Town Hall Meeting Addresses Noise Complaints

It’s not often that local residents get to voice their opinions about community issues in front of elected officials.

Maestro’s Caterers on 1703 Bronxdale Avenue was the site of a Town Hall Meeting for Morris Park and Van Nest residents on Thursday, April 7, where over 100 gathered to speak about issues that they are concerned on within the communities.

The meeting was sponsored by the Neighborhood Initiatives Development Corporation along with the Morris Park Association and Van Nest Neighborhood Alliance, and local advocate Robert Nolan served as the meeting moderator.

Among the officials present were senators Jeff Klein and Ruben Diaz Sr., councilmen Jimmy Vacca and Joel Rivera, Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera, Community Board 11 district manager Jeremy Warneke, 49th Precinct Captain Kevin Nicholson, Department of Sanitation community affairs liaison Bruno Iciano, Morris Park Association president Al D’Angelo, Van Nest Neighborhood Alliance president Shradhanand Pirtam, and NIDC executive director William Foster.

The most important concerns of the evening were in regards to constant noise and loud music coming from several homes late at night throughout the Van Nest neighborhood.

Captain Nicholson, who assured everyone in attendance that he will be dealing with these complaints by taking information, showing up at houses and has already confiscated some of the offending equipment.

Vincent Baione addressed an issue with a local restaurant, whose name was not mentioned, that constantly has its doors open with loud music pouring out of it at all hours of the night.

According to Baione, he has been told by the 49th Precinct that the reason nobody has gone to the restaurant to enforce the noise complaints is because they “do not have the proper equipment required to read sound decibels.”

“I’m really sick of it, we all just want the noise to stop.” Baione said.

After the meeting, Captain Nicholson and Officer Jay Sturdivant spoke to everyone who had made complaints and both officers met with each resident individually at their homes on Wednesday, April 13 to gather detailed information.

Residents are concerned that the noise issues will increase now that warmer weather is here, but the 49th Precinct vowed to monitor and handle complaints on a daily basis.