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by Arline L. Bronzaft, Ph.D., Board of Directors, GrowNYC, and Co-founder, The Quiet Coalition
For the past thirty years, as a member of the Board of GrowNYC, I have been charged with responding to New York City residents who reach out to our organization seeking help to resolve noise problems. My research and writings on the deleterious effects of noise on health and well-being, as well as my willingness to work with communities on their noise issues, have provided me with the experience to assist New York City residents with noise problems. With noise ranking high on the list of calls to the city’s 311 Helpline, it’s clear that noise is a major issue in the city and it should not be surprising when I report that I have been asked to assist many people.
Both men and women from all neighborhoods in New York City have contacted me but many more of those reaching out to me have been women, especially older women. What I have also noticed is that a large number of the women who contact me, most complaining about residential noise, have been generally dismissed when they contacted their managing agents or landlords. Thus, I decided to write about the dismissal of such complaints by women for The Woman’s Connection, hoping to call attention to a type of discrimination that has received little attention.
I believe that readers of Silencity, both men and women, will find my article on women’s noise complaints being dismissed worth reading. This knowledge may result in more attention being paid to women’s noise complaints, and, more importantly, lead to a greater number of them being resolved.
