Howdy Neighbor

Dear Sir,

Though it is hard for me to believe that the possibility may not have occurred to you, I wonder if you are aware of the impact your drum practicing is having on the neighborhood. To that end, I wanted to drop you a note in advance of more official routes of action to give you an opportunity to correct this situation.

Do you realize how LOUD your drumming sounds throughout the rest of the neighborhood? I can clearly hear you playing, in the back bedroom of my house, across the street and several doors down, and I know from polling other of your neighbors that I am not the only one whose quality of life is suffering. They may be too timid to seek a solution one way or another; I am not.

If you were playing only during the day I might give you a pass. Sadly, this is not the case - I have heard you on many evenings, often after 11:00 pm, practicing with apparent indifference to the fact that others around you are settling in for the evening, may in fact have to work early in the morning, and have no desire to listen to you go over the same riff over and over.

This is unacceptable behavior, and it must stop. To that end, I have enclosed for your perusal excerpts from the Savannah Code of Ordinances and specifically Chapter 2 – Nuisances, Article B – Noise Control. In sections under this article a noise disturbance is defined as:

“Any sound which endangers or injures the welfare, safety or health of human beings, or disturbs a reasonable person of normal sensitivities, or devalues or injures personal or real property, or as hereinafter defined.”

Please note the underlined section.

Further on, in Sec. 9-2035 - Specific activities prohibited., in subsection (f), the code states:

“Musical instruments and similar devices.  No person shall operate, play or permit the operation or playing of any drum, musical instrument or similar device which produces sound in such a manner as to create a noise disturbance across a residential real property boundary or within a noise-sensitive area, subject to the provisions of section 9-2033 and section 9-2036 of this article.”

Sir, I am trying to be as nice as I can about this issue, but to put it plainly, the drumming and other loud music have to stop. By city code it is prohibited, and you are severely impacting the quality of life in this neighborhood. If you do not take action to correct the problem, then others will. Since Savannah has its share of bands, I suspect that there are other more suitable practice spaces to be found in non-residential areas. Best of luck.

Your Neighbors