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Bklyn Judge Censures “Loud Mouth” Atty; Condo Board to Soundproof Apt

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A Brooklyn judge has given a condo board permission to soundproof a divorce attorney’s apartment – by force, if necessary – after complaints from neighbors about excessive noise.

Neighbors claim that the relentless screaming emanating from the fifth-floor apartment at 1 Grand Army Plaza – classic music played at ear-splitting levels and shouts of “Obama is a murderer!” and “Rape!” at all hours – is making their lives a living hell.

Dennis Sughrue, a member of the condo board as well as an attorney, commented to the New York Post that such a ruling was “very unusual — but it’s a testament to just how crazy she is,” referring to resident Andrea J. Coleman.

The soundproofing was an option offered by Justice Edgar Walker following his imposition of a $31,000 fine. In the event that she refuses, Walker said, the condo board has the right to install the soundproofing “by forcible entry.”

According to the Post, Coleman purchased her one-bedroom apartment in 2010 for $765,000.

Coleman’s next-door neighbor, Craig Spolsky, stated in an affidavit that the screaming “begins as early as 6:30 a.m. and recurs throughout the day and often as late as midnight.” The voice, the Post reported, “can be clearly heard from inside my apartment. She uses words like ‘murder,’ ‘rape,’ ‘killing’ and ‘killing myself,’ and has apparently even mentioned my name in the same breath as these threatening words… ‘Obama, the murderer in chief’ — that’s a phrase that she often says.”

Spolsky also told the Post, “The horrifying nature, tremendously loud volume, and upsetting substance of [Coleman’s] yelling are present nearly every single day… “If [Coleman] is not going to stop yelling and screaming — and it is clear she will not — there is no other way that her neighbors can co-exist with her on the same floor” without the added soundproofing.

Last January, during a court hearing, Coleman insisted that the neighbors have spurred her on to her vocal gymnastics because they are trying to force her to move.

Unwanted sound coming through thin apartment walls is hardly a new problem in New York or any other modern city. Noisy neighbors can be the cause of irritability, aggression, stress and anxiety, according to Psychology Today, and can even interfere with people’s willingness to help others.

“As high density living becomes more commonplace, it is important that houses are designed with noisy neighbors in mind,” the magazine noted. “Researchers believe that the effect of noise on people’s wellbeing may be related to their lack of perceived control, with sense of control an important predictor of mental health.”

By Kenneth H.R. Robeson

 

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