A few weeks ago, I began to get ready for bed in my Poly Canyon Village apartment Thursday. That’s when I heard a lot of moaning and banging coming from outside my open window. My next-door neighbor was having particularly loud sex. It took even less time to close my window and turn up my television so I didn’t have to hear it, but her bed was still banging against our shared wall. I spent an hour with my iPod turned up just to make sure I wouldn’t have to hear any more lovemaking.
This wasn’t the first time I’ve dealt with bad neighbors or roommates.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying yourself in your own home, whether it be with sex, partying or loud music. But it’s clearly a problem when San Luis Obispo authorities continue to increase fines and place further restrictions on noise violators, and I still hear stories about bad roommates or neighbors. The San Luis Obispo Police Department already thinks we have a “lack of neighborly responsibility” according to a recent Mustang Daily article, “City council delays decision on party policies.” Whatever the community is going to do to combat the large number of noise violations committed by Cal Poly students needs to be pretty serious.
I’m not really looking to tell anyone to stop partying, and I know no one really wants to be the person who ruins a good time, but there has to be some way to stop bothering those we live around without creating tension.
For party-goers looking to avoid expensive noise violations, do your best to keep the noise confined. If you’re playing beer pong, why not play in the kitchen instead of outside or in the garage where you can easily be heard? If I had a backyard right now, I would keep my guests inside, a tactic that I’ve seen used during Mardi Gras to avoid the swarm of cops that local law enforcement still insists on sending out each year.
I’ve also found that it helps to get to know your neighbors. When I was still living off-campus, my roommates and I established a relationship with our next-door neighbor. We would help her if she was gone for the weekend and needed someone to let her dogs out or give them walks. Because of our willingness to help her, she often gave us free eggs. That’s right, free food! I cannot tell you how much money she saved us with her egg thank you gifts. It was totally worth keeping our noise down all year long. At least when I lived next to her, I didn’t have to deal with listening to people having sex.
To solve the problem of the amorous lovers next to me, I wrote a letter to the resident of the room. I said that I hoped the sex was good, but that if they continued to have loud sex with the window open, my boyfriend and I would get creative and make them just as uncomfortable. I haven’t had any other problems with them since. It was a rather bold way to go about solving this conflict, but it was totally anonymous and my community advisor was quite happy to hear that I had taken care of the problem without involving him.
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber s a journalism senior and Mustang Daily reporter.