New Yorkers know that it is our God-given right to vocally complain about all sorts of trivial and not-so-trivial things, including rats, street lights, dog poop, excessive Jewish holidays, and refrigerator squeaks. But the number one quality-of-life complaint in NYC? The one complaint to unite a city? Noise.
According to AP, "a city hotline" received more than 260,000 noise complaints last year. We previously looked at 311 data about noise complaints and found that Williamsburg received the most calls about excessive volume. But the city identified a few more areas as frequent sources of complaints, including Times Square, the subways (which we already knew were making us deaf), DUMBO (which we know all too well), the Rivergate apartment building on 34th Street, and parts of Queens near JFK and LaGuardia.
We can add to this list that Woodside residents are extremely annoyed by "loud talking." But there's such a rich tapestry of things NYers love to complain about that it feels unfair to focus on just one thing—not when NYers are being forced to live in proximity to other New Yorkers, not when parents are au natural toilet training their children, not when there are self-parodying NY Times trend pieces and adult kickball leagues. And certainly not while there are bike lanes, socialist mayors and artesinal-breakfast connoisseurs still around.
