Help: my neighbor is killing my music....

Matchstikman, why won't you go talk to him?

Reporting him to the authorities is the means in which we increasingly deal with our fellow human beings. It is sure to build ill will in him. And, if he does find out you are the one who reported him, he may well seek to retaliate.

I deal with people face to face, and in mostly all circumstances in "the real world", I have developed good relationships with people. As a society, I have always believed that what people have complained most often through my life was not a loosening of whatever, but the increasing lack of the common man to take a stand.

While the discussion may be one you dread, the result may not develop into a confrontation. He may see your point of view (especially, if his practice is illegal), and simply say, "You're right, I'm sorry. I'll stop leaving the truck idling..." You may end up forging a friendship that you value highly.

Did you sign a complaint against him? Most times the police will just ask him to turn it off and leave. They don't want to be bothered with such a "minor" infraction. So, the next time he does it, walk up to the Police and demand to sign a complain/ticket. They will have no choice but to issue him a ticket which you will have to sign. Of course, you will have to testify in court.

I had a similair experience a while back. I live in a fairly new sub division. A truck pulls up in front of the house at 5am with a pre-fab house on the back of it. So, after the truck sits there idling for about 15 minutes I put on my pants and went out an informed him that this is a residential neighbothood and asked him to turn it off. He flipped me the bird so I called the Police. The Police gave me some lame excuse why they couldn't come out. So, I told them that I would sign the complaint/ticket and demanded that they come out. About 20 minutes later they arrived. After they got him to turn off the truck, they tried to talk me out of signing the complaint but I insisted. A few weeks later I appeared in court. The driver was from Ohio and did not show but he wrote some lame ass letter. The Builder, and an Attorney, showed up to represent the absent truck driver. The Judge gave him a ticket for making a delivery before 6am ($500) and leaving a vehicle idling ($3000 in NJ!) plus court cost. The Builder paid the fine and I didn't have any more problems after that.

On a side note, trying to get the Police to enforce the handicap parking is worse than pulling teeth. I have signed many compaints on people illegally parking in the Handicap spots. Some of the excused: "I was only running into the store to buy cigerettes, milk, etc", "I did not see the blue lines and Handicap sign", "Nobody was using it at the time", "I would have moved if a Handicapped person wanted to use the space", and my favorite "I drive an Audi, I don't think the law applies to me".

Good luck with an unpleasant situation,

The first thing I would do is talk to the guy. That way, you'll know for certain whether he's thick as a block of concrete or he just doesn't care that he is disturbing his neighbors.

If it's the former, just your efforts to communicate may be enough to set things right. If the latter, then I would pursue a zoning ordinance violation. Once they tow his truck away, you won't care if it's running or not.

As a person that actually deals with people like this, why don't you go buy him a case of beer and talk to him about how much the idling is bothering you. The police are only going to upset him more. My guess is if you would have done this in the beginning, he would not leave his truck idling just to bug you.

Write a letter to everybody in local goverment with your complaint, by everybody I mean the Prosecuters office, Mayor, Police Chief, Senators, etc and make sure they all know you sent letters to the persons above them. This is FAR more effective than phone calls. No one likes complaints floating around in writing, phone calls are to common and won't get you anywhere. Also mention in your letter about going to the local news agency because of the lack of service. When the Police Chief gets a letter passed down from the Mayor saying ," take care of this" , it will be taken care of. Then make sure you follow up with your complaint. All the other suggestions are fine with the exception of the one about sugar in the tank and a big stick which could land you in jail yourself. Good luck, TG