Francis Lewis eyesore continues

From the Queens Gazette:

State Senator Tony Avella was joined by the North East Flushing Civic Association at a press conference in front of an unsightly abandoned corner property, located at 24-19 Francis Lewis Blvd., to address the complete lack of maintenance of the site by the city.

The property has been an eyesore for at least ten years. In 2009, the property owner stopped paying property taxes and the site has now become a storage unit for trucks, dumpsters and scattered garbage. Although the city Department of Buildings issued a full stop work order earlier this year, residents and businesses are still forced to live by an unsightly lot that has become a blight on their neighborhood.

“This lot has been a thorn in the side of the community for over a decade,” stated Avella. “The owner has not made any attempt to clear out or maintain the lot and it has become a constant target of graffiti vandals and litter. Usually I say, ‘there’s everything in there except the kitchen sink.’ However, in this case, there actually is a kitchen sink. A haggard looking lot like this creates a financial disaster for neighbors, who gradually see their property values decrease.”

Avella was informed by the Department of Finance that a tax lien was placed on the property because of $15,809.86 in unpaid property taxes and sanitation violations since 2009. That lien was supposedly sent to the city Tax Lien Trust earlier this year. However, it now appears that the city has yet to follow through on enforcing its lien.