By Gus Saltonstall

Last summer, West Side Rag reported on one man’s crusade against ice cream trucks parking in Upper West Side bike lanes.

Another summer is coming to an end. And during this quiet time before Labor Day and the start of the school year, why not compile a data analysis on a different kind of neighborhood ice cream truck dynamic?

The noise.

How often do Upper West Side residents complain about the noise these ice cream parlors on wheels make, be it the iconic Mister Softee jingle aka “Pop Goes the Weasel” or the diesel generators that constantly run in most of these trucks?

Before we delve into the data, we would like to add the important detail that Rag appreciates getting an ice cream on a hot day as much as anyone else, and that it is of course a joy when a child who has been out for a walk in the city can now treat himself.

However, our curiosity remained. What do the numbers show?

West Side Rag examined ten years of data from 311 people who filed complaints with the city, specifically about noise from ice cream trucks in the 10025, 10024 and 10023 zip code areas of the Upper West Side.

The analysis covered the years 2015 to 2024 and April to August. The figures show a clear trend.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, complaints about noise from ice cream trucks on the Upper West Side skyrocketed.

From 2015 to 2019, the neighborhood received an average of only 10 complaints about ice cream truck noise each spring and summer. However, in 2020, the number of complaints rose to 42.

That’s an increase of 320 percent.

The number remained at this level for the next two years, with 2022 recording the highest number of noise complaints, 44, about Mister Softee on the Upper West Side.

In 2023, the number of complaints fell slightly to just under 30 percent, and this decline continued this summer: only 17 complaints related to noise from ice cream trucks were recorded, the lowest level since before the pandemic.

Over the past decade, some locations with the most noise complaints have had the most ice cream truck complaints.

This is especially true at 200 Central Park West, the location directly in front of the American Museum of Natural History near West 79th Street. Since 2015, 37 noise complaints have been filed because of the ice cream trucks at this location.

Other ice cream truck locations that received the highest number of noise complaints during this 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 against an ice cream truck, the Environmental Protection Agency oversees the resolution. Ice cream trucks are only allowed to play the jingle when the vehicle is moving.

Moreover, the Upper West Side is far from the only neighborhood where complaints have been filed about noise from ice cream trucks. According to Gothamist, 7,000 complaints were filed across the city between 2010 and 2014.

We will check again at the end of next summer to see if the downward trend in the Upper West Side continues.

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