Two vacant homes that had been labeled abandoned abominations have been cleaned and secured in response to protests by neighbors.
Brian Nash of Throggs Neck and Scott Bernard of Waterbury-LaSalle were upset when nearby houses were allowed to fall into disrepair; weeds flourished and garbage littered both properties.
Nash lives around the block from 1012 Hollywood Avenue, a house that went into foreclosure in April. JP Morgan Chase owns the property but failed to maintain the house.
“It’s the only unoccupied house around here,” Nash said. “We didn’t want neighborhood teens to find out that it was empty and go in there to have parties.”
Weeds and garbage on the property pushed Nash to attend a Community Board 10 meeting in November, where he met a staffer from the office of Senator Jeff Klein. The senator jumped on the case and contacted JP Morgan Chase. Klein sent the bank photos of the deteriorated property. Within weeks, JP Morgan Chase had work crews on Hollywood Avenue to tidy the property.
“During this foreclosure and economic crisis, I refuse to let empty homes in my community crumble and deteriorate, bringing down property values across the neighborhood or becoming havens for criminal activities,” Klein said.
In Waterbury-LaSalle, the owners of 3201 Bruckner Boulevard, left the house in disrepair. Waterbury-LaSalle Community Association member Scott Bernard, alarmed by a jungle of weeds and trash on the property, reached out to Klein in October.
Klein notified the city Sanitation Department, which tidied the property less than a week later. The Sanitation Department will soon set forth a plan to maintain the house.
“The clean-up meant a great deal to me,” Bernard said. “Unkempt houses reflect poorly on those who live around here.”
Bernard explained that the he first saw that the house was out-of-context with everything in the area when out walking. He said that in the past, the house had been well kept.
Reach reporter Patrick Rocchio at 718 742-3393 or procchio@cnglocal.com
