Thursday, September 16, 2010

DOB harasses wrong home owners


From the Queens Courier:

Homeowners Joseph and Gloria Campisi got multiple violations, and even an order to appear in court, though they had done nothing wrong.

The Howard Beach couple, he a deacon at St. Virgilius, had received many summonses from the Department of Buildings (DOB) – in error – and phone call after phone call yielded no results – until The Courier got involved.

Their home is the second from the corner, and has a visible address. But the house next door – which neighbors claim has been a nightmare since the day construction began five years ago – has no discernible address, and so the Campisis were receiving their neighbor’s violations.

“There are rats, raccoons, a lack of drainage,” said the couple. “This house has been a thorn in our side for five years.”

Ironically, say the couple, they had been calling to complain to 3-1-1 and the Department of Environmental Protection about just such conditions for years.

[Gloria] tried calling 3-1-1, the DOB and others.

“We were told, ‘We don’t have an address for them, so we give it to you,’” said Gloria.

A spokesperson for the DOB said that the violation was “issued in error and will be dismissed.”

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOL- pots and kettles. Less-than-holy Joe. One of the original illegal convertors complaining about someone else's transgressions.

Anonymous said...

#1-Not true, they did not receive MULTIPLE violations, only one.
#2-They seem to have lived there a long time, don't they know the correct address of the "horror" house by now.
#3- Why would you file a complaint against your own house, and say "the house next door". Exactly where ? Next door to the right, rear or left ?
#4- Maybe they did have a flood in the basement and the door was left open and maybe the inspector, wrote it up accordingly as an open and unguarded building.
#5-An inspector is not allowed to go to a different address, but what's on the complaint.