As a location near Bayview Avenue, between Ampere and Outlook avenues, has gained popularity among local pooches as the perfect place to play, the property’s neighbor said it’s also attracted a less than pleasant personal appeal.
Owned by the Department of Transportation, the site, which sits along an unmapped street, has inadvertently become the neighborhood’s doggie depository.
“If you go to the end of Ampere Avenue and hang a right, you end up asking yourself ‘how can this be,”” said Robert Menichino, of the Villa Anna Condominiums at 1532 Bayview Avenue. “You have expensive homes nearby, and at the same time you have people walking their dogs and not cleaning up after them.”
The site has become a dumping ground, literally, for many area dog owners, according to Menichino.
“In the summertime, the smell coming from that lot, which is owned by the city, is really unbearable,” he continued. “They should fence the area in, and put a ‘no dumping’ sign on it.”
Along an undeveloped section of the adjacent Griswold Avenue, a traffic guardrail is all that prevents the general public from accessing the overgrown, weed-strewn lot.
“They were going to extend [Griswold Avenue], but the city decided against building a street right through,” Menichino added, saying he has been in contact with Borough President Adolfo Carrion Jr. and Councilman Jimmy Vacca’s offices in an attempt to clean up the defecation playground.
“We have been working with DOT on this matter, and had a walk through of the area,” a Vacca spokesperson said. “As of now, the DOT just learned that they owned the property.”
The DOT didn’t respond as of press time.
“It is my understanding that the area is an un-developed street,” said Spencer Estate Civic Association president Al Carena, about the parcel. “[The DOT] has the street blocked off.”
While the DOT is in the process of deciding relevant use for the land, Menichino is still concerned disaster will strike before something is done, pointing to the overgrowing weeds also plaguing the site, serving as coverage for the dog poop.
“I really worry about a fire in that vacant lot,” Menichino fumed. “My fence is made of wood, and I live right behind the lot.”
