By Gus Saltonstall
Last summer, West Side Rag reported on one man’s crusade against ice cream trucks parking in the bike lanes on the Upper West Side.
Another summer is coming to a close, and in this quiet lull before Labor Day and the beginning of the school year, why not put together a data analysis on a different type of ice cream truck dynamic within the neighborhood?
The noise.
How often do Upper West Siders complain about the noise created by these ice cream shops on wheels, whether it is the iconic Mister Softee jingle aka Pop Goes the Weasel, or the diesel generators that consistently run within the majority of the trucks?
Before scooping into the data, let us add the important sprinkle that the Rag appreciates grabbing an ice cream on a hot day as much as the next person, and of course the joy it brings a kid who has been walking in the city and now gets to have a treat.
Our curiosity remained, though. What do the numbers show?
West Side Rag looked at 10 years of 311 data related to people filing complaints with the city, specifically connected to the noise created by ice cream trucks within the Upper West Side’s 10025, 10024, and 10023 ZIP codes.
The analysis included 2015 to 2024, and April to August of each of those years. The numbers show a clear trend.
Ice cream truck noise complaints spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic on the Upper West Side.
From 2015 to 2019, there was an average of just 10 complaints in the neighborhood during the spring and summer each year related to the sounds from ice cream trucks. In 2020, though, the number of complaints ballooned up to 42.
That is a 320 percent increase.
The number remained at that level for the next two years, with 2022 seeing the most Mister Softee noise complaints in recorded history for the Upper West Side at 44.
In 2023, the amount of complaints fell slightly to the low 30s, and the drop continued this summer, with just 17 recorded complaints related to ice cream truck noise, which is the lowest its been since before the pandemic.
During the decade worth of complaints, there are a few ice cream truck locations that have the most noise complaints.
None more so than 200 Central Park West, which is the spot directly in front of the American Museum of Natural History near West 79th Street. Ice cream trucks at the spot have received 37 noise complaints since 2015.
Other ice cream truck locations that have posted the highest number of noise complaints during the period include 161 Central Park West (near West 76th Street), 180 Central Park West (also near West 79th Street), and 808 Columbus Avenue (near West 98th Street).
When a noise complaint is filed for an ice cream truck, the Department of Environmental Protection oversees its resolution. Ice cream trucks are only permitted to play the jingle when the vehicle is moving.
Additionally, the Upper West Side is far from the only neighborhood filing complaints related to ice cream truck noise. From 2010 to 2014 there were 7,000 complaints filed throughout the city, according to Gothamist.
We'll check again at the end of next summer to see if the downward trend continues on the Upper West Side.
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My problem was not the noise, but the diesel fumes entering my apartment, even with windows closed. I’m talking 89th St and Amsterdam. In addition to being annoying, it struck me as being unhealthy.
I have been out of town for a few years, but will be returning soon. I hope the problem has been ameliorated, but if not… New York!
…..And we’re trapped and breathing in these disgusting and dangerous fumes… Why cant the police ticket these appalling trucks before we’re seriously affected?
What a coincidence that you mentioned this. I was stuck waiting for a bus on 14th St the other night & there was a nice cream truck parked directly in front of the bus stop. I got a headache from the diesel fumes from that I truck. I guess the “no idling” laws do not apply to them.
Truck is still there polluting the block.
As long as you have two schools on 89th street and Amsterdam, there will be an ice cream truck there on the corner. Business has to be good lol.
I have the shakes from the joy your puns gave me. Thanks!
Pandemic = more folks at home in their apartments to hear the jingles = more complaints
Yet as a retired person who is at home a lot, I can testify that in my neighborhood, the jingle playing has been reduced in the last couple of years.
WSR, you’ve read my mind. The truck that sits on the NE corner of 81st and CPW blasts its jingle into the park all day. You can hear it on the lawn as far as the Delacorte.
HOW DO WE GET THEM TO STOP!!!!!
Leave the ice cream truck alone. Let’s do something about the unceasing disturbance created by ambulance sirens.
I wonder why the complaints spiked in 2022? Maybe a lot of the people who had left the city has returned, but were still working from home?
Some people are unhappy unless they have something to complain about
Cue the puns! Good article, Gus. Hope the noisy, fume-spewing trucks chill out.
And when the ice cream trucks are all gone and the sounds of childhood forever silenced, all the alta cockers will complain “what ever happened to summer?” 🤦🏻♂️
It is not just the noise but that they park right at the pedestrian crossing spewing out fumes and heat at every intersection where you’re obliged to stand waiting for the lights to go green. It’s unbearable!
I don’t mind the ice cream trucks you all should live in front of Trader Joe’s on Columbus and 93rd starting at four in the morning. It’s a truck depot with the refrigerator motors and the sound of massive deliveries all day long and then comes the honking because they’re tying up traffic..
I live one block from Trader Joe’s, which I have found is the perfect distance.
Many years ago, we were having a quartet rehearsal in our UWS apartment. We could hear the Mister Softee jingle. Then we heard what we thought was the sound of a gunshot. After that the jingle ceased !
Noise from every conveyance–Fire Trucks’ neuron shattering sirens; Police cars’ howls, dirt bike screeches, ambulance blasts–is destroying our fellow hoodies mental health.
Ice cream trucks, are just one more instrument in this hellish orchestra.
A worse problem is the air pollution: the unburnt fumes from badly tuned engines spew into the air 8 to 10 hours a day. Not only do they stink, but its a health concern.
I contacted the company a few years ago, and was assured that the engines would be tuned and monitored. Ha! Didn’t happen!
Ya gotta love the sounds of the city – I loved Gus’ puns – and for those sirens – I see (hear) them as an urban symphony – fire, police, ambulance…. They all have their separate cadences –
The noise is one thing. It is just a complaint, but not a safety issue. My issue is the purple trucks that park along Central Park West where their clients, very often young children, have to stand in the bike lane (which is an extremely active bike lane) in order to get their ice cream. I am just waiting (obviously not eagerly) for the story in the Rag where a child is seriously injured, or much worse, from getting hit by a cyclist. The ice cream trucks are not legally allowed to be there, but they are putting profit over safety. I had an incident where I collided with a guy who stepped out into the bike lane for the ice cream truck when I had a green light. Luckily for both of us, I slowed as I approached the ice cream truck and jammed the brakes when he stepped out, so neither of us were hurt. But still. The bike lane is a moving vehicle lane, not a commerce lane. And the trucks putting kids in harms way is illegal, unethical, and immoral.
Just today ice cream truck 72 street and CPW parked IN the bike lane again
Very true. Why doesn’t the NYPD or the city agencies make them move? Try contacting Gale Brewer’s office, maybe?
Because when they are told to move, they just take a spin around the block and come right back. They don’t care. They need to start giving a lot of tickets and towing the trucks. But you think that’s gonna happen?
Sorry, Gus, but the Mr. Softee jingle is not Pop Goes the Weasel. It was written specifically for the ice cream company by Les Waas around 1960. The ear worm was featured in the following Smithsonian Magazine article from 2012:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/s-o-f-t-double-e-mister-softee-165413742/?no-ist
Mount Sinai, FDNY , and Lenox hill ambulances are worse, and of course spread the noise up and down the avenues.
Columbia Presbyterian ambulances are less of an assault on the ears of residents and visitors.
These trucks give off very bad fumes
dispense “ice cream” that is
mostly chemicals and our Citu official will not or cannot do somethimg
This is so bad for our UWS
Linda ! Gail! Do something about this
asap. Thanks
Frances Apgar!
I have hated the ice cream trucks’ noise for decades. There was one near my apt building in the Bronx, and I am 78 – and that was just that truck. There is now one that i can see and hear from my window. If the trucks can only play the music when they are moving, whey don’t they get tickets ? There would be hundreds or thousands more complaints if everyone who did not like the noise complained. The trucks have been there so long, decades, that all of these people that don’t complain, like me, consider them part of the noisy NYC mosaic (fire trucks, police cars, garbage trucks, ambulances and people honking for no good reason.) What would happen if everyone who wanted them to stop playing the music registered their complaints? And how does one complain? – what is the number to call, & can one email a complaint ? The generator inside the trucks must pollute the air as well. Maybe the trucks can reduce their volume and see how that works. I am sorry that the truck drivers (owners) will see their incomes reduced, but there are alot more of us than them.
It is illegal for ice cream trucks to play their annoying jingle while they’re parked in residential areas. In the past, I called 311 numerous times to complain about the same truck that used to park for hours in front of the same Clinton Hewitt Park on 11th Ave, day after day, with impunity and NOTHING was ever done. I’ve reached the conclusion that wherever the Democrats are in charge, there is mayhem, crime, and lawlessness. You see my skepticism when the Democrats claimed to go after Trump because they “care” about the law??? I’ve become a Republican in the meantime and swore that I will NEVER vote for a Democrat ever again (sorry Kamala).
The truck that’s in front of the AMNH is definitely blasting music while sitting still. Good to know they can’t do that.
The ice cream they sell is the worst ice cream you can eat, it’s really not ice cream. It’s a lot of chemicals in that fake ice cream.
Not to mention the exhaust that truck gives out for all those hours in front of the American Museum Of Natural History. The museum should tell that truck to leave the area.