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

I have a truck driver neighbor that has a tendency to leave his diesel truck idling for hours and hours and hours. One time it idled for nearly 20 hours, no kidding. He parks his rig across the street from where I live and sometimes the low frequencies are in-escapable in my home. Forget about listening to music. On ocassion, depending on where exactly he parks, my bedroom sounds like a running refrigerator.

An idling engine is illegal in a residential area in the state of California. I know, I checked. I have called the police several times and they have shown up several times. The idling stops and then starts up again. Whatever fine he is getting from the police does not seem to bother my neighbor very much. Either he pays it or ignores it. Whatever he gets fined must be worth leaving his engine idle for hours.

I am posting this note now as my neighbor's truck won't let me get to sleep. I am at my wit's end. Calling the police doesn't do any good as the idling is still goes on. I don't want to comfront this guy face to face and start some kind of hassle. I just want him to park his rig in a truck stop where it is supposed to be parked.

I need my sleep.

I want to be able to hear my music, again.

Any ideas?
matchstikman
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loonytunz
164 posts
 
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.
bryanhod
211 posts
 
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.
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tsugury
251 posts
 
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
matchstikman OP
205 posts
 
Some good ideas here. I will try talking to him, but he is going to know that I am the guy that has already got him ticketed several times.

Prpixel, I could deal with the engine idling for 15 minutes or even a few hours, but I am talking about this guy starting his engine at 9pm and it goes and goes until maybe 5pm the next day. non-stop.

Here is the kicker, I like to listen near-field to my music and now that is impossible when my trucker friend is idling. Trying to listen to soft passages is not even worth trying. I am even thinking that I have "trained" myself to listen more acutely to sound and probably I have a more sensitive stand because of this.

People got to make a living and I don't want to cause this guy problems, but he doesn't seem to be bothered by leaving his engine going all night. If my other neighbors are bothered by it, they are the kind that will grin and bear it. My neighbor to the right is an older gent that I know would never say a world about anything.

On the bright side, my idling neighbor tends to be out of town or away during most of the week, so for now, it is quiet...AAAAAAHHHHHH, that's nice.
mattybumpkin
590 posts
 
Be careful talking to him, he might punch you in the nose after he puts two and two together. You should have done that (talked) back in the beginning when it first started.

Good luck,
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