Support NeoGAF

[Dalek]

This Wind Chime Is Tearing a Brooklyn Neighborhood Apart

Brooklyn is home to a hipster dentist, a purveyor of fine hot sauces, an adult preschool, and a parkour training center—businesses that almost certainly die in nearly any other neighborhood in America, but thrive due to the simple fact that Brooklyners care about weird shit. And some of them, apparently, care a whole lot about the noise of a single wind chime—so much so it's sending an entire borough block into total discord.

As DNAInfo reports, Christine Walczak hung a wind chime outside her home in Greenpoint a few weeks back. The 28-year-old strung the instrument to a tree as part of a shrine to her mother, who passed away in October.

"I always told her I wanted to fix up the tree and make it pretty," Walczak told VICE. "So I finally did, and I added the wind chime for her. Every time it would chime, it would be like she was outside saying hello."

Sounds pretty uncontroversial, right? Still, it didn't take long before Walczak's neighbors got annoyed with the racket the wind chime was making, and—because this is Brooklyn—stuck a note in her mailbox asking her to take it down.

Walczak, who couldn't understand why her neighbors didn't just knock on her door to talk about the chime in person, decided to respond by pinning a note of her own to the tree right below their request.

"The wind chime is in memory for my mom," she wrote. "Get over it, you live in NYC!"

Like a lit fuse on a stick of artisanal dynamite, Walczak's letter set off a bitter feud among the residents of Kent Street. Soon flyers popped up all over the tree condemning Walczak's opponents, mourning the death of neighborly courtesy, and praising the wind chime's melodic, warbling tune.

"THE WIND CHIME IS BEAUTIFUL," one neighbor wrote. "GET A LIFE."

Amid calls to take the wind chime down, ardent letters of support, and a suggestion that Walczak could "tie a ribbon around the chimes to dampen them" at night, neighbors planned a protest of solidarity, saying they might hang their own wind chimes in alliance with Walczak.

Then the tree itself found it had a supporter on the street. On Monday, Heather Letzkus tore all the signs from its bole, worried the pins keeping them up might be causing it harm. In place of what she called "a wall of passive aggression," she taped a copy of a city ordinance calling attention to the fact that it's illegal to stick anything on a city tree.

Walczak had fastened the chime to the tree with a screw, which she's since removed. It now hangs from a string looped around a branch—and there, Walczak vows, it will remain.

Isn't having neighbors great?

 

[bjork]

I want to know what it sounds like, I can't imagine it being loud and/or overbearing.

 

[Mr.Shrugglesツ]

Neighbours.

 

[FunkyMunkey]

if that tree is in a public space, she really should consider the noise it makes

 

[mjc]

Sounds like a miserable bunch of people who get off on being passive aggressive to each other.

 

[Finale Fireworker]

I have occasionally known people who, for reasons they cannot explain, find the gentle ringing of wind chimes to be enormously annoying. One person described it as "a sound that means nothing that never stops." The same person, trying to make their case, asked if it would annoy me if somebody in an upstairs apartment constantly kicked tin cans down the stairs at all hours of the night.

I don't get it. I think wind chimes are really nice. Some people can't stand the "pointless sound" and do not find them pleasant. But I wouldn't take down my wind chimes for the benefit of a crotchety neighbor unless, like, there was some deeper emotional reason I came to respect beyond them simply being "annoying."

 

[clockworkinyou]

Good, fuck the shitty people that posted the original message.

 

[SpaceWolf]

I love how quickly that tree basically became NeoGaf.

 

[SocksAndShoes]

I honestly HATE the constant sound of a windchime. It drives me insane.

That said, if I lived in NYC I'm sure I would have gotten used to constant noise around me at all times and I would likely not have a problem with it.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

I sleep with a box fan on full blast. A wind chime is nothing.

 

[Eidan]

You cant sleep because of a goddamn wind chime?

 

[PopcornMegaphone]

I think she should take the damn wind chime down. That's a reasonable accommodation to me.

 

[MrOogieBoogie]

I honestly HATE the constant sound of a windchime. It drives me insane.

That said, if I lived in NYC I'm sure I would have gotten used to constant noise around me at all times and I would likely not have a problem with it.

Maybe. Wind chimes are a rare enough noise in NYC that it might actually take longer to get used to than all the other random sounds.

 

[Easy_D]

I say they compromise and hang up a wooden wind chime

 

[outunderthestars]

if that tree is in a public space, she really should consider the noise it makes

That is my opinion as well.

 

[jediyoshi]

Fuck it, go all the way with the complaint. Chill next to the wind chime with a loud ass noise maker at night.

I sleep with a box fan on full blast. A wind chime is nothing.

A fan is basically white noise, it should be helping you sleep. Wind chimes are usually more erratic.

 

[Wag]

WTF is a "hipster dentist"?

 

[WhiteRabbitEXE]

I think the wind-chime should stay exactly where it is in Earth-relative, 3-dimensional space, but the tree should be chopped down.

 

[Lunar15]

I normally don't like to be this kind of person, but this is worthy of national attention?

I mean, I guess I read *and* responded to it, so that's on me. But still, slow news day?

 

[theWB27]

How were the neighbors supposed to know it was a keepsake? Wind chimes can be annoying because of the unknowing flow of the sound.

I probably would've knocked though.

 

[ZOONAMI]

That tree looks like it's on public property.

Surprised someone hasn't outright just stolen it.

 

[Dalek]

WTF is a "hipster dentist"?

http://nymag.com/thecut/2017/04/the-dentist-who-wants-teeth-to-look-as-nice-as-her-instagram.html

 

[Zoe]

if that tree is in a public space, she really should consider the noise it makes

My thought as well. Does she even own the tree?

 

[tedtropy]

But what if that other person's mom was a real piece of crap and the wind chimes also reminded them of her?

 

[Vagabundo]

I'm surprised someone didn't just take it.

 

[Zantetsuken]

There couldn't be a more docile/pleasant sound than what a wind chime makes, and it's keeping people up? Get some earmuffs if it's that unbearable.

 

[DizzyCaffeine]

She should take it down if it's bothering her neighbors. But of course she has decided to dig in and start a war.

 

[ThatStupidLion]

that poor tree

 

[ClosingADoor]

It's on a random tree on the sidewalk right? So how are they supposed to know who it is from? I'd leave a note also. She is lucky someone didn't just remove it themselves already. Certainly if her first response was "Get over it, you live in NYC!" Get over it if someone puts it in a dumpster.

I'd be annoyed too if someone hung that on a tree in front of my house and it made noise all day and night.

 

[NandoGip]

Living in a city, you need to compromise. Please don't be the douche that moves in and tries to tell other people how to change.

It reminds me of the gentrifiers that move into a dominican apartment building and then asks them turn the music down. The same music that's been blasting all day for the last 30 years. It's rude, ignorant, and many other words.

I do agree that possibly dampening the wind chime though would be a good middle ground.

 

[studyguy]

My girlfriend's sister tried putting a humming bird house/feeder on a public tree in front of her home and the city issued her a citation warning, threatening to fine her if she didn't take it down. Surprised they let this sit, but all the same, sounds like grump neighbors.

 

[How About No]

 

[Cagey]

Living in a city, you need to compromise. Please don't be the douche that moves in and tries to tell other people how to change.

It reminds me of the gentrifiers that move into a dominican apartment building and then asks them turn the music down. The same music that's been blasting all day for the last 30 years. It's rude, ignorant, and many other words .

I do agree that possibly dampening the wind chime though would be a good middle ground.

Music loud enough to create a constructive eviction is, indeed, rude, ignorant, and many other words.

 

[pantsmith]

Hell is other people :/

 

[LakeEarth]

I'm currently struggling with my neighbours too, so I relate. In my case, they have a downspout pouring rainwater in between my houses, but everything I do to alleviate the problem gets shot down (like putting a fucking tube on it so it goes into their backyard like a normal person). It's frustrating.

 

[Arkeband]

WTF is a "hipster dentist"?

He's Wan Fooked Up Dennis!

 

[gcubed]

I think the original note was polite. The response was written by an asshole...

The kind of asshole who would put wind chimes on a tree on the street in the middle of a city

 

[Zoe]

Living in a city, you need to compromise. Please don't be the douche that moves in and tries to tell other people how to change.

Isn't the one who put up the wind chime the one who's forcing people to change?

 

[Apath]

That was a very respectful note. Not sure why the windchime owner would be so rude in their response.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

That tree looks like it's just one of the public ones on the sidewalk? Does Christine actually own it?

If not, I'm actually kind of on the annoyed neighbor's site. Yes, the neighbor is being kind of ridiculous, but it also isn't Christine's tree to do what she wants with.

 

[ramoisdead]

This just sounds like something that could've been easily avoided if they met one on one. I didn't find the original note left on the tree to be too condescending. It states that they politely ask to remove it and to be placed inside. I mean had the neighbors knew it was done as a memorial for the deceased mother of the wind chime owner, I'm sure an understanding or compromise would come out from this.

I will say though the reply back to saying, "get over it, you live in NYC" didn't help matters. Yes NYC can be a noisy place but there are certain neighborhoods where it can be quiet at night time. I mean if the wind chime is in a neighborhood where there's an above ground subway route, then the noise from the wind chime pales in comparison.

Again, this is a problem that shouldn't have been escalated to this point.

 

[Indrid Cold1]

As someone who has lived next door to noisy neighbours, I say bollocks to her and her dead mum. I would pull the wind chimes to pieces and not care one jot. What a selfish person.

 

[cwmartin]

I have a good friend who HATES wind chimes. I've seen him tie one up to not function before...

 

[Sephzilla]

Wind chimes are annoying and the initial note wasn't rude or anything.

 

[outunderthestars]

That tree looks like it's just one of the public ones on the sidewalk? Does Christine actually own it?

If not, I'm actually kind of on the annoyed neighbor's site. Yes, the neighbor is being kind of ridiculous, but it also isn't Christine's tree to do what she wants with.

This right here.

 

[Apath]

That tree looks like it's just one of the public ones on the sidewalk? Does Christine actually own it?

If not, I'm actually kind of on the annoyed neighbor's site. Yes, the neighbor is being kind of ridiculous, but it also isn't Christine's tree to do what she wants with.

Why is the neighbor being ridiculous? They respectfully requested the owner move it. Outside of talking to the owner in person, that note couldn't have been more respectful and less demanding.

And judging by the owners response, I doubt talking to them in person would help.

 

[DizzyCaffeine]

Wind chimes are annoying and the initial note wasn't rude or anything.

Co-signed.

 

[Oxn]

As someone who has lived next door to noisy neighbours, I say bollocks to her and her dead mum. I would pull the wind chimes to pieces and not care one jot. What a selfish person.

Completely agree. Fucking hate windchimes with a passion.

 

[theWB27]

Living in a city, you need to compromise. Please don't be the douche that moves in and tries to tell other people how to change.

It reminds me of the gentrifiers that move into a dominican apartment building and then asks them turn the music down. The same music that's been blasting all day for the last 30 years. It's rude, ignorant, and many other words.

I do agree that possibly dampening the wind chime though would be a good middle ground.

Wait...it's rude, ignorant AND many other words to ask someone to turn down blasting music and then you agree to dampening the chimes?

That's the equivalent of asking that neighbor to turn down the radio. Gaf be on one..I swear.

 

[Yazzees]

I dont get how 20-somethings can afford brooklyn.

That's honestly the weird part of the story to me.