Residents Want Real Estate Brokers To Back Off

Despite the boroughs designation as a "cease and desist" zone, where real estate solicitations are banned, Rick Duskiewicz told state representatives at a public hearing Thursday that loopholes in a state law allow for pesky mailings encouraging him to sell his home to persist.
For the last few years, Duskiewiczs home address in Bellerose has been registered with New Yorks no solicitation list, which blocks real estate brokers from sending unwanted mail. But instead of stopping, the mailings have continued, he said. Brokers like Foxtons have circumvented his no solicitation listing by substituting his town address, Bellerose, for Queens Village. When he filed a complaint with New Yorks secretary of state office, he was told that the real estate brokers were within their rights.
As a result, he had to also register his home address as Queens Village with the states list. But, he recently got another mailing, this time with his town address as Jamaica.
"None of us use Jamaica as an address," said Duskiewicz, speaking on behalf of the 850 homeowners in the neighborhood. "In Queens we use different town names." The loophole results from post offices in Queens, who deliver mail based on towns rather than zip codes.
Duskiewicz and virtually all the civic association leaders in northern Queens spoke at a public hearing held in Bellerose on renewing the boroughs "cease and desist" zone for another five years. Since a 1989 amendment to the states Real Property Law, New Yorks secretary of state has had the authority to create "cease and desist" zones. The purpose is to prevent predatory real estate brokers who target neighborhoods with one-, two- and three-family homes. These brokers often use a practice called "blockbusting," which involves placing pressure on homeowners to sell by suggesting that property values will decline because of racial, ethnic or religious changes in a community.
Despite attempts by the real estate association to have it removed, the amendment has stayed in effect for more than ten years. However, unless renewed for another five-year period, the "cease and desist" zone amendment is scheduled to expire September 1.
As a result, scores of civic association leaders came to the hearing to support renewal of the amendment, stating that, though imperfect, it has lessened the amount of unwanted solicitations.
"They are intrusive, derisive and even disturbing," said Eliot Socci, president of the Douglaston Civic Association, about the solicitations. He told representatives from the office of the secretary of state, who were gathering community feedback, that solicitations would multiply without the "cease and desist" zones.
"Homeowners are still receiving these types of intrusions," he said. "Without the law, it can only get worse."
Other snags in the amendment, though, have made the "cease and desist" zones difficult to enforce. One resident at the meeting criticized the difficulty in submitting complaints. Residents who do so must make a court appearance in Manhattan to testify against the unwanted solicitor. For some, though, a trip to Manhattan is not easy. And without the complaintants testimony, the real estate broker gets off.
"The seniors are too old to trek down to Manhattan," said Rose Daddario, a member of Community Board 13, who said she was asked to testify against a solicitor in December but could not make the date because of the weather and the travel distance. "If we lose that cease and desist zone, we are going to be in a lot of trouble."
Representatives from the secretary of states office said they would take residents complaints into consideration. Another public hearing is scheduled for Thursday, May 27, at PS 63, located at 90-15 Sutter Avenue in Ozone Park.