By Anthony Rifilato
Last week, on a rainy Tuesday morning in Baldwin, the two code enforcers cruised north on Grand Avenue in their dark-blue Ford Explorer, past the Merrick Road intersection. The strip has been the subject of numerous complaints from Baldwin residents, who say that the area is an eyesore.
"The area is much better now than it was six months ago," said Zinn, who pointed to the stores on west Grand Avenue.
A tall, soft-spoken Baldwin resident, Zinn has been with the Division of Code Enforcement since it was created in 1997 to help combat quality-of-life issues.
Clad in navy-blue uniforms, Zinn and Verity issue warnings and violations to residences or businesses that store trash improperly or leave litter strewn on sidewalks.
Discarded items that Zinn and Verity come across in Baldwin range from junk-food wrappers to refrigerators, from broken bottles to cast-iron pipes, paint cans and televisions. But more often than not, they said, trash is properly put out for pick-up, adding that Baldwin has greatly improved.
"A code enforcer's job is to monitor persistent problem spots," Verity said. "Ninety percent of the time, once we talk to someone, the problem is remedied. But if they're habitual, we pursue."
Being a code enforcer isn't easy. There's the garbage sifting, the possibility of encountering hazardous materials and even the occasional death threat when they attempt to leave a violation notice.
"One person threatened to shoot our supervisor," said Verity. Zinn said he was even threatened once in court by a woman who had been issued a summons for repeated violations.
"We've even had stores tell us to get off their property. They said we were trespassing," Zinn said.
Then there's the occasional dog chase. "They seem to like him better than me," Verity said of his partner.
In some instances, the pair sifts through garbage to find the culprits in illegal dumping. Once, Zinn and Verity found a seven-foot-long python in a town garbage basket. They were relieved when they determined that the snake was dead, but the discovery, Verity said, "was enough to make us jump back a few feet."
Last Tuesday, the partners stopped and searched a basket in front of 1924 Grand Ave., examining a large piece of debris that had been dumped in it.
"People put their personal garbage in the cans," said Zinn, explaining that household trash can overrun the 80 baskets the sanitation department has distributed throughout town.
"One guy lived a mile away," Zinn said. "We checked his garbage and found his mail in the basket. It's a problem when there's no place for litter to go."
Although he's been with the sanitation department for 31 years, the burly and articulate Verity, who also lives in Baldwin, has been a code enforcer only for the past six months. "My daughter tells me not to give anyone she knows a ticket," he said. "Relatives call and ask me about pick-up days."
Verity also said he has witnessed drastic changes in derelict areas, such as west Grand Avenue. In September, he said, the department had workers clean the vicinity and then sent out fliers urging businesses on the strip to keep things clean.
"We've seen a turn-around," Verity said.
Zinn and Verity explained that tenants who live above stores sometimes dump their trash in the town's baskets, and that the next obstacle is to persuade them to conform to standards. "We're trying to educate," said Zinn.
As the pair made their way into Roosevelt, they stopped in front of a white house on the corner of Howard Avenue. Outside was a mound of bulk trash for which no arrangements had been made for a special pick-up. The partners understand that around holidays such as Veterans Day, residents may be confused about garbage collection days, so the enforcers go easy. But because this resident had already been given several warnings, Zinn and Verity issued a violation notice.
"We try to explain exactly what they did wrong," Verity said.
In the span of two hours, the enforcers issued several warnings and one violation, which can lead to a summons if people don't keep things clean. The two said they always make follow-up visits and respond to complaints.
But even when it's slow, like last Tuesday, Zinn and Verity make the necessary patrols. "There's always something to do," Zinn said.
