I'm 71, a retired NYCDOE English teacher. I'm divorced, the grandparent of six children ages 6 to 14. I've lived in my rent-stabilized 90 y/o building in Northern Manhattan for over twenty years. I'm very friendly with my neighbors, many of whom are also long-term tenants.

I'm active in my church, Fort Washington Collegiate Church, a welcoming and diverse congregation. I'm an usher; I volunteer for the church's food pantry, as well as on other projects.

Heretofore, I'd never reported a neighbor to management or to an outside agency. In September of 2021, a new tenant moved in above me, a professional woman working from home. Immediately, there was noise above me unlike the noises (of daily living) I'd become accustomed to for over two decades.

I've been in treatment of PTSD for decades (childhood and marital abuse). I've reported my neighbor's harassment to my building super, to the building's management company, to my adult children, to my primary caregiver, to my therapist, and finally, to my NYPD precinct (34th).

I never expected, nor have experienced this kind of harassment. I don't own a TV. I have rugs on all my floors. I sometimes play classical music on my radio at a very low volume.

I've learned how hard it is to be taken seriously regarding psychological abuse and harassment. Elder abuse is complex and varied. The most vulnerable among us suffer the most. Nonetheless, having experienced development and and marital abuse, I'm determined to end this abuse. I'm about ready to hire a lawyer and to bring charges against this person.

If it's easy to psychologically and physically harass (with loud, aggressive, unpredictable noise) an active independent senior, there is so much going on with more vulnerable. Only a very small percentage of elder abuse is reported. Most of it is perpetrated by family and caregivers.

Nonetheless, there are perpetrators of elder abuse who are strangers. That would be the case with me. I don't know anything about my neighbor. She works from home and has a new boyfriend. The boyfriend has assisted in/enabled her abuse. They've cooperated in stomping, and in dropping hard objects on their floor.

All of feels even more abusive because there is never a warning, the abuse is random, and seems designed to cause the greatest physical, emotional, and psychological damage.

Since this is continuing, despite reports and narratives, I need to take steps beyond police reports. I need greater protection and more serious consequences for person's psychological and emotional abuse.

As it's not resolved, I believe my story is about continuing the legal process, wherever that leads, to stop this abuse and harassment.