Over the past two weeks, police officers have repeatedly stopped by MATTO Cafe on 2nd Avenue between 71st and 72nd streets, during morning rush hour to check on mysterious noise complaints. Workers at the usually bustling cafe are rattled by this mysterious seeming harassment.
“I just started working here…my manager said that this has happened about four times before in the past couple of weeks,” said Kaia Benoit, 18.
New York City is one of the loudest cities due to high traffic and population density, regardless of the hour of the day. Although the exact timing of the complaint is unverified, MATTO cafe operates from 6AM in the morning and the officers have showed up after 8 AM. Construction is happening across the street of the cafe as well.
According to NYC311, Between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., music from bars and restaurants may not exceed 42 decibels when measured from nearby residences and may not exceed 7 decibels over the surrounding area sound level when measured on a public street 15 or more feet away from the business. Since, these complaints have not been reported during these hours, the cafe isn’t operating in violation of the city’s noise policy.
“I’ve been to the cafe a couple of times this fall and the music hasn’t really bothered me much,” Catherine Saldias said, a 24 year old MMC student.
The complaint filed was about the volume of music played in the cafe being too loud. According to the NYPD, these cavils have come in from a mystery neighbor in the vicinity of the MATTO cafe over the volume of the music played in the cafe. MATTO workers believe it’s “daylight harassment” as this incident has happened even on days the cafe wasn’t open.
“I got my boss to talk to the officers and they mentioned that they couldn’t find the caller id of this mystery noise complainer,” added Laura Loyola, Manager at MATTO.
Located near the campus of Marymount Manhattan College, MATTO is home to one of the economical coffee chains in the city stationed at different corners of the big apple. With its $3 online deal and various gluten-free options, MATTO is incredibly popular with MMC students. What happens if the reports continue is not yet known.
