Valley Stream residents lament condition of Foster’s Brook

Weeds grow out of an overturned shopping cart at the bottom of Foster’s Brook, a creek that borders the villages of Valley Stream and Malverne. Several beer bottles and other trash are strewn on the ground, and Denise Bagdei-Ingrassia, a nearby resident, believes some of the overgrown shrubs are harboring rats.

“The county has been on the Malverne side twice already, mowing, but on our side, no one cares,” said Bagdei-Ingrassia, who lives on Montauk Street. “They don’t cut it, and that’s where all the rats and all the vermin are.”

According to Bagdei-Ingrassia, a Nassau County Department of Health employee came to the brook once a month two years ago and trapped rats that were burrowing onto her property from Foster’s Brook. But after a year, the rats stopped showing up, so the Health Department employee stopped coming as well. Earlier this month, however, she said, she found dead rats in the rat traps that line her backyard.

When she called the county again about the problem, she said, she was told it was not within the Health Department’s jurisdiction. “Two years ago, the Department of Health said it was their responsibility to put traps up,” she said. “Now they’re saying it’s not their responsibility. It’s like I’m in a Catch-22.”

Mary Ellen Lorain, a public information officer for the Health Department, said that it has sent an inspector to the location many times — most recently on Tuesday. Lorain said the inspector often finds that the rats are not coming from the brook, but are instead attracted to the area because there are birdseeds, dog feces, fruit, compost heaps and cat food on nearby residential property.

“People want to blame the pond,” Lorain said. The rats “need a food source.”

Health Department inspectors have spoken with residents about pest control, she said, but also recommended that homeowners hire exterminators if the problem persists.

The shrubbery also presents a problem for a Valley Stream resident, who declined to be named, because teenagers like to hang out there. They sometimes enter the creek from the gate on the Malverne side, the woman said, and dead tree branches could easily fall on them. “I hate this,” she said, pointing to a downed tree limb. “This is dangerous.”

Kenneth Arnold, assistant to the county commissioner of public works, said that a maintenance team would be sent to the site to ensure that the creek is being taken care of. “The maintenance would take care of the grass and clear any debris out of the stream to make sure it flows properly,” Arnold explained, adding that he was unaware of rat issues in that area. The brook flows through Valley Stream into Inwood, where it empties into Jamaica Bay.

Home Street resident Olivia Jerdan said she often sees teens smoking marijuana or drinking near the brook. To her, that is a bigger issue than the rat she once found. “God’s creatures we can deal with,” she said, “but the people smoking is another thing.”

Jerdan said she has reported the conduct to the Nassau County Police Department, but that location of the creek, on the border of the two communities, has presented jurisdictional complications involving the NCPD and the Malverne Police Department.

She has also observed other illegal activity by the brook, she said. Last year, her daughters’ bicycles and Amazon packages were stolen from her front porch and were later found in the ditch, Jerdan said.

She has also found other stolen products in the creek. “My daughter and I found credit cards and IDs,” she said. “A lot of evil happens over there.”