Mr. Softee Hated Most In These NYC Neighborhoods

NEW YORK — Mister Softee's siren song isn't melting these New Yorkers' hearts. Hundreds of people complained to 311 about ice cream truck jingles over the past year, with certain neighborhoods hosting big clusters of gripes, according to a new report from Localize.city.

Irritated New Yorkers logged more than 1,200 complaints to 311 about ice cream truck jingles in the yearlong period ending Aug. 15, the data analysis website found.

The site's data science team examined a year's worth of complaints through July 30 and mapped out which areas were most plagued by the pesky purveyors of ice-cold treats.

The analysis revealed 54 clusters of complaints within about 1,800 feet of each other. Some 42 of them were near playgrounds or parks, where ice cream trucks' young customers are known to gather.

"It’s apparent that ice cream trucks know their audience and are targeting parks and playgrounds — but families might not be totally cool about that," Localize.city data analyst Daniel Slutsky said in a statement.

Jamaica residents living around Captain Tilly Park had it worst. They filed complaints on 61 days, the most of any area — perhaps not surprising given that it's just a 12-minute drive from a Mister Softee depot, according to Localize.city.

A corridor between Union Square and Madison Square parks in Manhattan ranked second with complaints filed on 45 days, the report says. Coming in at No. 3 with complaints on 37 days was part of the Bronx's Kingsbridge neighborhood, where one woman took to Facebook to vent her frustration.

"YOU, MISTER SOFTEE, HAVE BEEN THERE FOR MORE THAN AN HOUR. DO NOT COME TO MY NEIGHBORHOOD," she wrote in an April post, according to Localize.city.

Grousing about the jingles increased 11 percent in Queens year-over-year, with Cambria Heights alone recording a 300 percent spike, the report says. But Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx all saw complaints decrease 47 percent, 25 percent and 7 percent, respectively.

Here are the 12 areas with the largest concentrations of Mister Softee haters, according to Localize.city's number-crunching.

1. Jamaica, around Captain Tilly Park
2. Flatiron/Union Square, around Union Square Park and Madison Square Park
3. Kingsbridge, around Bailey Playground, Fort Independence Playground and Van Cortlandt Park
4. Sunset Park, around Rainbow Playground, Brizzi Playground and Sunset Park
5. Elmhurst/Corona, around Newtown Playground
6. East Harlem, around Rev. Linnette C Williamson Memorial Park, Martin Luther King Jr. Playground, Morningside Park, Marcus Garvey Park, TRUCE Garden and Playground One Twenty Five CXXV
7. Norwood, around Whalen Park
8. Bedford-Stuyvesant, around John Hancock Playground, Herbert Von King Park, Hattie Carthan Community Garden, Banneker Playground and Tranquility Farm
9. Boerum Hill/Fort Greene, around Nicholas Naquan Heyward Jr. Park, Boerum Park, North Pacific Playground, Fort Greene Park; Oracle Playground
10. Soundview, around Soundview Park
11. Manhattanville/West Harlem, around Annunciation Playground, Jacob H. Schiff Playground, Montefiore Square, Alexander Hamilton Playground, Frank White Memorial Garden, Carmansville Park and Jackie Robinson Park
12. Inwood, around Inwood Hill Park, Fort Tryon Park, Dyckman House Museum and Isham Park

(Lead image: A woman buys an ice cream cone on the Upper West Side in 2006. Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)