Monday, June 10, 2013

Progression of a vacant lot: From horrible to worse to good to bad

Here are why some people in Jamaica, especially those who want our area cleaned up, are pissed off at the powers to be and the laws protecting negligent property owners. Below is a vacant lot at 91-22 175th Street (some of the photos have 91-26 175th St, since I was not sure of the address) owned by a Mimie Jagassar and has sat empty for several years. Over the years going back to 2005 this property has had 19 DOB (Department of Building) complaints, one (unsafe excavation) which is still open, 5 DOB Violations, all which are open including “work without a permit” and “unsafe conditions”, 42 ECB (Environmental Control Board), 5 which are still open, where the severity is considered “Hazardous”, but yet it seems that very little over the years has been done to this owner and the condition of this lot.

I first encountered this lot on Thanksgiving Day, November of 2012 and it was a complete mess (who knows how long it had been like this; from the condition, a long time). It is not like this lot is hidden in an off the beaten path, not heavily traveled area. This lot is right off of Jamaica Avenue on the heavily traveled 175th Street, where there are some nice homes, a church and a nursing facility, Highland Care Center, directly across from this lot. Sanitation and police officers are always going by here, but yet the condition of this lot is appalling.

Below is a timeline from November 23, 2012 to June 8, 2013. Consider that I have reported this condition several times, beginning in November to DOS, Department of Health and our elected leaders including Councilman Leroy Comrie, all who have been aware of this.

November 2012

91-22 175th Street, November 2012

February 2013

91-22 175th Street
February 2, 2013


March 2013

91-22 175th Street
March 2013


June 2013

Vacant Lot at 91-22 175th St
June 8, 2013

WHY, WHY, WHY? is this (and there are so many others like this in our community) allowed to happen over and over and over again. Do you think such a thing and for this long a period of time would allow to take place in Forest Hills, Long Island City, Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, Chelsea, West Village, Upper East Side, etc.

This is why people like me bitch and then some of you leaders (elected, community, business, etc) complain when I constantly post photos of this type of thing and never focus on the positive. See this is what is REAL in our community and what we deal with on a daily basis. The very few positives are so completely overshadowed by this kind of shit that has been going on for years and repeats and repeats over and over again.

Does this happen because it is a community of people of color, does this not get taken care of because it is a community of people of color?

NEWSFLASH: Not all of the people of Jamaica are low-class ghetto slobs, not all of us are low-class third world immigrant slobs, not all of us are chronically unemployed and constantly on the welfare rolls. Many of us are the complete opposite but our powers to be do not seem to cater to us, which there are many of us. And this is why the community of Jamaica is losing huge amounts of money in tax revenue, because people like us spend our money outside of this rundown community that seems to only cater to the low-class slobs.

This type of decay of a community happens because of ignorance, not getting involved, keeping one’s head in the sand, poor zoning laws, inadequate enforcement of laws, poor leadership in all avenues (political, community, business) and not calling out people’s bullshit because you are afraid to be politically incorrect or offending someone.
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FYI: Sanitation Town Hall Meeting

Councilman Donovan Richards in conjunction with Springfield Taxpayers Civic Association are pleased to present a Sanitation Town Hall Meeting. Come discuss how to get rid of trash in our community. For more information, contact the office at 718-527-4356.

WHEN: Tuesday, June 11th from 7pm to 9pm

WHERE: Salem Missionary Baptist Church: 179-14 140th Avenue (near Farmers Boulevard.)

Joe Moretti
Jamaica, NY 11432
http://cleanupjamaicaqueens.wordpress.com/

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The bed bug sign on the plywood fence says it all.
Keep the heat on Joe!

Anonymous said...

I urge everyone who wants to see action to attend the DoS meeting - we've found these to be highly effective (at least for a while...)