By:  Benyamin Davidsons

Manhattan’s Upper East Side has long considered the United Nations General Assembly meetings as an annual inconvenience.  Locals complain about the increased traffic, the resulting protests, and even about foreign diplomats, who park haphazardly and decline the resulting tickets.  Another complaint has sprung up as well.

As reported by the NY Times, residents of the Manor, a co-op building across the street from the U.N., are voicing a more long-term frustration regarding the Kingdom of Bhutan’s office.  The target of the criticism is an air-conditioning unit on the roof of the building next door, which belongs to the Kingdom of Bhutan.  Last week, residents at the Manor sent an angry letter to the Bhutanese ambassador, complaining about the obnoxious noise from the country’s permanent mission to the U.N.  “This relentless auditory nuisance makes it impossible to leave our windows open,” wrote Fabrice Frere, 56, a longtime resident, in an email to Doma Tshering, the ambassador, “and has disturbed the peace and comfort of our homes, consequently affecting our overall quality of life.”

The letter references the Himalayan Kingdom as being famous as a happy place, noting that Bhutan, which is situated on the peaceful mountains and rivers of the Eastern Himalayas, uses a “gross national happiness” (G.N.H.) metric in addition to its gross domestic product (G.D.P.).   The country is known to have historically prioritized nature and human connection over technologies, even having banned Televisions there until 1999.  The letter touched on the irony of the country’s representative office being a source of so much noise and disturbance.    Residents at the Manor say that the noise started a few years ago, and is most bothersome in the warmer months, when their windows are open.  “Bhutan is one of the nicest places in the world,” said Azorena Aponte, 67, who has lived in the Manor since 2016. “It’s peaceful. It’s beautiful. Let’s make that happen here.”

Mr. Frere admits to having made a 311 call to complain about the noise.  “As luck would have it, the unit was off that day,” he griped.  A spokesman for the Department of Environmental Protection said that city inspectors had responded to a 311 call, had taken sound readings from the Manor in June and determined that Bhutan’s mission was not violating the noise code.  Per the Times, regardless, enforcing any penalties would be tricky even had they heard noise, thanks to a thing called diplomatic immunity. Diplomats famously refuse to pay even parking tickets, despite the city’s best efforts over the years.  Claire Wilson, who moved into the Manor in 2000 expressed hope that the Bhutanese diplomats would recognize the suffering of their neighbors and repair the earsplitting A.C, as a goodwill offering. “I’m optimistic,” she said. “They’re Buddhists, after all.”

In September, a rep from Manor went over and spoke to the superintendent of the Bhutanese mission regarding the noise. Residents were told that the problem was fixed. The rattling noise, however, continued in the days that followed.

“We have fixed the problem,” a man who identified himself as one of the building’s administrators, but refused to give his name, told a NY Times reporter. “I don’t think there is any sound going on now.”