Gentrification and Sleep Deprivation

As some of you may know, I work nights. I usually finish at around 12 -2 am, ride my bike home, take a shower, check my e-mail then turn in between 3-4am. This means that I wake up anywhere between 10am and noon, unless of course there is a construction crew jack-hammering outside my window at 8am!!! That’s right, I am now one of the growing victims suffering from the condo construction craze that has plowed right threw this city.

Ever since moving to Brooklyn years and years ago, I have watched the construction of high-rise apartment buildings swell across the borough and, it appears the rising tide of gentrification has finally reached my neck of the woods. Now, I am not going to get into a debate about the pros and cons of real estate development. Do I want a big and probably ugly high-rise on my corner, not exactly however, I was never very thrilled with the public pissing ground the previously empty lot served as either.

To be honest with you, my main concern is of a much more self-centered nature. Am I ever going to get any sleep? Every morning at 8am, rumbling engines, and earth-rattling crashes make from a deep and blissful sleep. The thing that frustrates me the most is that after a half hour of noise, the workers lay down their jackhammers and take a two-hour break. I just don’t understand! If they are only going to work for a half hour before taking a break, why don’t they just hold off until 10:30am - a much more decent hour if you ask me – to start all the racket?

Many a morning, while trying to get back to sleep, have I considered having a little chat with the construction crew, Do you think that maybe you guys could start off with one of the more quiet jobs, just until say, 10am? They seem nice enough, and surely they could see things from perspective. A good friend of mine suggested that, perhaps if I arrived with a freshly baked batch of muffins and some coffee it might be easier to negotiate the terms of our arrangement. Is this a good idea, or is the sleep deprivation getting to me? Perhaps cupcakes are a better idea...