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Budget, Education & City Services
Community Board Five supports Intro 2180 and Intro 2190 in relation to results of noise inspections
At the regularly scheduled monthly Community Board Five meeting on Thursday, April 08, 2021, the following resolution passed with a vote of 35 in favor; 0 opposed; 1 abstaining:
WHEREAS, Noise complaints are the number one subject of 311 calls within Community Board Five; and
WHEREAS, Complainants are often unaware of the disposition of their complaint; and
WHEREAS, Many 311 noise complaints have been deemed resolved even when investigators are unable to access the property to investigate; and
WHEREAS, Noise complaints have also been deemed unfounded when, due to delays, inspectors would arrive well after the time of complaint to find no noise/activity at the specified address; and
WHEREAS, Complaints made directly to the New York Police Department (NYPD) required complainants to file a Freedom of Information (FOIL) requests in order to obtain the investigative findings; and
WHEREAS, There has been no transparency regarding how investigators determined their finding of ‘resolved’ or ‘unfounded’; and
WHEREAS, Noise inspection reports specify how the noise complaint was handled and how the disposition was determined; and
WHEREAS, Int. 2180 would mandate that the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) publish their findings on noise complaints within 24 hours of receipt of the complaint; and
WHEREAS, The Committee is unclear whether 24 hours is sufficient to publish such findings, it does find findings should be published in less than one week; and
WHEREAS, Int. 2190 would require the DEP and NYPD to provide a copy of the noise inspection report created after a 311 noise complaint to anyone who requests the report and provides the 311 tracking report; and
WHEREAS, A FOIL report would no longer be required even when the complaint was investigated by the NYPD; and
WHEREAS, This report would provide the information to complainants about how their complaint has been handled; and therefore be it
RESOLVED, Community Board Five supports Intro 2180 and Intro 2190 as a means of providing transparency and clarity to resolution of noise complaints and ask that our Council Members and Mayor pass this legislation.