From the Queens Chronicle:A house in Forest Hills that neighbors claim has blighted the block for decades is causing renewed concerns after its roof partially collapsed earlier this year.
Now the neighbors say the house stinks of mold and raccoons have occupied its top floor — causing many to fear for the elderly resident’s health and safety.
Others say the home is lowering property values on the block. One resident, who declined to give his name, claimed the price tag on his home plummetted more than $150,000 because of his proximity to the dilapidated house.
Now many are fed up and looking for answers from the city.
“It’s got a hole that you could fit a Volkswagon in. Come on, how could that be a safe house — the Buildings Department knows you can’t live in a place like that,” said Carl Cacciato, who lives accross the street from the two-family home. “All the beams must be rotting in there. The second floor is gonna go down to the first floor. If she’s on the first floor, she’s gonna end up getting killed.”
Are we sure the person inside is still alive?
18 comments:
Good neighbors would pull their time and money and try to help out, by patching the roof on the house and painting the building and mowing the lawn. Instead the neighbors just sit around and bitCH, and call 311 just to make the problem worse then it is. What a bunch of clowns live in Forest Hills. And their proud clowns to boot.
They do sound like a mean-spirited bunch. It's not an abandoned construction site - people might be living in there and in trouble.
I think the city has the obligation to protect the people who occupy that building. Do you expect the neighbors should start patroling the block and forming bucket brigades in case of fire. It's called municipal services and it's obvious whoever lives in that house is in need of help.
No. 1 & 2 are correct.
Helping the owner might not be as easy as you think, even if you try HARD to help
My M-I-L lived in a house like that. We tried (oh did we try) to get her to fix the place up/allow us to fix it up. She fought us in court for 3 years to prevent us from fixing it - she didn't want it fixed (Dementia is a horrid disease). A grifter had gotten involved, and he was helping her with the legal dodges. He took like 75% of her money, and disappeared. In the mean time we spent something like 25K trying to get the legal right to fix up the house. Eventually, a compromise was reached - she would accept a court appointed guardian other than any of her children. The guardian immediately moved her out, the house was torn down, and a piece of Queens Crap was put up. My wife is happy to see her mother in a safe place, but is pissed about how long it took, and the fact that it required the courts to interfere, because of her mother's mental state.
My wife goes and visits her Mom at least 1x/week, despite the fact she can no longer talk, recognise my wife, get out of bed etc - she is, for all intents, a husk that still breathes (barely). Thing is, she had expressed in writing before she got bad that she wanted all possible intervention to extend her life (feeding tubes, resperators etc)
"Helping the owner might not be as easy as you think, even if you try HARD to help"
So your point is what, do nothing?
(or) Its not worth trying to help?
Do you even realize how lame this excuse sounds.
No, the point was to let us know that it might not be easy and the person may not even want help. Clearly the writer tried very hard to help his mother in law.
I'm the OP - the point I was trying to make is that someone )or more than one someone) MIGHT be trying - and trying HARD - to help.
Sometimes, the laws to protect a persons freedom prevents timely intervention, despite all you can do. In NY, you have ot be an Immediate danger to yourself or others before they can take any rights from you. You can clearly be mentally disabled/have mental problems, but until the person does something dangerous enough that they have to be taken to the hospital/jail, and even then, 2 MDs have to agree that the person is an immediate danger to themselves before they can be helped without them saying "I want help". You will get the "Yes, she is not well, and it's not a choice I would make, but she is legally allowed to make that choice"
So, don't jump to assume that no one is trying to help this person. I know we were in touch with all the neighbors who knew my M-I-L, but with neighborhood turnover being what it is in Flushing, it's not as many as you think. I can show you 3-4 years of letters to the police, the courts, doctors, neighbors, lawyers, and a stack of bills all from trying to get her help
What exactly are the neighbors suppossed to do? Climb a ladder and screw down plywood over that gaping hole? Good neighbors look after each other's hosues while the owners are away, the pick up flyers, the sweep leaves, they might even shovel snow or cut grass, and yes, I do that on my block and I live in Forest Hills. But you're talking about major home renovation. And who's going to pay for it? Crappy is right, this is a question of city services stepping in. Have they been notifed? Has anyone called the Dept. of the Aging? Adult Protective Services? Someone has to know if Marilyn Hargrove, the last owner of record, is alive or not.
If the police believe something may have happened to the occupant inside, they may enter the premises.
They should have entered the premises a long time ago. It would be better to assist a dehydrated senior than bury a corpse.
I'm gonna guess the old lady, if she's still breathing, isn't looking for repair help. That train appears to have left the station years ago. Move her to a home and condemn the thing, which is killing the neighborhood. This insanity of spreading neighborhood blight must end. Hard working, middle class, sane people have rights, too in America, remember?
Reminds me of the story of the Sheridans at 93 Puritan Ave. in the Gardens. That house's exterior is in a state of utter disrepair as well, though you couldn't tell from all the hideous plastic flowers they place out front.
The Forest Hills Gardens Corp. won't get the Sheridans to fix up their dump, just as the City is impotent to get this poor "house widow" on Manse Street to fix hers. They won't vacate her until a major structural member of the dwelling fails (hopefully not on top of her.)
RE "Move her to a Home"
That's the exact problem - if she doesn't WANT to go (aka you can't convince her to go voluntarily) it's EXTREMELY hard to make them go. You basically have to have them declared either mentally ill (2 MDs signing off), which will get her out temporarly into a mental health unit, OR you have to get the state to appoint a "Mind and body guardian". This requires gathering evidence, going to court, getting a case assigned (even with Health and Human Services helping), a trial, and judges are VERY reluctant to assign a guardian.
Normally the trial takes about a day, however, if there is someone with a law backgroud contesting it (M-I-L's 'boyfriend' was a disbarred lawyer), the case CAN take months, where the court has to appoint someone to go inspect the house, report back to the courts etc). The process, if the person doesn't want help, takes a LEAST a year. If the person wants help, it's a couple of weeks. The problem becomes, what happens when the person becomes a paranoid fearful old person, who trusts no one?
"The process, if the person doesn't want help, takes a LEAST a year. If the person wants help, it's a couple of weeks."
So if it takes that long then the neighbors who are interested should start NOW! Anyone can peition the court in an article 81 matter (guardianship) you do not have to be a relative or a city agency, ANYONE can do it - just call the Queens Bar, get a referral of an attorney who does this kind of work and get the process started. The court will set the attorney's fee out of the proerty (in this case, when it's sold).
Anyone have a match?
In my neighborhood, there is the Kosut house, on 73rd Avenue and 162 Street. It's been in a state of disrepair for years, but its owner appears to be paying his taxes.
So why should the city care about whether his house is ruining the neighborhood?
"good neighbor" Anonymous, you don't know what you're talking about. First off, this lady is INSANE. As a person that lives right next to her, I know so. She not only doesn't want to fix up her own house, but will actually try and kill you if you fix up the houses next to her property. She actually got arrested a few years back for trying to push off a worker off someone's house when they were doing repairs. And she hasn't spoken to a neighbor on the block for the last 15 yrs. So, if you have the money and time to help the "poor woman" out, go ahead. You should also find her a nice mental institution.
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