This is so sad

did a little snoping on the net seems its 5XX bergen not other one. according to the pictures anyway.

Mod note: Address edited at family's request

alafairnadia wrote: [quote=armchair_warrior]did a little snoping on the net seems its 5XX bergen not other one. according to the pictures anyway.

Mod note: Address edited at family's request

what other one? that doesn't make any sense.



this is listed as 5XX bergen. and according to raulism its 5XX bergen and from the picture posted by him it looks like 5XX .

Mod note: Address edited at family's request

raulism wrote: I posted the address as 5XX, but I was wrong. Sorry!

I heard more about the owner. He is a waiter, and dresses neatly. But for the last two month he had been sleeping on the outside steps. I also heard that he has a PhD in Eastern European languages, and he seemed to be a someone sympathetic character.

Mod note: Address edited at family's request

That's really interesting. I heard the guy is currently admitted to LICH with a heart attack. I wonder what's going to happen when he medically recovers. What he did is horrible, but I actually feel bad for the guy too. He clearly is suffering from some psychiatric illness as well as the medical one, and it also seems clear that he's unable to take care of himself. He's going to have to be institutionalized in some way.

There are no winners in this story (except maybe the neighbors, who will finally be free of the smell, the noise and the vermin after 15 years of complaints to the city about this situation).

He is almost like one half of the Collyer brothers. But they didn't have any animals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collyer_brothers

well this guy's got an excuse for his irresponsible behavior with dogs- he's got some sort of mental illness.

but what about all the other folks out there who don't curb their f**in dogs??? if you can't handle being a dog owner, don't own a dog...

do you think pedestrians enjoy dodging your dog's feces??

Interesting... I was just looking around on MetaFilter and found links to a couple of websites about squalor and hoarding. Sounds like they're different things -- in squalor it's just utter chaos and filth, whereas hoarders often have cleaner homes and keep their stuff in neat piles but still have tons and tons of extraneous crap in their homes. The sites go into what causes people to live that way, stories from people who have lived in squalor (either their own or their parents'/family members'), etc. It's a really sad phenomenon.

There was a woman in another department at my office who died a couple of years ago when she fell asleep while smoking, in part because she had piles and piles of newspapers and other flammable junk in her apartment. The fire got out of control extremely fast and the amount of stuff in there made it impossible for her to escape. Just awful. It didn't really surprise anyone, though, because her cubicle was also piled with stacks and stacks of paper and junk -- although often people whose homes are like this are perfectly organized and neat in their workplaces.

Anyway, here are two websites that go into this whole thing in detail, in case anyone's interested. I'll warn you -- the pics at these sites are pretty grody and the stories are disturbing. For instance, I don't know that I ever want to come across the term "sink pudding" again...

http://squalorsurvivors.com/
http://www.childrenofhoarders.com/

yikes. and i thought i had a problem with ordinary messiness and some dried up limes in my fridge....

growing up, every time my room was messy (which it always was) my mother mentioned the collyer brothers.

i believe that up where the collyer brothers used to lives there was talk about a little memorial park called, aptly, "collyer park." don't know if it happened, but there was a NYT article about them a few months ago, and how fire departments refer to getting into houses like this with some term that mentions them.

Subject: I am so sorry...

Hi Everyone,
I would like to introduce myself to explain who I am and apologize. My family and I are upstanding citizens, almost all, except my Uncle (which you now all know), from CT. We JUST and I mean JUST found out about this incident. I wanted to personally apologize for my family and for my Uncle. He is an amazing man with a severe illness quite obviously. Let me tell you a little about him so you know who you are actually talking about before you make your judgements. I must admit that his family members are horrified by these reports, unbeknownst to us we were unaware as to the full conditions of his surroundings. I would not want this person as my neighbor either from the looks of it. I sell real estate in CT and won't go foot into a house that is anything like this.
First of all, please remove your postings of his address. It is sad and there are strange people out there (I am sure most of you think it is him at this point), but with everything that must be going on with him, he certainly does not need this. I ask you as someone who must have relatives as well.
He is a very intelligent man, went to Trinity College with a full ride, is FLUENT in 7 different languages, used to be a buyer for one of the most prestigous Riding Stores for horse in NY with clients like Jackie O. His brownstone used to be beautiful, he has collected antiques for years and used to own his own store as well. So you do not think we are an absent family, we see him every holiday and most birthdays as well for any one of his 10 neices and nephews. We have not been invited or to the area in ...well my guess is over 15 years. We knew something was up but couldn't seem to get anywhere. I am just so sorry it had to come to this. My uncle is a very well spoken man, kind, and would give you the shirt off his back (and many times it is sparkling clean - at least when we see him!!). He has many loving, intelligent and VERY successful brothers and sisters and comes from a close family. The reason I am telling you all of this is because it is so painful to see the comments about him, to see the condition of his surroundings, and to think he has been able to keep this a secret from the ones who love him most all of these years. We had an idea he was a pack rat, but he wouldn't let anyone in and made every effort to come up here. We had NO IDEA what the conditions were. He does own his brownstone, there are many things not necessary for people who are not involved to know. I just wanted to give you an idea of who he is. I am sure some, if not all, of you have someone in your life and/or family who is a little odd at times but has a heart of gold....just beware you never know what secrets people are keeping from you. If you knew his family you would be shocked this could be possible from him. He was not raised this way, rather, he had two very hard working immigrant parents who gave everything they had to their children. He has family that loves him dearly, and we will be taking care of this.

From the bottom of my heart, I apologize to the people of Prospect Heights. I wish you could know my Uncle another way and I am so sorry for the state he has now put himself in. We will be helping him, and hopefully, you will be able to find a new topic and have a little more concern for others. Believe me, I do understand how hard this is and I am shocked myself. It makes me realize now that I must not looking at someone as critically - I only wish they got help in there sooner.

As a side note, I am so sorry to hear about the dog that died. My Uncle actually adores animals. He was not breeding them for fighting as previously suggested. I am sure...as I would assume most of you would know, that the dogs were probably breeding on their own accord! I hope the dogs are alright. I hope your neighborhood can resume some semblance of normalcy as can my poor Uncle. We love him, as you would love your family members with any and all flaws. We are trying to get him the help he needs. We literally just found this out yesterday.

Thank you for being understanding. Again, I profusely apologize. I am sorry to intrude on your neighborhood site, but I thought you should know more.

Wow - this would make an unforgettable human interest story in one of the local papers - any journalists on this Board?

I agree with Carnivore, Starr. And I am really glad to know that your uncle has a caring family. I was assuming he was all alone. I hope he is well soon, and the next time I see him I will make a point to say hello.

Carnivore,

can you take the address from some of the previous post as STARR requested?

thanks.

Subject: Re: I am so sorry...

Starr, thank you for providing some more context for this whole story. I'm glad for your uncle that he's getting the help he needs, and it's good to know he has a supportive family. It sounds like he's a lovely guy for whom things really spun out of control.

You might want to check out those two websites I linked earlier in this thread, as they seem to offer a lot of guidance and support to families dealing with this kind of problem. Just talking with others who have had similar experiences might be helpful for your family right now.

STARR wrote: Again, thanks for removing the address if possible. It is a bit disturbing to have it on here.

I just edited the thread so that the exact address isn't listed anywhere here.