By Bob Harris
In every neighborhood there are one or more houses which are abandoned or partly built and they make the neighborhood look terrible. Some people have just abandoned their houses or they tore down the old house and started building, but either for financial or zoning reasons have stopped working on the building, perhaps for years. The neighbors are stuck with these eyesores and can’t really enjoy their own property.
Some people start building but the workers don’t come for days or even weeks. They do some work, then disappear. This leaves a dilapidated construction fence and often piles of construction materials, machinery and piles of dirt. Sometimes the dirt is blown around by the wind or a storm and covers the property of nearby neighbors and seeps into their houses so neighbors can’t enjoy their own well-maintained property.
We pay high real estate taxes, water bills, fines, and all kinds of fees yet the city cannot seem to make a few builders build reasonably fast and thus maintain our quality of life.
Zombie houses in the photo above are in the West Cunningham Park Civic Association, Inc. area, at 75-46 193rd St. and 75-50 193rd St. in Fresh Meadows. The community has complained to every local legislator and city agency available yet the buildings have looked like this for about three years and had construction fences around them for about five years previously. The years pass and frustration grows.
Yes, private property is private property, but there comes a point where if the property is a detriment to the community or presents a physical danger or disrupts the quality of life in a neighborhood, then the city should do something. When it wants to, the city uses eminent domain to take away private property for public use. Sometimes the use is questionable. There comes a time when the city must act to preserve communities. What happened to the concept of “failure to maintain” property?
ECB (hazardous condition) Violations have been served on these two buildings, but nothing has been done to correct the violations. They still look like this. There are other buildings in this and other neighborhoods which look like this. What isn’t something being done?
Ben Rosof, one of my neighbors, made these suggestions. A builder should have six to nine months or even a year in a difficult situation to build on a lot. He should not start multiple jobs and spread construction over years. A builder must show he has 110 percent of the money to build when he files his plans. A bond must be posed to protect the neighbors and to pay neighbors for their inconveniences such as noise and dust over everything and loss of quality of life. There must be mutual respect for the community by a builder or homeowner who is doing the building.
