Family Dollar Coronavirus Warnings Shut Off After Complaints

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN — A Bed-Stuy block beleaguered by a Family Dollar's deafening, all-hours outdoor announcements finally got their peace and quiet. All it took was three years, untold complaints and a pandemic.

Rebecca Horne, who for years raised the alarm about the Park Avenue store, wrote Monday in a Patch comment that the offending speaker was shut off.

She said she later went into the store to thank the manager, who told her NYPD officers from the 81st Precinct actually turned it off themselves.

"I’m so relieved," Horne said. "It’s really changed my quality of life and my neighbors' and that of my block."

The store's neighbors for years lodged noise complaints over the store. But the outdoor announcements — some of which appeared tied to a store security system, while others seemed directed at in-store shoppers — continued at all hours, night and day.

Horne grew increasingly fed up as she, cooped up at home, lost sleep to the store blaring social distancing warnings in the middle of the night. She made a Patch Neighbor Post about the situation.

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"The announcements are audible from blocks away, and continue ALL NIGHT, even when the store is closed at 3 AM, 4 AM, 5 AM and other times," wrote wrote. "It is keeping healthy and sick people up at night, at a time where rest is a public health issue. My boyfriend is a doctor at a hospital overwhelmed with COVID19 patients, and being unable to sleep through the night means we are more vulnerable to getting sick and less able to perform our jobs."

Patch followed up on Horne's post with a story last week which tracked years of 311 complaints and contacts with local officials. A reporter also reached out to the store and Family Dollar's corporate office, but received no response.

Horne said she and other neighbors lodged complaints with Family Dollar after the story but also received no response.

"Family Dollar never responded to anything," she said. "I never received a response from a real person at any time."

Horne thanked the NYPD's 81st Precinct for disconnecting the speaker. She noted they actually cut the wires to the speaker system so it's unlikely its unwanted broadcasts will bother the neighborhood anytime soon.

"It really means so much to have this positivity from the community about this problem--it was like having someone tell you that you are a criminal, 24 hours a day," Horne wrote on a Patch comment. "It is incredible to finally have some movement on this issue, which affected hundreds of people."

Patch reporters are available by email and monitor Neighbor Posts and story comments for news tips.

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