Friday, June 17, 2011

What a dump!


From the Times Ledger:

Neighbors of the abandoned, dilapidated, two-story brick house at 80-44 Cypress Ave. said a band of squatters in their 30s and their dogs use the residence as a nightly hangout and even a bathroom.

“This place looks like a disaster,” said Sokol Gjonbalaj, whose second-story balcony hovers above the overgrown backyard. “If I left my house like that, I would get violations every day.”

Gjonbalaj actually did receive a $100 violation when a city inspector mistook his house for the abandoned home. And he has incurred other expenses as his homeowner insurance premiums went up and his property values down. He even had to replace a fence that separates his property from the lot of the house after the squatters knocked it down.

“Nobody cares,” Gjonbalaj said. “I’ve called the police, 311, [city] Sanitation.”

The Sanitation Department has come by a few times to clean part of the abandoned lot near the house, but the city Department of Buildings said the owner of the property is ultimately responsible for its upkeep.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tear it down or seize it.

Anonymous said...

This address is in Glendale, isn't it?

Anonymous said...

It's in Ridgewood near the Glendale
border, I just took a look on google maps and what an eyesore.

Anonymous said...

QUick check on the NYC.gov property search:

4-3728-48
Owner(s): TRUE VALUE PROPERTIES, LLC
Property Address: 80-44 CYPRESS AVENUE

Surprise -- they are almost $6K in the hole for upaid taxes.

Lookup in NY state corporate database yields the LLC's actual address:

TRUE VALUE PROPERTIES, LLC
107-15 135TH STREET
RICHMOND HILL, NEW YORK, 11419

Anonymous said...

The property in question is actually in Glendale. Ridgewood starts north of the RR crossing.

Unfortunately, zip code searches and auto-fill features usually give Ridgewood (or sometimes Flushing!) as the address instead of Glendale (yet another reason why Glendale should have its own zip code).

Anonymous said...

I've seen the zig zag pattern that divides all these neighborhoods and I believe that this part of cypress is still considered glendale... once you go inside down to 78th ave and all those other confusing blocks around 60th street, ave, lane, etc. you're in glendale...

Anonymous said...

Meant to say Ridgewood* in the beginning

Anonymous said...

In this immediate area, there is a stair-step border dividing Bushwick, Brooklyn and Ridgewood, Queens. I believe that is what the poster is referring to when describing the zig zag pattern.

In this vicinity, the northern border of Glendale is the railroad tracks. Therefore, the property in question is in Glendale—not Ridgewood.

Anonymous said...

that was pretty messed up in the video they didnt want to hear what the squatter had to say..he got a whole two sentences in, I want to hear more from the squatter. and just because they are there doesnt mean they are a danger, they are just regular people minding their own buisiness, why cant the other people mind theirs?

Queens Crapper said...

Folks like you make me laugh. Yes, let's have our neighborhood's property values decline because a squatter wants to live in peace. Do you really think having a property in this condition housing people living in squalor helps the neighborhood?

Jeannette said...

I used to know the owner. She was a great friend of mine and sold it to move to another part of Queens. This used to be a beautiful house and it's sad whoever bought it could not take care of it.

Jeannette said...

I used to be great friends with the old owner of the house when she lived there with her husband and two daughters. It was a beautiful HUGE house and it's a shame she sold it to someone who was unable to care for it.