Pigeon House Awaits Its Fate

Responding to longtime neighborhood complaints, members of the New York City Health Department (DOH), the Housing Preservation and Development Department (HPD), the mayors Community Assistance Unit (CAU), the Fire Department, and the departments of Buildings and Sanitation recently met with Community Board 13 members to discuss the issue of an abandoned pigeon-infested house in Springfield Gardens.
The house, at 144-26 159th Street, has been infested with pigeons and rats for years, said Sally Martino-Fischer, district manager of Community Board 13, and taxes have not been paid on the property since the mid-90s.
But since the owner cannot be located, the City cannot immediately take over the property, said Martino-Fischer, who added that the house cannot immediately be demolished anyway because it is physically connected to a neighboring house and may cause it structural damage if razed.
However, the so-called "Pigeon House" itself may be on its last legs.
"Supposedly the city is going to take over this house. If its not structurally sound, I want the house removed," said Martino-Fischer.
Martino-Fischer said she contacted Joann Ariola, director of the mayors CAU for Queens south, weeks ago with the owners name and the recent complaints of neighbors, but was unsure of how to solve the problem, so she invited Ariola and a slew of city agencies to get their input for a means to resolution.
At the meeting, it was clear to attendees that something had to be done, but it was unclear whose jurisdiction the houses problems fell under.
"Everyone kind of shrugged their shoulders over how it is that we take care of this, but we decided it was the Department of Health it was their issue," said Martino-Fischer.
Members of the HPD recently flushed and sealed the house, boarding up the windows and doorways while the DOH set traps in nearby brush for rats.
The house was boarded up once before, in the mid-90s, but pigeons still were able to get in through an open attic window.
Martino-Fischer said it was sad to see the house, which is wedged in the middle-class Springfield Gardens community, in such a state of disrepair, and that nearby residents all noticed the foul look and smell of the former dwelling.
She also said that some people dont understand the effect their actions particularly in a residential neighborhood have on others.
"When you put your nickels and dimes into your property, youre talking about quality of life, and people have to have quality of life," said Martino-Fischer.