Nina Bovasso is an \u201cexhausted\u201d New Yorker.<\/p>\n
A dozen years ago, a restaurant called Empire Biscuit moved into the ground floor of her building, 198 Ave. A, replacing an Italian deli. An exhaust fan was placed on the roof, roaring off and on \u2014 mostly on.<\/p>\n
Bovasso, who lives on the top floor, was tormented.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ventilation fan has ruined my life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Nina Bovasso has called 198 Ave. A her home for three decades \u2014 but, she said, awful noises coming from a ventilation fan have completely taken away her peace at home \u2014 and impacted her health. Olga Ginzburg for the N.Y. Post<\/p>\n
Bovasso once measured a noise level of 97 decibels \u2014 the volume of a lawnmower, a motorcycle or a chainsaw. Courtesy of Nina Bovasso<\/p>\n
Over the years, the industrial-style noise has sounded like \u201crocks spinning in a clothes dryer, a heliport on top of my head or multiple buses idling at Port Authority,\u201d said Bovasso, 61, a New York City native and self-employed artist who works from home. \u201cI feel like the noise will make my brain explode.\u201d<\/p>\n
Desperate for relief, she has been locked for years in a series of lawsuits with her landlord. And she has plenty of equally miserable company, as insufferable roof-level noise is the subject of several other recent lawsuits filed by fed-up residents. What\u2019s more, in the most recent fiscal year, the Department of Environmental Protection responded to 4,444 complaints of ventilation fan noise, but issued just 213 violations \u2014 fewer than 5%.<\/p>\n
Those numbers seriously downplay the problem. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor these complaints, we first need access to the complainant\u2019s home, and we also need the circulation device turned on and then off so we can take an accurate reading with the noise meter,\u201d a DEP spokesman told The Post.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ventilation fan has ruined my life,\u201d Bovasso said. Olga Ginzburg for the N.Y. Post<\/p>\n
Previously, there was a fan on the roof of 198 Ave. A before fans were added to the side of building near Bovasso\u2019s windows. Courtesy of Nina Bovasso<\/p>\n
An exhaust seen from Bovasso\u2019s kitchen window that belongs to a restaurant adjacent to her building. Olga Ginzburg for the N.Y. Post<\/p>\n
For Bovasso, the issues have persisted despite commercial turnover. Empire Biscuit closed<\/a> after three years. The next tenant was also a restaurant \u2014 the equally noisy Auriga Cafe<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bovasso said she even offered to pay for fan repairs, but her offer went nowhere. A week before a court date three years ago, the landlord removed the fan. Bovasso had a brief respite.<\/p>\n But then came a bakery called Oasis<\/a>, with refrigeration equipment mounted on the side of the building. Last fall, that equipment started throbbing, Bovasso said.<\/p>\n At one point, she measured 97 decibels, the volume of a lawnmower, a motorcycle or a chainsaw. The city\u2019s noise control code<\/a> limits noise from circulation devices to 42 decibels when measured inside a home.<\/p>\n Bovasso, who has lived in her apartment for 30 years, can\u2019t afford a lawyer, she said \u2014 and legal-aid lawyers have told her that her case is too complex and that no authority cares about noise.<\/p>\n The exterior of Oasis Cafe, which Bovasso alleges is the source of her present issues. Olga Ginzburg for the N.Y. Post<\/p>\n Refrigeration equipment mounted \u201con the side of the building roars and hums,\u201d Bovasso said. Olga Ginzburg for the N.Y. Post<\/p>\n In a precedent-setting noise case from 2010, however, an appeals court decided that noise could be ruled a nuisance<\/a> even if no violation had been issued by a city agency.<\/p>\n \u201cJust because the city doesn\u2019t find a problem doesn\u2019t mean there isn\u2019t a problem,\u201d said Steven Sladkus, the lawyer who won that case, which involved noise from a rooftop bar.<\/p>\n In his experience, ventilation noise can be caused by defective machinery, poor maintenance or some kind of recent damage, he told The Post.<\/p>\n In Bovasso\u2019s building, the DEP has issued five noise violations, most recently in 2020, the spokesman said. Later visits have yielded no violations.<\/p>\n \u201cWhenever they come for the inspection, it is miraculously quiet,\u201d Bovasso said. She suspects that a landlord might get wind of an inspection and temporarily turn the equipment off.<\/p>\n Just before COVID hit, the city issued Bovasso\u2019s landlord a violation <\/a>for an immediately hazardous condition involving a part on a rooftop flue duct, with a fine of $1,250. The fine was paid, with the problem resolved a week later, according to city records.<\/p>\n Shortly thereafter, Bovasso started to withhold rent, which was then $1,796.01 for her rent-stabilized two-bedroom, because \u201cI was paying for the privilege to be tortured in my home,\u201d she said. Approximately half of the back rent was paid by pandemic rental subsidies. The landlord has sued her for the balance.<\/p>\n Over the past dozen years, Bovasso has emailed assorted city agencies, community boards, council members and state senators, begging for help.<\/p>\n \u201cTo add insult to injury, she insists on copying public officials, which we believe is an improper attempt to place political pressure on the Court,\u201d wrote the landlord\u2019s lawyer, Matthew Brett, in court papers. \u201cParties should not be permitted to engage in such conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n Brett did not respond to requests for comment, nor did the landlord, Flavia Cesare, who also lives in the building.<\/p>\n After a decade of noise and vibration, her health has been destroyed, Bovasso said. She now suffers from tinnitus<\/a> (ringing ears) and sound sensitivity<\/a>, as well as vertigo. Hearing damage and long-term cardiovascular effects<\/a> from cumulative noise exposure are well-documented in scientific literature.<\/p>\n The ordeal has \u201cunreasonably interfered with all aspects of my life on an enduring basis,\u201d Bovasso said. \u201cIf I could move, I would. But I have no place to go.\u201d<\/p>\n Rooftop fans are a \u201cclassic problem\u201d in the city, according to acoustical consultant Andy Morgan \u2014 and one such issue is playing out at 150 Rivington St. Olga Ginzburg for the N.Y. Post<\/p>\n An acoustics report on ventilation fans at 150 Rivington, as seen in court documents. Court papers<\/p>\n A rooftop fan is a \u201cclassic problem\u201d in the city, said Andy Morgan of Morgan Acoustics<\/a>, an acoustical consultant.<\/p>\n Such noise, he said, is often \u201ca multivariable problem with a combination of airborne noise and structural noise.\u201d<\/p>\n A vibration often re-radiates into an apartment, he said, with walls and ceilings acting as a loudspeaker to amplify the sound.<\/p>\n \u201cSo much in New York City is complaint-based,\u201d Morgan told The Post. \u201cThe city rarely looks at acoustics on the design side as part of a permit application. It comes into play only when there are complaints. The New York City code is underdeveloped when it comes to acoustics.\u201d<\/p>\n Even some ears inside nearby luxury addresses aren\u2019t spared. One of Morgan\u2019s recent consulting jobs was at 150 Rivington St.<\/a>, a glassy condo opened in 2019.<\/p>\n The top-floor three-bedroom there has been plagued for more than three years by an HVAC system that \u201chas flooded the Plaintiff\u2019s unit with relentless, unreasonable, disturbing and oppressive noise at all hours,\u201d according to a lawsuit filed in the winter by the owner of the 1,600-square-foot home that the family bought for $4.38 million.<\/p>\n To escape, the family rented elsewhere for several months, but later returned, burdened by additional housing costs.<\/p>\n The cyclical noise is a \u201cdeep, mechanical rumble with a sharp tonal pitch\u201d that \u201cmakes normal living impossible,\u201d according to court papers.<\/p>\n Vibrating rooftop mechanical equipment provides heating and cooling to the 45-unit building at 150 Rivington, which opened in 2019. Court papers<\/p>\n The condo board replaced the springs beneath the cycling compressors on the HVAC unit, but the noise persisted.<\/p>\n Morgan measured the exhaust noise at 83 decibels, adding that the \u201cintermittent tonal noise\u201d is \u201cin excess of 58 decibels, lasting approximately thirty seconds and recurring approximately every four minutes throughout the day and night.\u201d<\/p>\n He suggested elevating or relocating the equipment, adding flexible connections and installing a chimney pipe extension to redirect the exhaust. The dispute remains unresolved.<\/p>\n