood at a time and there are quite a few neighborhoods to look up.

Obviously this list exists somewhere, and I'm dying to see it because neighborhood noise level is my first concern as I look for my next place. I'm living in one of that article's "winning" neighborhoods right now. :(

If I can't ever see the list, at least I know I can handmake one by looking up every neighborhood. But before I do that, what could I try next in my quest to get my hands on the list?

posted by sparrows to Law & Government (5 answers total)

Best answer: Is this it? It's divided by Community Board districts.
posted by mattbucher at 8:23 AM on December 12, 2007

Response by poster: Wow, thank you! Looks like that's it! The article seems to imply that the list is divided into smaller units than community boards (since it mentions specific smaller neighborhoods), but everywhere else I can google, it seems community boards are the smallest division for that kind of reporting.

So it looks like I need to be checking into Northeast Queens; the Bay-Ridge-through-Gravesend rectangle of Brooklyn; and the lower two thirds of Staten Island (since I sure can't afford CB8, Manhattan's only low-complaint area...).
posted by sparrows at 8:49 AM on December 12, 2007

I would also recommend contacting the community board of your choice directly and going through their meetings' minutes. Many times a problem nightclub or noise complaint is directly addressed in those meetings.

Some of the quietest streets I've ever seen were in Carroll Gardens.
posted by mattbucher at 9:34 AM on December 12, 2007

Response by poster: Sadly, Carroll Gardens is also way out of my price range now (I lived there in 2000, the beginning of the end -- we moved out when our rent was raised by 50% [yes 50%] from one lease-year to the next... and they immediately got replacement tenants at the new rent :)).



So, for those interested, I took that report and re-ordered it to list the community boards from lowest to highest number of complaints. (These numbers are noise complaints to 311, per 10,000 residents, during July/Aug/Sep 2007.)


I should note that:

1) These districts are NOT small enough to be really meaningful in many cases. In all of the highest-complaints areas, there are a few expensive/nice parts that are actually very quiet, just as there are hellishly loud cheap parts like the one I live in. And I don't know enough to speak about Queens CB 11 (the one with the fewest complaints), but I'm sure it has its hotspots of noise. The only way you can get a real idea before you move into a place is to visit your prospective street as much as possible before signing the lease, at all times of day & night.

2) Stats for July-Sep may or may not be representative of the whole year. Summer is by far the worst time for noise in the city overall, but certain areas might proportionally get it worse in summer than in other seasons.

3) I will assume that stats for the noisiest areas are significantly LOWER than they really should be (lower relative to actual noise levels than in other areas) because of fatigue and conditioned hopelessness. As we learn that even the most serious noise complaints won't get any response whatsoever, we learn to stop calling in; whereas people in nicer neighborhoods learn that their complaints will be responded to and are encouraged to call in more.

What I wanna see is a chart of the percent of noise calls for which the city actually does anything whatsoever, correlated with the tax revenues and demographics of that CB. :)


--------------------------------------
Queens CB 11 24.91 [lowest Qns (far northeast)]

Staten Island CB 3 35.58 [lowest SI (bottom third)]
Queens CB 7 38.48
Staten Island CB 2 39.58
Manhattan CB 8 39.90 [lowest Manh (Upper East Side)]

Queens CB 6 41.39
Brooklyn CB 10 47.58 [lowest BK (far south)]
Brooklyn CB 11 47.99
Manhattan CB 6 48.18

Brooklyn CB 12 50.04
Bronx CB 10 50.63 [lowest BX (far east)]
Queens CB 8 50.82
Brooklyn CB 15 51.15

Queens CB 5 62.50

Manhattan CB 7 71.21
Bronx CB 8 71.94
Queens CB 14 73.49
Queens CB 3 77.00
Queens CB 1 77.12
Brooklyn CB 13 78.40

Queens CB 4 80.96
Queens CB 13 81.97
Manhattan CB 1 83.09

Brooklyn CB 7 91.70
Queens CB 2 92.98
Bronx CB 1 94.57
Bronx CB 11 97.01
Bronx CB 9 97.46
Brooklyn CB 14 98.87

Staten Island CB 1 105.84 [highest SI (top third); also, middle position of all CBs]
Brooklyn CB 6 108.79

Brooklyn CB 18 118.16

Manhattan CB 11 123.66
Queens CB 12 125.40
Manhattan CB 4 125.40
Bronx CB 5 125.86
Brooklyn CB 9 127.87
Brooklyn CB 2 129.28

Queens CB 9 130.43
Manhattan CB 5 131.28
Brooklyn CB 5 134.70
Bronx CB 2 139.46
Brooklyn CB 1 139.64
Bronx CB 3 139.99

Bronx CB 7 140.58
Brooklyn CB 17 140.99
Brooklyn CB 16 142.72
Queens CB 10 146.46 [highest Qns (south-central around Ozone Park)]
Manhattan CB 3 147.56
Manhattan CB 2 148.52

Bronx CB 6 151.28
Brooklyn CB 4 151.69
Bronx CB 4 153.48

Brooklyn CB 8 163.72
Bronx CB 12 168.77 [highest BX (far northeast)]

Brooklyn CB 3 183.92 [highest BK (northeast)]

Manhattan CB 12 217.21

Manhattan CB 9 232.36

Manhattan CB 10 241.44 [highest Manh (central Harlem)]

-------------------------------------
posted by sparrows at 9:42 AM on December 12, 2007

I'll bet my very quiet Riverdale neighborhood in Bronx CB8 would actually have a lot less complaints if it weren't for all the elderly folks and the kids on their lawns.
posted by JaredSeth at 1:49 PM on December 12, 2007