The crew now churns out custom-made bikes for themselves and friends with 6,000-watt stereo systems, flashing lights and DVD screens housed around the bikes’ steel frames or towed by homemade trailers. The bikes can weigh up to 500 pounds, with around 10 speakers and subwoofers and two amplifiers all powered by car batteries that the crew receives gratis courtesy of a sponsor. The music, which plays off of CDs, mp3 players and cell phones, includes everything “from the 70s and up,” Anil said, the thump-thump of one of the $8,000 bicycles reverberating from the street in front of him. That includes hip hop - lots of hip hop - disco, and Chutney and Soca music, indigenous to the Caribbean.‘Stereo bikes’ rock south Queens
Even the police are impressed.
“The bikes are pretty cool and the workmanship that’s gone into them - lotta talent right there,” Zorn said.
The admiration of New York’s Finest is not lost on “Future Shock.” In fact, Nicholas said his crew has never had a run-in with the cops because of a mutual respect.
“The cops, they like us. They like what we do. They’ll stop us - literally stop us - and ask us to play our songs.”
Well I'm glad to hear the cops, who are getting complaints about the noise, are encouraging the kids to make more noise.
Unfortunately, some neighbors cannot concentrate with noise blasting from the bikes on weekend afternoons and evenings. An elderly woman held a hand to her ear, struggling to hear above the din of the bass. “I think the noise is bothering the whole community,” she said very slowly, enunciating every word before walking back inside.
Zorn said the dynamics of Richmond Hill are different from Trinidad, where houses are spread out and loud music does not have such an impact. Here, he explained, one set of speakers can affect 200 houses.
Ya think?
38 comments:
Hey Mayor Bloomberg-- get out your boise meter and start handing out those tickets. I cannot believe they are getting away with this. There is a NYC noise code-- if you braek it- you get a summons. Case closed. This is not Trinidad.
Even the police are impressed.
“The bikes are pretty cool and the workmanship that’s gone into them - lotta talent right there,” Zorn said.
Talented at what; at disturbing everybody's peace and tranquility!
If they can muzzle those annoying Mr. Softee trucks they can
certainly slap these bikers silly with a hefty fine.
For a second violation confiscate their bikes just like they do with illegal peddlers' goods!
Oh but in our tweeded borough
the clubhouse pols rule.
They don't want to offend their newly found voters!
If this were genteel northeast Queens (i.e.Douglaston/Little Neck)where you can usually hear a pin drop, the cops would be handing
out tickets if someone belched too loud!
Thank you Joe Crowley!
Notice how the NY Times fawned over these kids as if they were making a contribution to society, and now Vicky's paper is doing the same.
Sad state of journalism in Queens.
It's not the business of our police to be "impressed" only to punish the lawbreakers.
Gee...
look at that fine chrome plated engraved pistol that this thug just used to commit a robbery.
NEVER MIND, JUST DO YOUR JOB OFFICER!
Vicki doesn't have these
(colorful, vibrant)noise polluters riding past her Bayside driveway or else she'd be on the phone with powerhouse Frank Padavan PDQ!
Not in her backyard!
The cops' reaction comes as no surprise. At Juniper Park, motorcycles hang out all night, drive in circles around the park and sometimes THROUGH the park, and the cops come, hang out with the riders, watch while they do wheelies in the street and then try to pick up the girls in the pack. Since they're only 20 years old themselves, it's not surprising that they would rather hang out with other 20 year olds than attempt to discipline them.
Why encourage these people?
Mr Softee, at least, plays something listenable.
www.forgotten-ny.com
No wonder noise complaints number in the thousands in that area. These kids may have talent, but they have no right to impose their music on the whole neighborhood. If I'm a talented pick pocket, will the cops let me slide too?
I think it's impressive, yes. Get a body shop and make a career out of it.
That being said, be respectful enough to respect your neighbors and noise laws.
Freaking punks in Howard Beach like to blast music from 10-20 blocks away and it STILL reverberates MY house.
I wish they would use their ingenuity and creativity on something that doesn't make a whole bunch of fucking noise.
Those Howard Beach boys
are just a bunch of goombah
mouth breathing chitrools
and are no better
than these ghetto bike bums!
I don't get it. How can anybody inflict that level of noise on everyone around them, even if they themselves like it. Do they have no sense that others exist and have their own preferences? And they get encouragement, from the POLICE? This is beyond WTF.
Keep it in the ghetto, please! You would last about 30 seconds in my neighborhood.
Why can't these "youth" put their energy into something even slightly more productive, such as "Battle Bots"?
At least with Battle Bots, they can learn valuable engineering and problem solving skills, interact with other young people in competitions, and possibly even win cash prizes.
But, NO! They'd rather ride around the neighborhood and lower the property values with their vulgar hip hop drivel ghetto sound systems.
I guess this is OK if we get to hear that stupid fu**** ice cream truck song allllllllll summerrrr longggggg huh?
Ice cream truck song has no thumping bass.
I guess this is OK if we get to hear that stupid fu**** ice cream truck song allllllllll summerrrr longggggg huh?
Even worse is having to endure the amateur screeds of Salvatore on Queens Crap all summer long!
On the one hand, it's pretty clever to create something like that. On the other, it's not fair that the city is letting them get away with making rackets all around.
where do they get the money for these stupid things from?
$8,000? for one of these asshole bikes?
Little kids like to bang pots and pans together to make noise and call attention to themselves. Then you grow up and do other, more positive things to bring attention to yourself. This is all a question of maturity. i can study hard and get good grades, or maybe train hard and ecel at a sport - or I can take the immature way and make noise.
I have to place most of the blame on the moron parents of these kids.
Teenagers do stupid things...it's part of growing up.
But I serioursly have to question these asshole, clueless parents who seem to think it OK for their kids to spend THOUSANDS on stereo equipment and ride around the neighborhood.
It's only a matter of time before one of these pinhead kids is playing their music so loud they can't hear the blaring horn of oncomming traffic....SPLAT!!!
It's only a matter of time before one of these pinhead kids is playing their music so loud they can't hear the blaring horn of oncomming traffic....SPLAT!!!
Indeed. And the litigious minded parents will end up suing the city, with the taxpayers footing the bill for their "pain and suffering". They will probably lay the blame on the police for "having too much respect" for their little monsters and not following the law and arresting them. Cops - Damned if they do, damned if they don't.
Take a drive around that entire neighborhood and witness the lawlessness. Illegal housing, cars parked on sidewalks, drinking in public, filthy sidewalks and streets, illegal food vendors, etc (sounds third-world, doesn't it?). They turned this once nice neighborhood into a cesspool where anarchy breeds. Bloomie--if the city needs money, check out this neighborhood-- we could make a mint on all the summonses handed out.
It STILL reverberates MY house.
The common trend is that noise enforecement is non-existent in Queens. It's measurable and on the books to crack down upon but only in Manhattan is it taken seriously.
"Screeds"?
Somebody does some silk screening.
Great metaphoric word usage!
Somebody out there does some silk screening...eh "Wade". Am I right?
Great metaphoric word usage!
FYI (non artists):
A "screed" is the squeegee that you push the ink through the stencil with when you're your running prints in the silk screen process.
So in other words "YADDA, YADDA, YADDA, YADDA" as "Salvatore"
keeps on running off his repetitious message/multiples.
(Yawn).
I'm willing to pay one of these guys
$500 to drive up and down in front of Bloomberg's east side town house a couple of times.
Then I'll pay his fine and
for the bike if it gets confiscated!
That would be worth it!
Same scene for
Commish Ray Kelly's home!
Eight grand for these bikes?
That's a lot of potatoes!
"Mr. Softee" trucks were caught selling drugs in several boroughs.
They used their jingle to notify
customers they'd arrived to do business.
Maybe some local pushers are using these bikes for the same purpose.
Wadda ya think Queens Narcotics
Division?
H-m-m-m,
maybe the local cops are laying off because the get a cut of the drug money (which is their usual SOP).
A "screed" is also used in concrete work when leveling off sidewalks.
Throw one of these bikes into wet cement then "screed" right over it!
Maybe if "Sal" were a little more motivated, he'd become
an immigrant rights attorney
instead of posting his immigrant wrong rants on QC.
But I suppose it's a lot easier
for him to pop his load here
rather than having the courage
to f--k the real bitch...
law school!
Oh, leave Mr "S" alone.
Everyone knows
he's just a Keyboard crapper!
A few "hit and runs" will get them out of your neighborhood 1-2-3.
I would have no problem giving them a little tap to remind them this is NY, not some fucking sandbar.
This is bullshit! Not everybody wants to hear this fucking music. I don't understand the laguage and it seems like it's the same fucking lady singing the same west indian song. This is not Trinidad, this is Amercia. This is acceptable over there but we are a mixture of people over here. Not everyone wants to listen to this bullshit of music. I engourage everyone to call 311, your local police precent to end this bullshit. I don't come out blasting my native music so that everyone can hear. I have consideration. This kids need to do something else. Go read a book, clean up graffiti, join some sort of sport. This message is coming from a 27 year old male_It's not only the old ones that have a problem with this
WHY DOESNT EVERYONE STOP AND LEAVE THE KIDS ALONE, THEY ARE NOT SELLING DRUGS, OR ROBBING ANYONE, OR ARE DOING ANYTHING GANG RELATED OR INTO PROSTITUTION...THEY ARE JUST HAVING FUN, LET THEM HAVE A HOBBY, I HAD A HOBBY WHEN I WAS A KID IT WAS MOTORCYCLES, AND THEY MAKE MORE NOISE THAN THESE BIKES. PLUS THEY RIDE DOWN MY BLOCK ALL THE TIME AND I HEAR THE MUSIC FOR 10 MINS TOPS AND THEYRE GONE to all those who dont like the music they play why dont you ask them to play a cd or song of yours im sure they would oblige....and to all the racist hints and threatening remarks such as "hit and runs" thats really mature grow up....
To the last person that commented on this: Why don't we leave these kids alone?? We live in New York city, the houses are close to each other. Why do I have to be forced to listen to music I don't care about in my own home??? Who is crossing the lines here?? These kids do not just imposed their music for a minute or so, they are always out blasting their music. What if I don't want to listen to one of my CD's??? You all need to respect boundaries. This is not just your neighborhood. Let's put up some American Flags so God's sake in Richmond Hill. We are not in Guyana/Trinidad. If your going to display your flag, back it up with the flag of the country you reside in. Remember that we share this great country with other races.
Listen all of you that live in NYC, YOU KNOW WHERE YOU ARE. Cities are noisy places and maybe many of you should consider moving to the burbs where neighbors don't even know each other.
I am a born and raised Brooklyn-ite. This city is colorful for that reason. If I wanted to be bored all the time, I'd move to minnesota.
I never understood where the "it's noisy in New York - deal with it" attitude came from. Queens is not Manhattan. Most Queens neighborhoods are quiet save for the occasional siren or Mister Softee truck. So, no, I will not move to Minnesota, thank you. They need to shut the hell up with their unnecessary noise.
We are not asking for total silence. I understand it's a city, but when you have idiots blasting music in your ear,especially crappy music,then that's when it becomes an issue. What's the point of driving while blasting music??? Hearing this crap every day is like hearing someone yodel in your ear. You can't even pick up a book or watch tv in your own home without being disturbed. This goes on every day over hear. Let me correct myself, we have a break because of the drop in the temp. I was born and raised in Queens. Why should I get out when these jerks just came here??? I DON"T THINK SO!
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