Complaining Fred Meyers Construction!

[wwfstyle]

I live in Salem, Or and I am haveing troubles with Fred Meyers Construction Crew! The code enforcment for noise is they can work out side from 7am - 10pm. I am ok with that but They are tearing down walla and redoing there parking lot at 2am! I have contacted Fred Meyerscorp office ad they just say that they are hear to please the customers and neighbors, but still do nothing about ALL the noise complaints that they receive. I have called the cops a number of times in the middle of the night rangeing from 1am to 5am due to all the noise they are makeing. I have called code enforcement and they said just to call 911 and put in a complaint. WELL I have done that and they are still getting warnings and they are STILL makeing the noise that keeps me up. Right now it is 2am and they have there tractors out and running and doing some paveing. I live like 40 feet from there parking lot on the back half. WHAT should I do? Anyone been in this situation? The company name of the construction site is SKANSKA. I would like them to stop ALL work being done out side and do it during the day. My wife and I feel like they are just giveing us the push around till the sight is done, but the question is when will it be done? They were suppose to be done before Thanksgiveing. I bet they have at least 2 months left of work. My neighbors and I were thinking about going door to door and putting up flires on the door saying call 911 if you hear anymore construction noise from 10pm to 7am. ANY INPUT would be great. MY wife and I are now not shopping at Fred Meyers due to them not working with us and being like a car salemen. They just giveing us a line of cra* and going about there business.

 

[wwfstyle]

COOL 3am it must be lunch time. I hear no trucks and anything. Maybe 1 of them is reading this post. LOL

 

[lovethesea]

petitons, newspapers. Take video at 2am and take it to your news station. In STL our stations have those reporters that are "on your side" type. The county your in must have a noise ordiance, show them the video too.
Once it hits the newspaper or news, something will stop.
good luck, that HAS to be frustrating.

 

[dvs]

I hear ya! I live in Sagamore, MA right near the rotary and they're working on the flyover. Once the actual construction starts, they'll be working 24/7!

 

[scotts]

What I thought of first off was that you need to call the construction company, not Fred Meyers. Also document all of your tries to get them to stop, preferably with a cam corder. Real good footage would be you talking to the site superintendent at 2:00 in the morning asking him to stop because of the noise. Of course it would help if you do this with a lot of background noise. The problem is that it would help if you had a buddy with the cam corder while you talk to the supervisor. Then you have some ammunition that you can make a stink with. Will not help you tonight, but maybe in the long run. Also record a call of you complaining to the people at Fred Meyers. Sort of like a little documentary.
HTH.
Scott

 

[yankeesrok]

I take it to the news, we have those type of issues resolved around here that way too, they call it "your stories", I'd say that's your best bet, good luck!

 

[bergamer]

This is not legal advice;This is not legal advice;This is not legal advice
well from a law students POV,- this is not legal advice- you can always hire a lawyer and sue for a nuisance as they are interfering with the private enjoyment of your land. This is not legal advice
im not sure, but you may even e able to get some damages aka$$$.This is not legal advice
you can also force the police to make then stop their late night work and not just give them warnings.This is not legal advice
I have forced the police to do this many times, the only time I lose is when they have a permit to work late at noght. This is not legal advice
If you hire a lawyer, you can also obtain a Temp restraining order and get them to stop work tonight!!! This is not legal advice. IF they violate that order, then it is contempt of court and either they will be paying heavy fines or someone will be going to jail.
after 10 days, that TRO will turn into a preliminary injunction and I doubt that they will want to fight that in court on appealThis is not legal advice
sorry about the "This is not legal advice" spread throughout the post, but I am NOT a LAWYER and I CAN NOT give legal advice.

 

[bergamer]

This is not legal advice
I totally forgot, that you do not have to find an expsneive lawyer and infact I bet you could find a lawyer to do it for free ("pro bono")
In Los Angeles amd most cities they are free legal clicnics that usually help the poor, I bet if you make a small donation and explain your situation, they would probably help you out
This is not legal advice

 

[wwfstyle]

BERGAMER...... There are so many lawyers out there what areas would I go to look them up as for getting a lawyer? I do have a meeting with there corprate office AGAIN and if they will do what they say then so be it.... BUT as before they just gave us a line of cra* and went about there business. I guess it all depends on there respone to our concerns again. Also you said the magic words $$$, which always caught my attention. If I was to go that route what are we talking about cash wise? We talkin a couple hundred, 5k, 20k? I am a diabetic, legally blind, and have neuropathy. Due to the noise it keeps me up late at nights wondering if someone is out trying to break in our house. Since the construction has started we have had about 4 attempts of someone breaking in our house in the last 3 months. 2 of those times were just last week. My wife works graveyard so I'm home alone. Do I need to get a few neightbors together and go see a lawyer? My problem is that I like to jump into things that have to do with cash. I dont want to screw this up. I know you're not giveing legal advise but I was wondering what it looks like from your point of veiw as a student.

 

[bergamer]

hmmm, im thinking about a land use lawyer, but better yet is probably just a general practioner. See if you can find someone who will do it on a contingency basis so it wont cost you anything. Although that might be a little difficult bc lawyers will generally only agree to contingency when they know that they are going to win with ease, like in car accident cases.
But I would assume, putting $$ aside for the moment, that you want the noise to stop.
That is where the temporary restraining order comes into play, and that is where I bet that you could find a lawyer at a free legal clinic that would do it for free.
i did a quick search and found one at ( i assume you are in salem OR.)
http://www.mplas.org/index.htm
talk to them and tell them your story and they can provide real assistance if they decide to help
no information that I have given should be intended as legal advice.

 

[wwfstyle]

BERGAMER... TY for your input. AGAIN at 5:45 there is more banging going on up there and tractors moveing around! I talked to my wife on phone due to being at work and she said that it sounds great that we should go talk to them. I'll check the sight that you gave me and let you know. I'll also keep you informed of what they say today when we are haveing that meeting.

 

[wwfstyle]

OK.... WELL they did say that they know that they are working 24/7 due to needing to get this project done. We voiced our opinions reguarding the noise at night and the DAY shift forman said that they are not working at night and his boss right after that said that they are working on this project 24/7. MM..... I said to the day forman "Do you work at night"? He replied "no I start at 7am to 6pm". I looked at him right in front of his boss and I said "SO HOW WOULD YOU KNOW THAT THEY AREN'T WORKING AT NIGHT when your at your home sleeping and my wife and I are up trying to go to sleep ignoring all the noise". That shut him up and he left. His boss gave me cell # and said that he will leave his phone on all the time so IF I am awake then he is too. LOL BOY HE IS GOING TO HATE ME. So instead of calling alawyer I think I will be giveing this boss a hard to time and call him every night thatI hear there crew. We asked Fred Meyers whats in it for us and there reply was you'll have a better FRED MEYERS. DUE to this construction and them saying that they will do something and do nothing about it I will refuse to shop at FRED MEYERS. SO always ask your self this... Does this company care about our customers or there business only?

 

[tangman99]

Here is the long and short of what is going on. Unless you can get a restraining order to stop it, you are probably out of luck. It's all about the bottom line. The construction company usually has milestone bonuses (in the hundreds of thousands of dollars) on getting things done on time. They know that they are being a pain and don't really care. These companies get fined all the time for violations. Even if it costs them something in fines or penalties, it will be a small fraction of what they get extra for making your life hell by working around the clock to meet their deadlines.

 

[wwfstyle]

Today I got ahold of building and safety guys from the city. I told them about some of the plans that on 1 side there was going to be a 5'4" wall up (parking lot side), and on the other side was a average of 20' drop (my property). They sounded concern and came out that hour. The man that I had talk to said that Fred Meyers had a "VERY POOR PLAN for that company, and wasn't well writen". Part of it was his fault for letting this go through due to on the plans it shows that the ground is lvl not an extra 20' drop on the other side. So he is going to go through his boss and see what they can do to change there plans. Sry guys I'm just going to be useing this site for my records just in case something happens I can always come back and see what happened on this day. If this a problem to SWF then I'll stop. But I think that it is good to stay up so some people will know what my family and I ARE going thro and someone else may help us or give some ideas like bergamer "this is not legall advise" speech. TY for ANY input anyone has to give, or just enjoy what big companies will do to the little people that dont have the $ like they do to push them around.

 

[ws4lif]

Your first problem is that you live in Salem.......I would suggest moving.

 

[wwfstyle]

Salem is a good city IMO. Yeah theres not much for the teenagers to do here but it is still nice place to live. I'm in the process of buying this house. We have lived here now for 5 yrs. IF I would have known that they were going to do all this and not care that much about the residents around Fred Meyers then I would have never bought the house ack then. I AM NOT GOING TO LET FRED MEYERS push me out of the house that I become to love. Fred Meyers just needs to follow through what they are saying and quit changing the plaqns around every month or more. IF I have the right connections I'm a true fighter in what I beleive in. It's kinda like your neighbor has an outside dog that barks through out the night (12midnight to 5am) What do you do? Do you move? OR do you fight call the police, code enforcement?

 

[dedwards]

Shoot the dog

 

[wwfstyle]

WOW 4 nights in a row no sound.. Looks like that talk with the corporate office did some good. Yea they are really far behind schedule but who cares. They loose a few thousand and we gain our sleep back. THANK GOD

 

[tangman99]

Congrats! It looks like you got through. I'm surprised, but I'm very happy for you. It's nice to see the right thing happen every once and awhile and the good guy come out ahead.

 

[bergamer]

im shocked too.
ALthough I was thinking that it was funny that the guy told you that the building of this parking lot will create a better fred meyer for YOU!
especially when you can walk there

:hilarious
congrats on the good night sleep.