An unacceptable situation

From Clean Up Jamaica Queens:

While riding my bike Sunday morning, I encountered several garbage strewn places (many illegal dumping and most of the spots have been reported numerous times).

Take a good look at our community:

1. Our Post Office (listed on the National Register of Historic Places) at the corner of 164th St & 89th Ave.



2. Post Office Parking Lot at 164th St & 89th Ave. This has been piling up since last week and I wondered how long it would stay like that.



3. Lot next to 170-18 Liberty St, or as I like to call that block, “Ghetto Row”.



4. What appears to be an empty house at 103-24 171st St.



5. The next two photos are a house at 104-11 171st St that I have reported several times.





6. The next three photos are an empty half built building next to Mike’s Towing at 115-45 Merrick Blvd right across the street from the Northeastern Conference of Seventh Day Adventists Administration Building and a few blocks from the beautiful Roy Wilkins Park. It is obvious this has been an illegal dumping ground for a long time and obvious nothing has been done about this.








7. And here again is the notorious empty James Fobb house at 107-58 108th Ave, which has been reported for two years now.






8. The bus stop at Merrick Blvd & 108th Ave, a major spot for dropping off household garbage.



9. Over flowing garbage cans at SE corner of Jamaica Ave & 170th St. A constant problem.



10. The SW corner of Jamaica Ave & 170th St.



Now does anyone reading this think that this is totally acceptable? Would any of this be acceptable in a majority white area? So why is this acceptable in a community of people of color? Is it that people of color do not deserve to live in a nice area, is that it, but white people are.

Again this is a combination of some of the majorly low class ghetto people we have in our community, a major lack of enforcement by DOS, poor leadership from our top officials down to our community boards and upstanding citizens of our community either ignoring this, thinking this is the norm or not doing something as small as reporting these places to 311 and calling your local officials.

Yesterday, I was at a screening of the film: Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes put together by Art, Food & Soul and presented at the Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning. Afterwards I talked to several of the people in attendance, many young and open-minded artists in our community who want a better Jamaica and they talked about the conditions of our community and what it looks like and they were not happy about it at all.

And this is why the perception of Jamaica is the way it is. The perception is REALITY!

So why is NOTHING being done about this? Why I am constantly reporting on these conditions, many that are the same areas over and over again?


Joe Moretti
Jamaica, NY 11432

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More Jamaica residents are calling for action

It seems that I am not the only one along with community activist Pamela Hazel and a few others who are extremely angry about the garbage problem in Jamaica and seeing very little done to help combat it from our leaders. I have been hearing a lot of grumbling lately about the garbage problem and especially in regards to our ineffectual leadership by the 30-60 year old crowd who seems to be very unhappy about all of our elected leaders, including you Mr. Comrie.

This was sent to me from Alana Ochoa Trafford who lives on 207th St between Hillside Avenue and 89th (not quite sure whose district this falls into). Here is what she has to say.

Dear Sir/Madam,  

I live on 207th Street between Hillside Avenue and 89th Avenue and I want to inform you of a few issues that are increasingly making this block an unpleasant place on which to reside.  Firstly, there is a hydrant completely engulfed by weeds close to Hillside Avenue. This happens every summer and no one seems to be responsible for clearing the weeds.  I called 311 about it and I was told to call the Fire department, which I called and was told that they are not responsible for clearing the weeds.  I then called your office more than a month ago to report the issue.  Nothing has been done about it yet.  Because people don’t care about the area, they are throwing garbage in the weeds.  It has become a disgusting sight that I have to endure every day as I walk down the block to my house.  Attached photo is a good illustration of the weeds engulfing the hydrant, though they have grown since the picture was taken.

Try to find the fire hydrant 

Secondly, there are more weeds coming through a broken-down looking chain link fence at the entrance of a parking lot that is used by some of the businesses on Hillside Avenue.  The fence looks like it is in dire need of repair and the weeds need to be cleared.  As usual, neither has occurred and has never occurred in the three years I’ve lived here.  Attached photo shows the weeds as well as the state of the fence. 

 

Thirdly, as you can see from this photo, there is graffiti on the side of the building close to the aforementioned parking lot close to Hillside Avenue. Before the unsightly graffiti was sprayed on the building, there was a rather artistic looking mural that someone decided to cover in green paint.  The green paint doesn’t completely cover the wall, which is puzzling.  I’m not sure why this occurred, but this paved the way for the serpentine graffiti tagging that now exists.  Attached photo is a better illustration of the graffiti.  

 

More graffiti can be seen on buildings around the parking lot in attached photo. Lastly, attached photo (above) shows a garbage receptacle brimming over with bags. Sometimes the garbage makes its way onto the grounds of the parking lot and ultimately onto the sidewalk.  See attached photo.  Because of this situation, there are often unpleasant smells that emanate from the parking lot.  

I, as well as other residents on this block, would be extremely grateful if something can be done to resolve these issues in a timely fashion.  If necessary, I can be reached at 718-XXX-XXXX. 

Thank you,  Alana Ochoa Trafford

________________________________________________
So, another unhappy constituent and a constituent who followed Councilman Leroy Comrie’s statement about contacting 311 and she even contacted the fire department (in regards to the hidden fire hydrant) and others and still it seems that nothing is being done about her situation on her block. And unlike me who uses nasty language, calls our elected leaders fuck-ups and do nothings, uses terms like low class ghetto and low class third world immigrants, Ms. Ochoa Trafford does none of that. This is a very well written plea, with no harsh language or name calling, she even starts out with Dear Sir/Madam, where I would probably have just said, “Hey Assholes”. So why no response to her pleas in regards to another quality of life issue?

What she is dealing with is the same shit they we are all dealing with all over Jamaica. As far as the over growing weeds ( a well too common site all over Jamaica), I encountered this mess on the totally low low low class ghetto section on the North side of Jamaica Avenue between 169th St & 170th St, right across the street from the nice block that has Bellitte Bicycles.




This block is nothing but super major low class ghetto/third world country shit, including the dirty Envy Nails Salon, a shitty furniture/mattress place (love the mattress out on the sidewalk in front of it, shown in the one photo) and empty store fronts and of course garbage all over.  Sorry, but these types of people are just plain disgusting slobs (and what has ruined Jamaica). Well, I am not sorry, sorry that they live in our community. I would not call them people or human, more like sub-human. It seems we are moving backwards on the evolutionary scale. Just the other day I saw a “third world” woman sitting outside in a chair actually picking out stuff in her daughters hair for about 30 minutes and throwing it down on the ground, very similar to the grooming habits of primates. She had four other little rug rats running around and playing in some dirt and I was waiting for one of them to start throwing feces at the others.

Right around the corner of this shit, is the all too common, abandoned vehicle with no license plates or registration sticker. I told two police officers sitting in a car on 170th Street about two of these vehicles and they told me they would alert the crime unit. When I walked back to that area, the one was towed away, but the other was still there, so it got the clean-up Jamaica treatment, just in case they could not find it.

BEFORE

AFTER

Lastly, Pamela Hazel took a photo yesterday of the abandoned house at 107-58 164th, which I took photos of during our protest march on June 29th and reported the garbage conditions of the house and well, it looks like again nothing has been done for two weeks as the one photo shows.




Now do your damn jobs and help Ms.Alana Ochoa Trafford and clean up this other shit!

BY THE WAY, SENATOR TONY AVELLA FOR QUEENS BOROUGH PRESIDENT, THE RIGHT CHOICE FOR QUEENS.

Joe Moretti
Jamaica, NY 11432
http://cleanupjamaicaqueens.wordpress.com/

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Vacated Kew Gardens mansion hides a sinister past

Took a stroll down Park Lane South in Kew Gardens recently and stumbled upon this mansion that looks like it hasn't been kept up in quite some time.

Upon researching the history, it became apparent that the house was being operated as a transient hotel/SRO and was vacated by DOB in 2010. The owner pleaded guilty to bank fraud charges in 2009, and although there was an order for the Feds to seize the property, it's still in Irina Khaimov's name with a lien on it in the ACRIS system. There also is more than $100,000 in outstanding fines owed on the property for various violations.

As the site in question is in ownership limbo, the neighbors get to look at this unkempt lawn, and God knows what the inside of the place looks like since it doesn't appear to have been sealed. Goodbye, property values.

Park Lane South used to be one of those grand palace-lined thoroughfares that you could just picture people of means strolling along on a Sunday morning.

Welcome to the new Kew Gardens.

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The First Ever Jamaica Cleanup Protest, part 2

Continuing the tour of the 1st Jamaica Clean-Up Protest on Saturday, June 29th, not only reveals a very dark side, South Jamaica, but how totally ineffective our elected leaders have been in dealing with the horrendous quality of life garbage problem.

As we begin to make our way toward South Jamaica and then eventually to the downtown area, we encounter some sights that look as if we are in some third world shit hole, not one of the richest cities in the world and as Mikey Bloomberg likes to state, “New York City, the greatest city in the world.” Hey Mike, come out to Jamaica, specifically South Jamaica and see what is going on.

Well as we walk along 108th Ave, we encounter yet again, another abandoned vehicle. ( I have already lost count at this point).

Yet again, another car or should I say cars, all along 108th Avenue, leading to Merrick Blvd. What the fuck, this is a residential area, not some storage unit for wayward cars.

Now some garbage, and in prime Jamaica form, garbage just dumped all over the street. Really why bother using your own garbage cans, just dump it on the street.

More cars.

After crossing over Merrick Blvd, we come to the combo of garbage(near the light pole) and a cargo trailer with no cab. Should someone check this out, there could be a bunch of dead illegals in there. Wow you think after 911, things like this would be checked out carefully.
Next stop, the notorious James Fobb abandoned home and crackheads & prostitutes summer Jamaica house. Two women from this neighborhood joined our march and began telling us about all the kinds of stuff going on in this abandoned home. I see a health violation and a sanitation one as well, not counting the backdoor that is wide open as you will see in the next photo.

The back entrance and as you can see, the door wide open to welcome crackheads, prostitutes, rapists and any other kind of riffraff.

And what was once a garage is now a big dumping ground. This was the site of the infamous hundreds of tires scene back in March.

In front of the Middle Eastern deli at Guy Brewer and 108th. Anyone in the mood for two eggs with cheese on a bagel?

Another corner at Guy Brewer and 108th.

And yet another corner at Guy Brewer and 108th. The Jamaica version of the Bermuda Triangle.

More garbage, well, like lots more garbage.

Same block, different garbage.

Another deli.

In front of a Preschool. The future of America.

Here is what you get when you mix very low class ghetto black people, with low class Hispanics and then spread it all over with a huge heaping tablespoon of extremely low class Middle Eastern/Pakistani. “Vibrant and Diverse” enough for you? Ask yourself this, WOULD YOU LIVE HERE? Now before you scream why don’t you include white people. I can’t, none live in this area, otherwise I would include Honey Boo Boo’s family.

More shit.

I make a little detour on South Road, which I never even heard of. This is a major Shanty Town hell hole, in back of York College.

More of South Road.

Inside all of those high weeds.

Now next to all that shit, is a somewhat fixed up house that is home to three Pakistani families. I guess from where they came from they must feel like The Jeffersons, “Were Movin’ On Up”. Christ, what the fuck has happened to this community?

The prerequisite outside mattresses, or as South Jamaica likes to say, “Ghetto Camping”.

And what would South Jamaica be without the long standing burnt out house, which will sit as longer than former senator Shirley Huntley’s prison sentence.

Or the abandoned home, complete with tires and outside mattress. A bargain, you probably would not even have to haggle with Mohammed the realtor.

Of course another car.

And another one, nice black crown vic.

And let’s not forget the empty lot, with an opening on both sides to cross over to 165th. Damn, these are some major major fucking disgusting human beings, well barely human.

And after going through the opening of the above lot, I come out the other end to see another empty lot with major amounts of shit, tree stumps, tree  branches and major amounts of garbage. But the really interesting part was what was directly across from it………………read on.

This I found extremely interesting. This house which the above car is next to, along with a car in the front yard (not pictured) and tons of cars in the back yard (the red one is one of them) and lined up all around the street (most with no plates) is a duplex, but yet there is a small sign several feet away with an arrow pointing in the direction of this house, “Clyde’s Auto Repair”. Now I am not an expect on the laws, but can a house with people living in it also be an auto repair shop at the same time. This seems like something you would see in the sticks of Alabama. I do think we have at least one violation going on as well as a health violation.

This is just one of many cars with no license plate at this property.

Oh my GOD (and that is pretty bad considering that I am an atheist), I felt like I took a double dose of acid. Damn, this was one hell of a protest march and very revealing, kind of like the “Jamaica Revealed” event a few months ago. The South Jamaica area was, well I am at a loss of words, well not really. You want to talk about racism and black on black crime. Here we have an area, all people of color and not all of them “low class ghetto” (there are some long time residents from back in the day, when this was a relatively nice area, who have nowhere else to go) who have to suffer due to incompetence by our elected officials, all who are people of color and more specifically black (and that includes Helen Marshall). They have pretty much ignored this area and looks like they have done absolutely NOTHING for decades here. REMEMBER: Cancer spreads all over if it is not caught or treated in time.

Now the actual March went down Guy Brewer to Jamaica Avenue and ended at an abandoned home on 168 Pl/90th Ave, but I had to see some of these other sites in South Jamaica.

The Jamaica clean-up protest march ended here, a block away from the Police Station and the future site of the $50 million retail project.

Shit I cannot wait to get back to my own neighborhood, a few blocks from that abandoned home above…………………………Oh shit, spoke to soon. Here is a major health and DOS violation that I reported over a week ago. I guess you folks did not get a chance to go to Shah Nowrose’s place. No big surprise here with that name.

Unlike this crew.


And of course next door, the vacant lot that I have been complaining about and reporting and it still looks like shit.


Okay, excuse me for a minute while I go to the bathroom and puke my guts out and take a long shower.

Any wonder why we had a Clean-Up Jamaica Protest. Too bad we did not have more people or a presence of at least one of our political leaders.

Of course none of these loving sights could be possible without all of the low class ghetto element in our community and our wonderful leadership of Queens Borough Helen Marshall, Councilman Leroy Comrie, Assemblymember Vivian Cook, Senator Malcolm Smith, Congressman Gregory Meeks, Assemblymember William Scarborough, Councilman Ruben Wills, Senator James Sanders, former Senator corrupt douche bag Shirley Huntley and all the business/community leaders who like to spout out that Jamaica is “Vibrant and Diverse”.

So, were these photos vibrant and diverse enough for you? And for you downtown head honcho folks, if you think that all this kind of shit, even in South Jamaica does not have any bearing on the downtown area, you have another thing coming, because this cancer is spreading and everyone is being affected by this. And along with all this shit is the crime that is attached with it. So you all better get off your asses and come up with some kind of action plan and solution.

Unless you like Jamaica having the reputation of not just Ghetto, but SUPERSIZED GHETTO!

AGAIN, GOOD JOB ELECTED OFFICIALS. THIS IS SOMETHING TO BE EXTREMELY PROUD OF IT.

A big thanks to those who came out, my friend and comrade, Pamela Hazel for organizing the protest, Agnes Chung from NY1, Michael Gannon from Queens Chronicle, Queens Borough President Everly Brown, Kew Gardens City Council Candidate Jon Torodash and Sondra Peeden, District 27 City Council Candidate.

Joe Moretti
Jamaica, NY  11432
http://cleanupjamaicaqueens.wordpress.com/