Neighbors of these abandoned properties no longer need to worry what lies beneath the garbage and muck overtaking them.
After a growing number of concerns about the conditions of the area, Councilman Jimmy Vacca partnered with Wildcat Service Corporation, a division of Fedcap, as part of their to organize several clean ups in the district.
Fedcap is an not for profit organization with locations throughout the tri-state area which provides job assistance to people who face physical disabilities, conviction histories, veterans, and many others facing barriers to employment.
The clean up, which came free of cost, included properties at McOwen Avenue, Van Nest Avenue, the corner of East 197th Street and Hutchinson River Parkway East, the corner of Continental Avenue and Pelham Parkway South, Pennyfield Avenue, Throgs Neck Expressway and Schley Avenue.
Fedcap was able to work with the City Department of Sanitation to remove nearly 150 bags of garbage and weeds from the six properties.
The property at 3011 Schley Avenue has been a problem in the community for over three years.
Neighbors have complained that since the house was boarded up in the summer of 2010, there was often a foul odor coming from the property as well as flooding in the back yard and basement.
Lynn Gerbino, president of the Throggs Neck Home Owners Association, said neighbors are very happy about the clean up.
“Hopefully we can continue to move forward with this effort,” she said. “I know that the outside has been cleaned up, but now we have to work on getting the standing water inside the house taken care of. That is a major issue with the neighbors because they have a lot of issued with the mosquitoes. Hopefully we can have the house taken down in the future.”
A spokesman for Vacca said the inside of the property was not cleaned because the gates to the property were locked.
The property is still listed as being owned by a James Mau, but no one has been able to contact him.
Fedcap’s Wildcat Division has agreed to work with Vacca in the future to maintain the locations workers cleaned up, as well as other properties in need of cleanup.
“We cannot have properties near homes that are a health hazard to those living around them,” Vacca said. “The neighbors around these locations have been concerned about the conditions of these lots and properties for some time, and it is not fair to them to live amongst garbage, overgrown weeds, and sometimes rodents.”
He said that by forming the partnership with Fedcap, “we can promise residents that these vacant properties will be well maintained in the future.”
