This is so sad

Thanks for removing the address! You are all wonderful. Thanks again for your kind words, I sincerely appreciate it.

While the compassion shown to this man is touching, I for one am still very angry about the degrading living conditions he forced on his immediate neighbors and would like to see a little more sympathy extended to them. Their quality of life has been permanently damaged. They can never regain the many years of having to live next door to this squalor. Over the years, I have spoken to the families on either side of him. They have suffered horribly. At one house, I was told that for years they have had to wipe their walls down with ammonia to try to dull the stench seeping through the brick. They haven’t been able to sit out in their yard for years either – and their household includes a person in a wheelchair. The unimaginably foul smells affected many of us who live nearby but it was far worse for these two families.

The dogs suffered too. I frequently heard him shouting, cursing and hitting them. Only one dog (the elderly bitch) was ever walked on the street; the others were confined to the house and – for a very limited time each day -- half of the backyard. Periodically, blood-curdling howls and yelps would come from the property so the cannibalization that occurred while he was hospitalized was probably not an isolated event. Certainly as recently as 3 months ago, I found a large femur in our backyard that he had presumably tossed over the fence.

Last summer he even took to feeding the dogs at 5am on Sunday mornings! As a result, I again started calling 311, the police and the ASPCA but to no avail. As has been reported in the media, there were numerous complaints made by others and many violations listed against the property. There was even a “successful” lawsuit brought by neighbors about 7-8 years ago but it made no difference because he refused to pay the damages awarded. I talked to him on the street many times -- sometimes gently and sometimes more confrontationally -- but was only ever met with a stubborn refusal to admit any responsibility.

Who was complicit in this situation is an open question. On several occasions I saw him entering and leaving a house on Carlton Ave with other people. He also had to dress cleanly and neatly for his job as a waiter at Juniors in Grand Central so I suspect he wasn’t living full time at the Bergen St house.

There are two big questions left.

1. Who will complete the clean up? The window that was removed to gain entry by the police means that the house is now open to the elements. The house and backyard are still filled with trash and debris. The house will need to be gutted right down to the bare brick walls, floors and joists removed, and then all remaining surfaces treated chemically to kill the smell. Will city agencies return to do some/any of this? Will the family step in to coordinate it? Their comment, “We will try to get down there this weekend,” is a little underwhelming. Especially given that the owner’s mental health is likely to be even more precarious now than before. Is he a danger to himself or his neighbors at this time?

2. How can these disasters be avoided in the future? At what point do we question the right of an individual to impose his deluded will on others? Every agency in the city has an extensive record of complaints regarding this situation yet none of them intervened until it reached a crisis. As one of his close neighbors, I frankly feel culpable for not having pursued a solution more aggressively. But then again I did try many times and got nowhere. Why is it so hard in this city to get things done?

elitt wrote: Someone suggested a real estate grab scam...

I'm lost. What are you implying?

Sorry to be cynical as well, but I pmed Starr a while ago with some questions regarding her claims, and have not rec'd a reply. Anyone else smell a fish?

if this person were my uncle, I'd damn well make sure to do something about it personally, not "maybe this weekend". This is still an emergency situation.

Ok. But I am the suspicious type, always needing "proof". The most valuable thing I got out of a truncated Forensic Science college career was the motto: "Question Everything". I guess I still do.

So, why is this bedeviled individual still on his own? And the issues brought up re: the continued suffering of the dogs and neighbors are extremely relevent.

Hello All,
I see Roz especially is very cinical and hurt, I completely understand. I am not an imaginary person, he is my Uncle as to those who implied that. This is a family matter, I am trying to reach out as best I can. Unfortunately, because I am not one of his siblings my hands have been tied. We are talking to him on a daily basis but have yet to be "allowed" there pretty much by him. He is in a very fragile state at this point and for now we are trying to seek out the help he needs emotionally, mentally and physicially due to his heart condition. By the way, none of which is a concern to many of you. We were told, obviously by him and a few other sources in the area, that the state workers were there for a few weeks going through things with him. I do understand the uninhabitable comment Roz made and the frustration and disgust the neighbors have had to deal with. As I said before, I sell real estate this is totally unthinkable to me, my husband is a firefighter and HVAC tech and the hazards the obvious condition of this home were in are terrible. Roz, although you have tried, you are frustrated and you have yet to get anywhere...imagine that of the family members that have been trying to help him. We are normal people. We want to rectify the situation accordingly, but unfortunately, this issue is like a rotten onion (excuse my joke), but the layers are many and we are working them out with him piece by piece as best we can. This is for the family to know. I have not read this or posted on here in awhile because like many of you, I have a career, I have an infant, and my husband has his own career along with his very active volunteer firefighting. Because I am not the sibling of my uncle, I am in a very precarious situation with my family. Many feel I should not have posted but I felt you all deserved to know. To those of you that are understanding, you have my personal utmost thanks for whatever it is worth. I truly appreciate the post about the hoarding, I have been looking into that but must broach the subject with my family cautiously as they are all very hurt by this situation/his obvious conditions. We love him dearly, I know it is easy to judge. Roz, the post with all of the specific descriptions as to the condition of his home were completely unnecessary a could leave the door wide open to a whole slew of other issues i.e.homeless or others destroying more of what already is a deplorable situation. Roz, would you please remove the portion of your post where you say he works please. If you were in the same situation and had disgruntled neighbors, such as yourself, you may not want any more conflict/aggrevation/headache since you clearly were mentally unstable. We are slowly, and believe me I wish it were faster, working on his issues. I have yet to be there (at the home - as he doesn't seem to realize we know how bad it was), I was in NYC a week or so ago but couldn't get a hold of him. I am not asking you to totally empathize with us, just to be patient and keep your peace if that is at all possible. As I said, I DO completely understand. I can't apologize enough for him. To be honest, I didn't ever have to post anything, but I thought it the most responsible and humane thing to do to try to alleviate and validate some of your concerns and questions. I am sorry for this dishevled note, my baby has been sick the last couple of weeks and this was the first chance I got (just a constant cold! . Again, I will try to read this as I have time. Thank you all. Please email me privately rather than post such negative things. This is not a positive situation and we know that but I am trying to do a little bit of damage control to help since that is all I can do at this point. Thanks again for your understanding and compassion.

Another similar story today:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/12102006/news/regionalnews/man_trapped_4_days_regionalnews_frank_ryan.htm

I had a sister much like this man. Fortunately her cats were spayed. She had always been a packrat and would be any landlords worst nightmare. In 1999 my mother couldn't reach her for their ususal Sunday AM talks and having a terrible feeling, called the police to do a well check. She had been dead for about 4 days of a complications from the flu. When the police came in through her window they were appalled by what they found. There were only one foot aisles to pass from room to room. Stuff was piled from about 5-6 feet on the walls inwards. One room had a mountain of things up to the ceiling. My mother was so devastated that she couldn't help with the clean up (we later found it was due partially to early onset of Alzheimers) and my brother was in dire need of hip replacement (which he got shortly after the funeral) and couldn't help at all.
Even though my husband and some friends helped when they could, the clean up landed in my court (with a full time job and teenage kids at the time) The cat box hadn't been cleaned in many, many months even though my sister adored her cats.
A 5 room (all smaller rooms) apartment when emptied filled a whole huge dumpster and we gave away all of the furniture possible. It was all garbage that was cleared out. She died (we think) on St.Patrick'sDay cause there was corned beef and cabbage on the stove in a pot. I've never heard two grown men yell and run out the door as my husband and friend did when the emptied the pot. Never have I encountered a smell such as that and I used to clean stables...
Her upstairs neighbors had no idea what was going on below them.
And when we went into the basement, it was floor to ceiling piles of....things.
I'm certain that the kitchen at least had to be totally gutted to remove the stains and smell.
So I guess what I'm saying is when people have a mental illness of any sorts they can sometimes mask it quite well. Go to work daily, interact with others...
We all knew she lived her life in unthinkable squalor, but were helpless to make her seek help or change in any way.

It's such a shame when these things occur. It's one thing to subject yourself to such filth, but animals and neighbors....
And so often it's true. The man in the post took in animals to help them and lost control of the breeding and health of the animals and they suffered greatly.
I wish the mental health dept and other city agencies had responded to the many complaints the neighbors had files for 15 years.
It's just such a shame.

http://brooklynian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=34884

dakotas way wrote:
I wish the mental health dept and other city agencies had responded to the many complaints the neighbors had files for 15 years.
It's just such a shame.

Yeah, and that's exactly who should be blamed, not the mentally ill man and certainly not his family.