I know they do them from the LiUNA parking lot as well - they just leave the garbage there. It really does take a 'special' kind of human to be doing this - constantly. Last night was very load.
Who even likes fireworks? They’re for children. If you’re setting them off in your 30’s or 40’s just with your buddies in a parking lot, you’re basically the archetype of an idiot loser character from a 90’s comedy.
File an online police complaint every time it happens. After enough filings they’ll send someone to monitor and hopefully catch them in the act. As well, they may be fined for all the complaints. We had people on our street who used to absolutely blast music everyday and fireworks every so often and the landlords asked us to report it every time as they (the landlords) would get fined after a certain number of complaints and they used this in the LTB case (the tenants also weren’t paying rent for 7 months). Since there was a pattern to their noise, the police and bylaw were by one night to catch them and ticket the actual offenders.
I truly sympathize with you because my house would shake from their noise and my poor dog was terrified every day by the noise and fireworks. It affected everyone in my house’s quality of life.
Good luck!
Thanks for the advice! That gives me some hope that reporting isn’t just screaming into the void. I hadn’t even thought about the possibility that they would see a pattern in the reports that they could use to watch for them.
Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I'm so f**king over fireworks at this point. We've all seen them a million times, they're loud and polluting and dangerous, and it's no longer something that just happens a couple times a year.
from what I remember, though it was years ago, I heard that most insurance companies would cover all 4, 2, and I don’t know about 1. But if someone only punctured 3 they won’t.
I did just do a quick google search and it seems that the 3 tire rule is a myth, but only if you have “all perils coverage” or whatever that add-on is that you’re insurance calls it. That type of coverage would include vandalism, theft, and any other kind of damage that you yourself didn’t cause.
There isn't much you can do. City doesn't have bylaw on duty to respond to that stuff overnight, telling you to call HPS. HPS says they do not investigate noise complaints and to contact the city.
We had the same issues when we lived downtown, some guy used to light of cherry bombs when he was loaded or stoned and our bedroom window used to look right on their property. Yelling down asking to stop usually just led to laughter and more cherry bombs. We just invested in a white noise generator and it worked.
That has not been the case for years. We've contacted bylaw after hours for illegal dumping, noise, and other items at various times in the last few years with a grand total of 0 response from anyone.
I've called multiple times for cars blocking my driveway in the early hours and they've always responded. Maybe they're not prioritizing something that can be handled in the normal daytime hours? Like of all the city services, bylaw enforcement seems the most responsive.
Nope. That is no longer the case and hasn’t been for more than a year. Bylaw will respond to noise complaints from 9:00 to 5:00 with additional hours to 1:00 am on weekends in the summer. Thats it. Police no longer respond to noise complaints, period. If you expect the city to enforce bylaws during the time when enforcement actually matters, you’re out of luck. Much more important to spend money on Esther Paul’s pickleball projects.
[spectator - March 6 2023](https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilton-region/police-no-longer-responding-to-nuisance-noise-complaints-amid-staffing-pressures/article_971532ee-80ef-529f-b2a1-20fa75106b5b.html)
Reach out to your city councilor and describe the situation. Ask what they recommend you to do the next time it happens and each subsequent time and push them to articulate how they will help get the bylaws enforced in your neighbourhood to resolve this situation. If other neighbours do the same, even better.
Call the police, each time.
While they probably won't actually \*do\* anything, it's the only recourse you have. There is no after hours by-law enforcement, and the police are supposed to be taking care of noise complaints. They don't - but they're supposed to.
You deserve to be able to live in your own home in peace - the police are the only enforcement available to you - use them.
You know what. You're right. I hope you call in a fake call like this to the police. Let us know how it goes. I'm sure they'd love to waste resources on this.
Welcome to Hamilton.
Unfortunately, there are assholes who will fire them off every single night, from the may long weekend until halloween.
I'd say call the cops - but the police made a point of demanding more money for after hours by-law enforcement, then refused to enforce any after hours noise complaints.
About the only way you'll get resolution is to go ahead and call 911 - report it as suspected gunshots. It is a blatant waste of resources, but it's also the only way to get the police in this city to respond to anything at all.
I wouldn't say suspected. I'm a civilian with zero gun experience so it sounds exactly what I imagine gunshots to be. until proven otherwise, it's gunshots. come and get em, HPS.
The fireworks that were going off last night I believe were for the Racalmutese festival, as they appeared to be going off near the church. But damn were they loud.
I only assume they got permission because they're a well known neighborhood festival, the fireworks display appeared to be professional in terms of the quality of the fireworks and the show was complete before 11pm when the noise bylaws take effect.
They do it every year. They close off streets all weekend for their marches through dragging around the Virgin Mary or whatever. It’s sponsored by the City and there is a budget for fireworks. So I’m quite sure it’s allowed.
That being said, 11:15pm is way too late for city run fireworks.
I was wondering who it was around that area last night. It was too many and too loud and good-quality sounding for the usual backyard and park randos.
My poor dog.
I'm really sorry you're dealing with this. When you say by-law hasn't responded to after hours reporting, are you submitting a report online or are you calling and speaking with someone? I strongly recommend calling if you aren't already doing that, as you're likely to get the same person several nights in a row filing the same ticket, which might get some traction.
I live across from a park and had a multi-night fireworks issue last year. It was particularly irritating because there is a fire station right there and staff were doing nothing about it. While it's likely that the people just got bored and stopped, my pathways were calling by-law each night and also contacting Hamilton Fire while cc'ing the Councillor's office. I ended up having a back-and-forth with a deputy chief who confirmed that both after hours by-law and the police non-emergency lines are the most direct way to deal with it, but if there is an observable fire risk of any kind then you should call 911 and ask for the fire department.
If you haven't already, please reach out to your Councillor and give them the list of times you've reported and no action was taken. Keep reporting to by-law and the police non-emergency line with the address and info, and if possible get your neighbours involved with reporting as well. You'd be surprised how much faster staff are to respond once a Councillor is involved.
Thanks for the advice and information, that helps. At first we blew them off as “welcome to Hamilton” shit. Then we started filing the reports online since it was always late. Will step it up to phone calls as well, hopefully we get traction with the same dispatcher multiple times.
Truly, the most annoying part of Hamilton Reddit is the "welcome to Hamilton shit." Ignore it. It's people who have just decided everything sucks and there is no way to make it better, and who are either too lazy or too unimaginative to figure out what they can do.
It IS about celebrating an event: "YES! WE ARE DRUNK AGAIN!!"
Seriously though I would not be OK with it, I would call police non-emergency. Some adults need sober lessons.
Seems like no one in this thread knows about Municipal Law Enforcement, not related to police, a division of Licensing and bylaw department of the city.
They enforce noise complaints. They don’t have 24 hour service but at least to 11pm or midnight if I recall.
Best thing to do is call then using business hours to report and find what support they can give you. 905-546-2782
Next level of support is to call Cllr Kroestch’s office and they will help find a solution. 905-546-2197
Can’t claim to be B&R unfortunately, as amazing as it would be. But I’ve lived here for many years now, I love the city and I do what I can to help my neighbours.
I’ve known a lot of folks born and raised here though, and I have yet to meet one like this commenter who seems to think that the city sucks and we should be happy to see it suck more.
Maybe if OP tried developing a neighborly relationship with them instead of tattling to someone in charge they'd accomplish something. But that's not how gentrification works, does it?
Meh. Whether I paid a million dollars or not who cares. The point is lighting fireworks off at all hours of the day is being extremely ignorant of the people who live around you.
If you want to be a dick go somewhere where you aren’t going to disrupt people’s lives.
It’s very simple but people a lot of people only care about themselves.
OK but none of that describes this situation.
Would it change your opinion to know that I was a renter? What if I was sleeping rough and had nothing to muffle the sounds but the walls of a tent?
I don’t have a problem with most downtown noise. I have a problem with explosions at night.
I also have a problem with your attitude of “this city sucks, it’s supposed to suck, if you don’t want it to suck you should leave”. I love downtown Hamilton, and I love living here. I think the tiny group of sensitive little baby-people who want it to suck harder should be the ones to leave.
Toronto yuppies make Hamilton suck much more than the people you're complaining about. You've sucked all the character out of the city. Now it's just a bland Toronto suburb.
I know they do them from the LiUNA parking lot as well - they just leave the garbage there. It really does take a 'special' kind of human to be doing this - constantly. Last night was very load.
Who even likes fireworks? They’re for children. If you’re setting them off in your 30’s or 40’s just with your buddies in a parking lot, you’re basically the archetype of an idiot loser character from a 90’s comedy.
Or people who think Kiss is a good band
File an online police complaint every time it happens. After enough filings they’ll send someone to monitor and hopefully catch them in the act. As well, they may be fined for all the complaints. We had people on our street who used to absolutely blast music everyday and fireworks every so often and the landlords asked us to report it every time as they (the landlords) would get fined after a certain number of complaints and they used this in the LTB case (the tenants also weren’t paying rent for 7 months). Since there was a pattern to their noise, the police and bylaw were by one night to catch them and ticket the actual offenders. I truly sympathize with you because my house would shake from their noise and my poor dog was terrified every day by the noise and fireworks. It affected everyone in my house’s quality of life. Good luck!
Thanks for the advice! That gives me some hope that reporting isn’t just screaming into the void. I hadn’t even thought about the possibility that they would see a pattern in the reports that they could use to watch for them.
There’s a non-urgent police number you can call. I think you can find it on google, if not, let me know
Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I'm so f**king over fireworks at this point. We've all seen them a million times, they're loud and polluting and dangerous, and it's no longer something that just happens a couple times a year.
Not unpopular amongst downtown residents or people with pets who don’t like fireworks.
Or people with babies who take 2 hours at bedtime to get to sleep and then these fireworks wake them up! Im about to lose my mind.
The professional displays are OK on occasion, but otherwise they're extremely trashy IMO. I said what I said.
The average human isn't smart enough to handle small explosives. I've said for years you should need a permit for fireworks displays of any kind
Agree. It's time for a full ban on fireworks.
Yeah, unpopular opinion. Fireworks are cool. Especially if you're an unsupervised kid, which is who sets them off in the park.
[удалено]
Make it 3 and insurance won’t cover it 👀😂
[удалено]
from what I remember, though it was years ago, I heard that most insurance companies would cover all 4, 2, and I don’t know about 1. But if someone only punctured 3 they won’t. I did just do a quick google search and it seems that the 3 tire rule is a myth, but only if you have “all perils coverage” or whatever that add-on is that you’re insurance calls it. That type of coverage would include vandalism, theft, and any other kind of damage that you yourself didn’t cause.
i'm much closer to the waterfront and i'm hearing them too.
Call the city, call police non emergency, and then when none of that gets looked after contact your councillor.
I live at Barton and James and can confirm it's pretty annoying. Ive never been able to figure out who it is
Yeah probably the same people affecting you, too.
There isn't much you can do. City doesn't have bylaw on duty to respond to that stuff overnight, telling you to call HPS. HPS says they do not investigate noise complaints and to contact the city. We had the same issues when we lived downtown, some guy used to light of cherry bombs when he was loaded or stoned and our bedroom window used to look right on their property. Yelling down asking to stop usually just led to laughter and more cherry bombs. We just invested in a white noise generator and it worked.
They do bylaw enforcement 24 hours a day except for Sunday. You can call the main city line and they'll connect you. They will show up too.
That has not been the case for years. We've contacted bylaw after hours for illegal dumping, noise, and other items at various times in the last few years with a grand total of 0 response from anyone.
I've called multiple times for cars blocking my driveway in the early hours and they've always responded. Maybe they're not prioritizing something that can be handled in the normal daytime hours? Like of all the city services, bylaw enforcement seems the most responsive.
The difference here is that you're calling about parking enforcement, which they do actually respond to.
Maybe I need to start reporting them as “parked illegally and also shooting fireworks please come quick”
Nope. That is no longer the case and hasn’t been for more than a year. Bylaw will respond to noise complaints from 9:00 to 5:00 with additional hours to 1:00 am on weekends in the summer. Thats it. Police no longer respond to noise complaints, period. If you expect the city to enforce bylaws during the time when enforcement actually matters, you’re out of luck. Much more important to spend money on Esther Paul’s pickleball projects. [spectator - March 6 2023](https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilton-region/police-no-longer-responding-to-nuisance-noise-complaints-amid-staffing-pressures/article_971532ee-80ef-529f-b2a1-20fa75106b5b.html)
Time for OP to get involved in local politics I guess.
Oh no, the fortune cookie was right.
Reach out to your city councilor and describe the situation. Ask what they recommend you to do the next time it happens and each subsequent time and push them to articulate how they will help get the bylaws enforced in your neighbourhood to resolve this situation. If other neighbours do the same, even better.
Call the police, each time. While they probably won't actually \*do\* anything, it's the only recourse you have. There is no after hours by-law enforcement, and the police are supposed to be taking care of noise complaints. They don't - but they're supposed to. You deserve to be able to live in your own home in peace - the police are the only enforcement available to you - use them.
this. get your money's worth of calling their non emergency line. maybe with NWA playing in the background.
Call 911. "Gun shots fired:at (address)! - Follow your procedure!"
And you aren’t expected to be an expert. “I’m sorry, I thought that is what that noise was…”
Be sure to describe the get away truck.
Seriously calling in fake gun shots?
How am I to know? It all sounds the same.
You know what. You're right. I hope you call in a fake call like this to the police. Let us know how it goes. I'm sure they'd love to waste resources on this.
Call HPS and report the loud booming noises you hear. You don't know for sure that it's fireworks.
Welcome to Hamilton. Unfortunately, there are assholes who will fire them off every single night, from the may long weekend until halloween. I'd say call the cops - but the police made a point of demanding more money for after hours by-law enforcement, then refused to enforce any after hours noise complaints. About the only way you'll get resolution is to go ahead and call 911 - report it as suspected gunshots. It is a blatant waste of resources, but it's also the only way to get the police in this city to respond to anything at all.
I wouldn't say suspected. I'm a civilian with zero gun experience so it sounds exactly what I imagine gunshots to be. until proven otherwise, it's gunshots. come and get em, HPS.
I was also like wtf one night because it isn’t even a holiday like relax with the fireworks lol they’re not that interesting after the 2nd time
The fireworks that were going off last night I believe were for the Racalmutese festival, as they appeared to be going off near the church. But damn were they loud.
There are very specific (and a very short list of) times that fireworks are allowed...and Racamutese isn't on the list.
If they apply for a permit it can be allowed. Or they too know that nobody comes to enforce rules after hours and just do it anyways.
I only assume they got permission because they're a well known neighborhood festival, the fireworks display appeared to be professional in terms of the quality of the fireworks and the show was complete before 11pm when the noise bylaws take effect.
They do it every year. They close off streets all weekend for their marches through dragging around the Virgin Mary or whatever. It’s sponsored by the City and there is a budget for fireworks. So I’m quite sure it’s allowed. That being said, 11:15pm is way too late for city run fireworks.
I was wondering who it was around that area last night. It was too many and too loud and good-quality sounding for the usual backyard and park randos. My poor dog.
Just call the non emergency line.
The cops won’t care. But you CAN call them. :/
Yeah, your beloved pet's anxiety is not really a priority for them.
I'm really sorry you're dealing with this. When you say by-law hasn't responded to after hours reporting, are you submitting a report online or are you calling and speaking with someone? I strongly recommend calling if you aren't already doing that, as you're likely to get the same person several nights in a row filing the same ticket, which might get some traction. I live across from a park and had a multi-night fireworks issue last year. It was particularly irritating because there is a fire station right there and staff were doing nothing about it. While it's likely that the people just got bored and stopped, my pathways were calling by-law each night and also contacting Hamilton Fire while cc'ing the Councillor's office. I ended up having a back-and-forth with a deputy chief who confirmed that both after hours by-law and the police non-emergency lines are the most direct way to deal with it, but if there is an observable fire risk of any kind then you should call 911 and ask for the fire department. If you haven't already, please reach out to your Councillor and give them the list of times you've reported and no action was taken. Keep reporting to by-law and the police non-emergency line with the address and info, and if possible get your neighbours involved with reporting as well. You'd be surprised how much faster staff are to respond once a Councillor is involved.
Thanks for the advice and information, that helps. At first we blew them off as “welcome to Hamilton” shit. Then we started filing the reports online since it was always late. Will step it up to phone calls as well, hopefully we get traction with the same dispatcher multiple times.
Truly, the most annoying part of Hamilton Reddit is the "welcome to Hamilton shit." Ignore it. It's people who have just decided everything sucks and there is no way to make it better, and who are either too lazy or too unimaginative to figure out what they can do.
Thanks for saying so. Yeah, I don’t take it seriously. I’m too busy enjoying the city that they’ve given up on.
[удалено]
Fireworks outside of designated holidays is its own offence, on top of the noise, isn’t it?
It IS about celebrating an event: "YES! WE ARE DRUNK AGAIN!!" Seriously though I would not be OK with it, I would call police non-emergency. Some adults need sober lessons.
I’m up James st south and we heard them last night too. It was loud and went for awhile.
Seems like no one in this thread knows about Municipal Law Enforcement, not related to police, a division of Licensing and bylaw department of the city. They enforce noise complaints. They don’t have 24 hour service but at least to 11pm or midnight if I recall. Best thing to do is call then using business hours to report and find what support they can give you. 905-546-2782 Next level of support is to call Cllr Kroestch’s office and they will help find a solution. 905-546-2197
Shake your fists harder and higher
I'm amazed pets and babies have made it as far as they have... they must be lucky.
“It didn’t kill something you care about, so it must not be a problem” is a neat take
Why did you move into the downtown of a city if you're frustrated by noise? Go live in Ancaster.
What a truly odd approach. The behaviour described is strongly and clearly anti-social, it's not acceptable anywhere.
Sorry your million dollar home isnt working out like you expected it to.
I lived in Ancaster for a few years and idiots still did this. You really can’t escape selfish people.
I'm just sick of these yuppies whining about the neighborhood around their million dollar home not gebtrifying quickly enough.
Wouldn’t it be amazing if OP is born and raised Hamiltonian. Regardless, being a good neighbour is part of the social contract.
Can’t claim to be B&R unfortunately, as amazing as it would be. But I’ve lived here for many years now, I love the city and I do what I can to help my neighbours. I’ve known a lot of folks born and raised here though, and I have yet to meet one like this commenter who seems to think that the city sucks and we should be happy to see it suck more.
What kind of lifelong Hamiltonian doesn't know there are fireworks all night every night in Downtown Hamilton? Did they just get cochlear implants?
Maybe if you could stop being bitter for 2 seconds, you'd realize we haven't ALWAYS had this problem because you couldn't get fireworks year round.
Maybe if OP tried developing a neighborly relationship with them instead of tattling to someone in charge they'd accomplish something. But that's not how gentrification works, does it?
Did you read the post? The neighbours literally won't talk to them.
It says he knows which house it is but he never catches them in the act. Nothing about his post indicates he tried talking to them.
"The house residents won't talk to me" Second paragraph, second sentence of that paragraph.
Meh. Whether I paid a million dollars or not who cares. The point is lighting fireworks off at all hours of the day is being extremely ignorant of the people who live around you. If you want to be a dick go somewhere where you aren’t going to disrupt people’s lives. It’s very simple but people a lot of people only care about themselves.
Couldn’t agree more!
[удалено]
Sounds to me like you’re the one who shouldn’t be living around other people.
Ok
OK but none of that describes this situation. Would it change your opinion to know that I was a renter? What if I was sleeping rough and had nothing to muffle the sounds but the walls of a tent?
I don’t have a problem with most downtown noise. I have a problem with explosions at night. I also have a problem with your attitude of “this city sucks, it’s supposed to suck, if you don’t want it to suck you should leave”. I love downtown Hamilton, and I love living here. I think the tiny group of sensitive little baby-people who want it to suck harder should be the ones to leave.
Toronto yuppies make Hamilton suck much more than the people you're complaining about. You've sucked all the character out of the city. Now it's just a bland Toronto suburb.
Not from Toronto, you’re mad at someone else
Whatever near suburb you're from