She’s deaf in one ear — and still sick of the racket from IHOP.
Union Square resident Rena Begleiter has endured a year of air-vent noise and bacon stink from the local IHOP, and she can’t take it anymore.
“The one thing I always loved about my apartment was it was so quiet and peaceful, and we’ll never have that again,” the 86-year-old retired insurance broker said. “The irony of it is I happen to have lost hearing in one ear. I’m turning a deaf ear, but there’s still that grinding noise.”
Her ordeal and that of about 100 other tenants at their stylish, white-brick, doorman building on East 15th Street began about a year ago when a new International House of Pancakes opened adjacent to their building, on 14th Street.
First, there was noise from the machines on an adjacent rooftop.
“Then it was smells — sometimes I smelled coffee, other people smelled bacon,” she said. “They installed this behemoth to combat it, but the noise from that has been much worse.”
All of it, including the air vent installed to remedy the problem, prompted about 100 tenants to sign a petition seeking help.
“I’m pissed,” said Sandy Berger, who launched the petition effort. “The community was never contacted.”
She sent her petition to the city Department of Buildings but still hasn’t received a response.
But the department claims it’s on the job.
“They’re going to have to relocate the equipment,” a spokeswoman said. “If they fail to do so, we’ll revoke their permit.”