Reading your article, “Built on Lies”, was very interesting. To learn that thoughtless developers will be taught that they cannot get away with whatever they want to do is a blessing. The article stresses the unsafe construction in the building of new homes throughout the community.
There is also another side to this issue; building regulations are being violated about adjacent homes. Two years ago, developers destroyed a single family home next to our home to build two two-family homes. To underpin the foundation of our home, the developers used a CAT machine to dig under our foundation. They then proceeded to put 4-inch cement blocks on the dirt for support to our house. These cement blocks started to tilt. After calling the Department of Buildings, and having several inspectors check on this matter, a stop work order was issued for proceeding to build with inferior products.
After the stop work order was placed, the contractor attempted to get us to sign papers that did not pertain to resolving the problem.
For over 18 months, we have had several major floods that destroyed our basement, exterior foundation, interior walls and personal property.
To put a band-aid on the problem, the contractor put a pump in the low-lying area (created by the underpinning) to drain the water to the street. This pump is never checked by the contractor. We have to make sure that it is on using our own electricity. If it rains more then the pump could handle, our basement floods. This has happened quite a number of times.
The price to fix the exterior wall to prevent future floods and to support our home from structural damage in the future, repairing the interior damage and replacing personal property, etc. is well over $50,000. Our headaches are severe, worrying about an unsafe home. We are extremely concerned about the damaged foundation and continued flooding affecting the future stability of our home.
The contractor has not tried to correct the situation. The lot just sits. The building of these new homes also leaves innocent existing homeowners with exorbitant expenses, hours of work and extreme anxiety.
How did this owner/developer get permission to destroy our home? Any similar act of this kind would be criminal in nature.
Ron & MaryAnn Todzia
Maspeth
The Courier gets results
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Thanks
Ilene Yair, Director of Transition
Center, Samuel Field Y
Little Neck
‘Street God has forgotten’
Where I live in Whitestone, the Department of Finance appraises my home at one million two hundred thousand dollars. For the past two years, I have lived next to a home with boarded up windows and doors.
Constant complaints to the Department of Buildings, Department of Environmental Protection Agency and the Sanitation Department have done little to ameliorate the situation.
The tall grass and weeds create hazards to neighborhood residents that walk by and harbor trash. A highly overgrown lot can also become dry in the heat of summer and be a potential for a fire.
Rundown and abandoned buildings have a tendency to attract crime and transients too. I am constantly running out during the year to chase schoolchildren from the property.
I implore our city officials to strengthen the ordinances in terms of property maintenance.
Neighborhood charm dies here on Clintonville Street where I reside in Whitestone, one sad home at a time! There are so many vacant houses, overgrown yards, and unkempt properties on this street. The problem is exacerbated as elderly neighbors pass away and their properties are purchased by prospective builders and left to sit year after year awaiting future development.
To quote a former priest of St. Luke’s Church here on Clintonville Street who once told me that he “had thought to himself that this is the street that God has forgotten.”
Untidy properties with overgrown foliage, boarded up windows and broken down fences destroy the image of a neighborhood. Responsible property owners do not want to invest in areas that look this way. The results include decreased property values and this cycle continues without proper code enforcement.
I urge all residents of Whitestone who are tired of putting up with this to please contact our city officials and demand a change. Remember, the squeaking wheel always gets the grease. Do not remain silent!
Rose Marie Puleo Milcetic
Whitestone
Vallone is in the loop
In your July 7 article, “Utility tries to open lines of communication,” Councilmember Peter Vallone stated that he had not received any calls from Con Edison about programs informing the public as to how electrical networks operate.
Mr. Vallone’s assertion is incorrect.
He was invited to attend a briefing on a Con Edison program on that very subject and we were pleased that his community liaison, Jonathan Chung, was able to join us.
Vallone receives every communication the company issues that is of interest to his constituents, as well as information on the many programs the company offers its customers. His staff routinely speaks with Con Edison Queens Public Affairs and with our Government Relations staff.
In addition to communicating with public officials, the company has broadened its customer outreach and communication by adding 250 new phone lines, enhanced its web site to allow customers a quicker, simpler outage reporting process, and has created mobile survey teams that can be dispatched to assess any service problems that might arise.
Con Edison is conscientious about its efforts to communicate with all its customers.
John H. Banks
Con Edison Vice President of Government Relations
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