By Hector Flores
³I have a niece and nephew, and I don¹t want them to play in the yard, because roofing shingles fall,² Scalza said. ³The roof is so bad, during wintertime and windy days the shingles fall off. One time, one flew off and scratched my car.²
Now, Scalza says, rats have become an issue. Not only has her neighbor neglected to fix her roof, Scalza alleges, but she has allowed her backyard to become overgrown with weeds. Scalza believes that the yard serves as a refuge for the rodents.
³The lot is vacant and overgrown,² said Scalza, a New York City civil servant. ³There are a couple houses, starting with hers, and we all have this rat problem. I have rat traps in my yard because my yard is next to hers. This is my first house. I bought it in 1998, and because of this I want to sell it.²
Scalza¹s troubles with her neighbor began in July of 2001, when a kitchen fire burned a hole through Burke¹s ceiling. ³It was an electrical fire, and firefighters ripped through the kitchen¹s exhaust fan to put it out,² Scalza recalled, ³but they left behind a gaping hole in the roof and the wall.²
At first Scalza believed her neighbor would eventually fix the hole, and let her complaint slide. By 2003, however, Scalza grew tired of looking at the blue tarp and plywood that now serves as the kitchen¹s roof. Scalza sent letters to her local and state representatives, and was eventually referred to the Town of Hempstead¹s Building Department, but she says she has yet to see any results.
³This is ridiculous,² she said. ³What if I had kids? I couldn¹t bring them to the backyard because the roof is not safe and the backyard is unsanitary. [Burke] is bringing down the whole neighborhood. I have spent too much time in this. I¹m disgusted with the whole system. I don¹t know what else to do.²
In a last-ditch effort to resolve the situation, Scalza obtained a petition with more than 50 signatures, asking the Town of Hempstead and Nassau County to enforce their building codes and instruct Burke to ³repair, replace and restore² the damage.
Betty Traguardo, one of Scalza¹s neighbors and a retired nurse, is also frustrated with the town¹s lack of progress. ³We all have been working on it, and we are not getting anywhere,² she said. ³I have tried talking to Mary, and called the Board of Health and Social Services. Someone from Social Services said that they spoke to her and she seemed normal, but she still has a hole in her roof. And now we are starting to see rats and mice in our backyards. They are eating our vegetable gardens and even our dog food.²
Traguardo added that the Nassau County Department of Health sent an exterminator to inspect the backyards of area neighbors and placed rat traps. ³I don¹t know if the rats are coming from her house,² Traguardo said. ³But so far three or four houses have been affected. At first I thought there were squirrels going up my tree, but they were rats. How could she live like that? We want to help her, but we can¹t.²
Susie Trenkel, spokeswoman for the Town of Hempstead, said that the town has been working on the case for some time with the county¹s Adult Protective Services. In addition, Burke has been issued a number of summonses regarding her home¹s ³unsafe structure² as a result of the unrepaired fire damage. ³There are complications with the Mary Burke case, and it has been in and out of court, and it¹s in the judge¹s hands right now,² Trenkel said. ³We have requested that Miss Burke be given a guardian, and she has finally consented.²
Despite the town¹s assurance, Scalza is still not satisfied with the pace of the whole proceedings. ³This is government? It¹s like watching a comedy,² she said. ³It¹s the same thing over and over again. No one can give me any results. It can¹t go on and on like this. I have been to court, handed out a petition and done everything ‹ and nothing. Here I was, concerned with my neighbor and that she shouldn¹t be living in those conditions, but now I¹m concerned with my own well being.²
Burke¹s next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 24. She did not open her door to a Herald reporter, and her attorney did not return repeated calls.
Comments about this story? HFlores@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 283.
