ULPT request- Business runs leaf blower at 5:30 am next door to my house.
Posted by Pasta_La_Pizza_Baby@reddit | UnethicalLifeProTips | View on Reddit | 60 comments
The title basically says it all. There is a golf course/bar that my neighborhood is built around. Every Friday at 5:30 am they start running leaf blowers and lawn mowers, which always wakes us up about an hour before we need to. The city noise ordinance forbids outdoor machinery between 10pm-7am every day, but we’ve called the city several times and they write a report but no action is taken.
I’ve spoken with the workers running the machinery several times and they are just trying to do their job; they say they’ll be fired if they don’t do the job they’re asked to do, which I understand. For that reason, I’d prefer my action to have maximum impact on the business itself rather than the workers. However, I’m willing to do what it takes to get the sound to stop…
So, any tips, ethical or not, on how I can make the sound stop?
YnotBbrave@reddit
File a lawsuit got them leveraging your quiet enjoyment of your property
Here's the ULPT: every event is a distaste lawsuit, so you can just pepper them with small claims suits. A large business will have to send a lawyer....
IANAL
arrowtron@reddit
Get evidence (video footage with time stamps will do). Call your local news, send them the footage. They’d love to run a story on this, and the property owner will have no choice but to respond.
_B_Little_me@reddit
Why would the news care about this? Come on.
fouldspasta@reddit
Maybe in a small town of 100 people. You'd be surprised at what people get worked up over in podunk nowhere Iowa or Nebraska but in 99% of the world this will not work
StanielReddit@reddit
Ikr. The news doesn’t care that one person is complaining about noise at 5:30am.
ProfessorPliny@reddit
They will care if you can give some sort of consequence to add to their headline:
“Local man punished by his employer after golf course ruins his sleep!”
navarone21@reddit
Many local stations have those outrage bait help lines that locals can call and get their story out there. Slow news week might just make it on the air.
soulsproud@reddit
Perfect opportunity to get up early, stretch, shower, and go to breakfast with the spouse before work. I used to /always/ hate waking before 8-9am, lately can't sleep past 0630 and that leaves a lot of time to do things before work.
Aqquos@reddit
No one’s looking for a silver lining in ULPT 😂
406taco@reddit
Go cut their grass and leaf blow the area they clean out at night so they don’t have to do it in the morning /s
Jokerman5656@reddit
I would get some sort of car air horn installation kit and make a script for a pi pico to do a 1 second burst every so often, probably a random interval of 3-18 minutes. Maybe even add in a manual activation button or even link it to a webpage so I can trigger it remotely.
Gotta fight noise ordinance with noise ordinance.
hambuyatheburger@reddit
Best answer.
ProfessorPliny@reddit
Add a video feed to the remote option. Build a website. Allow folks like us to pay $0.25 to blow the horn as we see people walk by.
Bongcopter_@reddit
So you decided to move close to a golf course that you knew was doing that and complain?
NorthRoseGold@reddit
Horrible comment, One can logically assume that business is in a city will follow the city rules.
nonametrashaccount@reddit
One would also logically assume most golf courses are immune to noise ordinances especially towards the morning hours.
Few_Coconut_2713@reddit
Why the fuck would someone assume that?
nonametrashaccount@reddit
Because I rubbed two braincells together to form that thought then did a .5 second google search and found i was correct.
Few_Coconut_2713@reddit
Really? Because every result I see on Google says that your two brain cells are full of shit.
theycallmekeefe@reddit
No point arguing with someone who's account is "no name trash account". Its rage bait
Few_Coconut_2713@reddit
Yeah, but it's fun to argue with idiots online. That's like 50% of the reddit experience, right?
Hinote21@reddit
Name one house or apartment you've ever moved to where you showed up at 5 am to check things out
Operation_Difficult@reddit
Imagine looking at a massive, carefully manicured green space and being too stupid to understand the maintenance required to keep that space looking so good and when said maintenance is likely to occur.
That’s like buying an apartment beside an NFL stadium, only viewing it during weekday, business hours and then being shocked when you have to endure the noise on Sunday afternoon.
BlueHeaven90@reddit
Exactly! It's not rocket science that the sound of lawn care equipment is going to be a part of life living next to a golf course.
Bigkillian@reddit
Part of life: yes. During hours designated as quiet by city ordinance: no.
BlueHeaven90@reddit
But it's still going to be at the most awful times as early or late as possible to not interfere with golfers. So instead of once a week at 530a it'll be 9p or three times a week at 7a.
Bigkillian@reddit
As long as the maintenance is not during the period of time forbidden by the city ordinance, it’s what the homeowner signed up for. 7am and 9 pm are fine.
Operation_Difficult@reddit
I’m so glad this is the top comment.
People are so fucking stupid. We have this in my area with a race track and an outdoor gun range.
Karens build their shitty little Karen cookie cutter homes next to an obviously noisy enterprise and then spend 20 years shrieking about the sounds their poor Karen ears have to endure.
NorthRoseGold@reddit
Idk y'all sound like you're jel of people who can live on a golf course.
Operation_Difficult@reddit
lol, not at all. Why the fuck would I want to be next to a place where: a) people start working early in the morning to prep the course for the day; and, b) there are golf balls constantly flying at my house?
I live in a lot that backs on to about 100 acres of forest and trails and it was very intentional.
Good_Community_6975@reddit
What a stupid statement! I've lived across from a beautiful golf course for 13 years and they never violated noise ordinances. Breaking the law is a choice and deserves to be punished.
Axedelic@reddit
i mean they are completely ignoring the noise ordinances, they aren’t higher than the law because they’re a golf course.
AmazingLie54@reddit
Golf course probably has money and money is always above the law.
Bongcopter_@reddit
Actually they seem to be, since the neighborhood was built around it, remove the golf course and there is no neighborhood, the city protects their money maker
Sea_Bear7754@reddit
What's next an ULPT because the HOA guy mowed horizontal instead of diagonal?
Ibuildthecoolestshit@reddit
When I was a kid in the 90s a group of kids got ahold of a large quantity of roundup from a defunct farm in the area and used it to “tag” the local golf course. It cost a tone of money and the course had to temporarily close because they killed so much grass. This was before the world was covered in cameras so probably not feasible these days but if you could it would cause a lot of issues for them
ollie1313@reddit
At what temperature does Roundup freeze?
Would it be possible to make Roundup ice cubes and slingshot them in? Perhaps a trebuchet with a bag of Roundup cubes?
msdosp1mp@reddit
Roundup piss discs
ilanallama85@reddit
Here’s my issue with that - do YOU want to put roundup in YOUR freezer? I sure don’t.
Ibuildthecoolestshit@reddit
What about brawndo it’s got what plants crave!!!
ollie1313@reddit
You'd be surprised how often you can find freezers and refrigerators on the "free stuff" section of Craigslist.
ilanallama85@reddit
True that. Just saying, it’s an extra concern.
Ibuildthecoolestshit@reddit
The golf course probably has a tank hooked into their water system for fertilizer. If you’re down for som light B&E you could just taint the supply with roundup. Just one of many ways to fuck with them
Ibuildthecoolestshit@reddit
I don’t know but that’s an interesting idea. I would probably get a small pump and a couple of sprayer heads and install on a golf cart to spray from underneath so it wasn’t obvious. Then I’d take up golf and spray at least once a week till it started to show.
JTD177@reddit
Get one of those three person slingshots, fill balloons with roundup and go to town at night.
Granadafan@reddit
The people who run the city are likely members of the golf course.
_B_Little_me@reddit
Have you spoken to the business owners? Doesn’t look like it. Maybe start there.
OldResearcher6@reddit
Honestly, what did you expect when you bought a house on a golf course.
Morning maintenance is pretty standard.
Youre lucky they only do it on fridays. Some clubs do it everyday.
Move or quit complaining.
re10pect@reddit
Maybe don’t buy a house on a golf course if you don’t like golf course related sounds.
Alternatively, slip some piss disks under the maintenance crews’ office door.
NorthRoseGold@reddit
It is a reasonable to assume that the golf course would not make noise at 5:30 a.m. That is a reasonable assumption.
Alternative_Result56@reddit
I'd reasonable assumed they'd start at 5 and not 530 tbh. That way they'll be done by 6 for the first tee time.
re10pect@reddit
I don’t think so. Golfers are teeing off as the sun rises, crews need to be out before that making sure the course is in shape for the day. That’s going to mean an early start.
Either way, if I was buying a house on a course I probably wouldn’t assume, I’d do a little due diligence and know what I was getting into.
Alternative_Result56@reddit
530! At least they waited 30 minutes after morning started.
19pj19@reddit
If you are near a tee box you can stand there with an airhorn and blow it every time someone is about to swing. Put abig sign on your property that explains that the airhorn will stop when the morning mower stops
19pj19@reddit
Or if the bar holds events you can use it then
NorthRoseGold@reddit
Sorry that I'm not unethical here, but what you need to do is escalate with the city.
You're probably working with code enforcement dept, not generally a place with a lot of power. Plus those are employees, they feel removed from the public-- they are not elected or anything. Like you said they have to keep their bosses happy, not you.
You need to speak at a city council meeting.
Often you can see City records of the interaction they have with the golf course. So what I would do is pull those and make a log of your complaints, who responded to your complaint, who spoke to the person at the golf course etc. And, get on record how many times you have been ignored with dates and a log of occurrences and your complaints etc.
Thing is once you start putting the code enforcement people's names into this, such as when you stand up at a city council meeting and read this stuff with your statement, people will stand up and pay attention a little more. They don't like to be named individually. It's possible with those names available that someone from City council will follow up and start asking questions.
Ok_Display8452@reddit
Move or stop being a bitch, pretty easy choice.
emzirek@reddit
This may not actually help with the noise but you could salt their greens killing a pattern stating your position ..
The only downside is the price of all the salt you're going to need and you're going to need quite a bit ..
Recuvan@reddit
If the local authority won't do anything then you could sue.
SoapyCheese42@reddit
Find where they store the fuel. Probably not that secure. Sugar or some shit in their 2/ fuel.