By JOSEPH KELLARD
Tom Barrella, a resident of Brighton Road, told Island Park Mayor Jim Ruzicka and the Board of Trustees about two homes on his block that were converted in the last six months to Section 8 housing, government-subsidized apartments for low-income families. Since then, Barrella claimed, police have responded to one house several times a week, and a variety of cars routinely pull up there. He went on to say that several different people can be found in the other house at any given time, and that both scenarios suggest illicit activity.
These were among a litany of complaints Barrella lodged about these homes. "I've filed complaints and nothing's been done," he said. "Well, something better get done. I'm dead serious, because I've worked way too hard on my house to have [trouble-makers] move along my block."
Barrella, the first to speak at the monthly village board meeting, soon discovered that many others in the packed hall had similar concerns. A woman who identified herself only as Rosemary from Radcliff Road complained about a home on her block that she suspects has hosted drug activity for many years, adding that she once had a run-in with the man who lives there about his unleashed dogs. He cursed and threatened her when she complained, she said.
"My husband and I put all of our blood and sweat into our house," Rosemary said. "... When we first moved in, my biggest concern was if my neighbors curbed their dogs, and now I only wish I had those problems."
Mike Menaro of Garden City then stood up, identified himself as the landlord of these and other Section 8 houses in Island Park and tried to tell his side of the story. But residents shouted him down, saying they now have to keep their doors and windows locked constantly and demanding that he evict the troublemakers.
Menaro said that he had written to officials of the Section 8 program, which is administered by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, asking them to remove residents living in his homes on Brighton, Radcliff and Sagamore roads, but could not convince them to do so. Menaro then asked the residents in attendance to put together a petition to have the troublemakers evicted but not before he heard other residents' complaints.
One man told Menaro that people living in one of his Section 8 house-s behind him on Sagamore for the past three months were unbearably noisy. "They told me they're so happy to get out of the ghetto, and now they're living behind me," the man said. "The guy who dances on the median by Pete's Clam Bar, he hangs out with them. What kind of class of people are you letting move into these houses? É It's not fair you come from a different town and said, 'Let me make money in this town, I don't care.' But I do."
Menaro revealed that he has a couple of other houses on Sagamore, and that he had rented them to non-Section 8 tenants who didn't pay him rent for six months. He evicted them, and then turned those properties into Section 8 housing as well. Menaro explained that he did so because he was having financial difficulties.
"I'm not financially sound, because a couple of my business partners left," Menaro said. " É But I'm not walking away."
He said his partners bought one of the houses he owns on Brighton with the intention of demolishing it to make way for two new homes on the property, but they never followed through. "We decided to rent there, Menaro said. I tried to sell it six months ago and couldn't get a buyer, and then tried Section 8.
Mayor Ruzicka said that Menaro had been cited for several housing violations, and that four summonses were issued to the tenants of one Section 8 house on Brighton, requiring them to appear in court or be subject to a warrant for their arrests.
Some speakers said Section 8 people can be good neighbors, but that the bad among them should be weeded out. "Section 8 people have hard times, and they're entitled to live also," one man told Menaro, "but it's up to you as a landlord to know who you're renting to. And if you made the effort to get them in, then you can get them out."
Some residents said that it could take years to evict Section 8 tenants, while another questioned what good evicting them would do when other Section 8 tenants would just replace them. Menaro said that it depends on the length of their lease, and added that some of his tenants could be out by January. He also vowed to sell some of his homes on Radcliff and Brighton.
In the meantime, residents agreed to circulate petitions to have his tenants evicted. Village trustees said they would assist the petitioners in providing any information about the program that they needed. "If you guys get the signatures together, then we'll write up the letter to Section 8," said Deputy Mayor Steve D'Esposito.
Ruzicka said he would look into adding ordinances to the village code to restrict or ban Section 8 housing.
Other residents complained about known drug dealers who live on Truxton Road and Island Parkway. Ruzicka said that in recent years, police have made many arrests at homes where drug sales and use have occurred, and that if residents suspect such activity is going on at a particular house, they should alert village officials, who can call police in to observe. "It may take some time to make an arrest, because they have to stake it out," Ruzicka said.
Both Ruzicka and D'Esposito stressed that residents should first call 911 and then report their call to the village, so that village officials have records of the calls to present to the commander of the 4th Precinct during their routine meetings with him. "Police have made a number of drug-related arrests because of your calls," Ruzicka said, "and we need to have a record of them, so that when we talk with 4th Precinct [police], we can hammer home our need for them to police our community."
Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.
