Mayor: Silence Is Golden

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a new police crackdown on noise pollution last Wednesday in Astoria, one of the boroughs noisiest neighborhoods.
Operation Silent Night will target 24 areas all over the city that log the most noise-related complaints to the citys quality-of-life hotline. Over 93,000 such calls have been made this year.
In Queens, the loudest locales are Queens Village and Astoria, where community leaders have long complained of the rumble of drag racers engines in Astoria Park and rowdy people spilling out of local bars.
Other subjects of the crackdown are sounds familiar to all New Yorkers, such as car alarms, booming car stereos, honking horns and construction drills.
Under the new policy, noise complaints will be sent from the hotline directly to the corresponding precinct commanders, who will work with other city agencies to punish the offenders. Tools at their disposal include sound meters to monitor noise levels at certain locations, tow trucks to remove double-parked cars, seizure of loud stereos, summonses and even arrests for alcohol and noise violations.
Operation Silent Night is the latest in a series of Giuliani-style quality-of-life crackdowns instituted this year. Other recent initiatives have included Operation Spotlight, which closely tracks repeat violators of quality-of-life laws, and Operation Neon Light, instituted to beef up police presence in Times Square.
A police spokesman said that the new noise crackdown would not entail a redeployment of staff, but rather a "heightened awareness" by police of the need to enforce existing noise codes.
A longtime advocate of a revamped nuisance law is George Delis, district manager of Community Board 1 in northwest Queens.
"I would like to see legislation that would permit the losing of a license for a period of one month of those businesses that are a nuisance to any community," said Delis.
The Cavo and DNA nightclubs in Astoria generate many noise calls from neighbors, who have complained of people double-parking and congregating noisily outside the club at all hours of the night.
A DNA doorman named Tom, who declined to give his last name, blamed the noise on "loud, drunk people walking home" and accused the neighbors of being party poopers.
"We have a lot of nice neighbors, but some of them spoil it," he said.