Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Eyesore cleaned up by volunteers in Jamaica

From Cleanup Jamaica Queens:

A beautiful Easter weekend, sunny skies and warm temperatures, but here in Jamaica garbage prevails as always, while our local leaders as usual drag their feet and asses on this horrendous garbage problem that plagues our community, posses a health risk, devalues property values and affects quality of life in such a negative way.
Well, some ladies of Jamaica, including friend, comrade-in-arms and community activist, Pamela Hazel, have taken matters in their own hands to clean up a notorious dumping ground that has been a major eyesore for years, while local politicians and leaders twiddle their thumbs. At the corner of 108th and 164th St, sits a vacant house owned by James Fobb, that has been not only a big dumping ground for garbage, but a place for homeless and criminals to go inside according to residents.
Since their calls to leaders about cleaning this up have fallen on deaf and dumb ears (not too mention all the lame excuses they have to hear, like “private property”), they decided to roll up their sleeves, put their masks and gloves on and clean this eyesore up. As Pamela puts it, they did not want to see the eyesore this Easter weekend.

The below 10 minute video shows their efforts and some strong words about our lazy ass elected leaders, including Queens Borough President Melinda Katz.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good for all of these people for finally taking an interest in the way their neighborhood looks.

Anonymous said...

This group's mantra, "whatever the hell it takes", should be echoed in the offices of all Queens elected officials .
But it never will, because they are lazy, unconcerned , freeloaders, who only care about getting their next paycheck! Nice work cleaning up that eyesore ladies! It's a shame that you had to take matters into your own hands. Thanks Joe for posting this powerful piece.

Anonymous said...

Why doesn't the city just take the house from this guy and auction it off? Is he even still alive?

We now have plenty of negligent absentee owners in North Flushing - they rent out their houses and NEVER, NEVER do any manitainence again - the lawns are just dirt - really craps up the neigborhood (no offense, Crappy)!

These women are great people and it's a shame that they have to do some lazy man's work! But that's another diatribe for another day - lol!

Anonymous said...

And let's see if it doesn't become another dump in two weeks. The people who dropped off their garbage there still live in the neighborhood.

Anonymous said...

The pols will give a few certificates, some ragged funding, and whoompa! they are off the hook and have residents singing their praises.

Anonymous said...

Do not accept a certificate from a politician. It's just another pandering and patronizing tactic!

Anonymous said...

This group has started to work on "adverse possession" of the property by taking an "open and notorious" possession of the property, all they need to do now is occupy the property, and make it exclusive for a decade, and they can claim ownership of it.

Joe Moretti said...

Anonymous Anonymous said...

The pols will give a few certificates, some ragged funding, and whoompa! they are off the hook and have residents singing their praises.

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Fuck that, no one is taking any certificates and none of us are singing any of these asshole elected officials praises.

georgetheatheist said...

I can't wait to read in all the Queens community papers about this noble endeavor that the Jamaica clean-up ladies undertook. And don't forget all the effusive editorial support emanating from the publishers of said papers.

Anonymous said...

Fuck that, no one is taking any certificates and none of us are singing any of these asshole elected officials praises.
----
Joe, one of the techniques the machine uses is to separate a leader from the group. Its done far too easily and you can trust me on that.

People get real stupid and goofy when one of our electeds notice them, call them a 'player' and build up their pathetic egos.

You will have one hell of time stopping them from getting big pieces of paper (their size has grown as their worth decreases) and said pol standing in the middle of the group for a photo op telling the world that they fight trash ... while you are sulking somewhere else.

They will get funding, they will sing praises, and within 2 or 3 years they will have either vanished or continue doing 2 or 3 blocks each year - hell even the elected will don work clothes and be seen painting over graffiti secure that then now have a steady photo op that they care!

Anonymous said...

This video proves that foul-mouthed do-gooder Joe Moretti is no racist. He's cleaning up with local black residents. Good for him.

Anonymous said...

There is a real imbalance in this city on the rights of a property owner to do anything they want no matter what it does to the surrounding community.

The purpose is to hollow out communities making them ripe for more development.

Notice their infatuation with immigrant groups, and hands-off on communities. You can pit groups against each other but the last thing in the world you want is a strong community that can stand up to you.