Because of the weather. I was standing out there this morning in all the rain and all and I killed some that was his step. I mean, he's not doing nothing about it.
I think he's the boyfriend of the woman that lived there. He worked at Donnelly District over in Pennsauken, New Jersey.
Yes. All hours of the 75 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 night, the radios. And I really think they was into drugs. Like she said, they moved and left us. He's even got them in his truck. He parks a big white van outside my house across the street. They're in the truck.
I live four houses away. The roaches come out in the day time 6, 7 o'clock at night when we're sitting out. They walk from that house down as far as my house. I was getting them in my house, calling exterminators, I couldn't figure out where the bugs were coming from. We're sitting out one night, we're talking, somebody says, "What's that on your shoulder?" I knock it off; it's a roach. You look around, they're on my door. This is 7 o'clock at night. It's beautiful out. Then we're looking, they're on my wall, they're actually walking down the walls to my house. I ain't got nothing in my house they want. They coming down there anyway.
Four doors away. I'm looking at property now. I'm moving. The one thing I want for the property I'm looking at, I want 76 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 acreage. I don't want nobody around me. I want a quarter acre. I want four houses on my side, I want the other person to have four houses on his side so no matter what they do, they ain't going to affect me anymore.
And I know the answer, but how long have you been living on that street?
Right. And it was a nice neighborhood. Still a nice neighborhood. You can't let one person -- I mean, I heard these guys talk about the law and their rights. There's four, eight, there's almost eight houses. I don't know how many people, but it's got to be over eight with the kids and all. What the hell rights we got? I mean, we got to have rights. One person, one family can cause all these problem. It just doesn't work that way. It's wrong.
That's why we're here 77 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 today. Councilman DiCicco, you have something to add?
I said, to get that acreage, you'd have to deal with the field mice. I'm not making light of your problem.
Mr. Verdi, I know that there's a case on this. Can we get an update as to what's going on? Do you have anything else to add before I bring the L & I representative up?
What I'm trying to say now is I was there the day of the storm when they came and they shut us all off, the day of the storm. I think he still got his water shut off because now I'm starting to get an odor.
Can I ask you do you notice whether or not there's any -- was the electric ever turned off? Was there any rig put up, any attempt to reconnect in any way.
Because those are things that people should look for, too. In houses where there is drug use and other problems, sometimes the 78 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 electric gets turned off and what the do is they take a set of battery cables and they'll try to re-hook up their electricity. When you see that kind of stuff, that's plainly illegal and it's also a fire hazard. L & I and the electrical company will come out immediately to try to deal with it, take that problem and shut off the electric of the street. It puts more pressure on them to get out of there if they don't have the creature comforts of home.
Another thing, the yard, his yard is filthy. He's got water in a pool out there and it's stagnated. And the alleyway, he's got all kind of furniture throwed out there.
Let me ask you one small question, because I know from time to time I lived on that street for 30-some years and I know from time to time even when I was a kid there was always one or two at the most problem properties either from drug use or other types of problems. Would you say this is probably the only house that's causing this type of problem, or are there other houses on the street that are creating this? If this one bad tooth were removed, what would be the quality of 79 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 that street?
It would be good. Now, I heard the gentleman who lives up closer to Fourth Street, he was telling me that the apartment on the other side, there's an apartment there, he said that he sat there and seen them coming out her door. Now, I don't know if that's true or not.
I apologize, I stepped out of the room for a minute. Were there pets at this property also?
Is there access to the 80 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 alley or is there an alley gate and you need a key to get in?
We're going to get people in there to clean the alley. How can we get access to the alley?
You should all have a key in the event of emergency. Sean from my office is here. He'll take your name and phone number and we'll make arrangements to get the key to get access to the alley and have it cleaned out.
Thank you for coming. We appreciate your time and your patience. We're going to try to get something revolved as soon as we possibly can. 81 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 Mr. Verdi, do you have anything? I'm sorry, do you have anything else?
While L & I is looking for a status on that, is Michele Russello here? Would you please come up? Is there anyone from Mildred Street or the surrounding streets that are here that need to come up and testify. Please identify yourself.
My name is Michele Russello, that's R-U-S-S-E-L-L-O. I live at 2603 South Mildred Street. The building I'm complaining about is 2601 South Mildred. Since July of 1997 my life has been hell. Upon losing my father that year that July, that September I inherited a family of roaches. And I know they were coming from the building next door. The building next door consist of an apartment and a small store. I never realized the problem could manifest so quickly. I tried to talk to my neighbor and I know they didn't have a lot of money. I went there and I offered to pay for the exterminator. I 82 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 thought if we worked together on it, and no problem. But I became aware of the fact that some people are not bothered to live with roaches, to my amazement. They're just part of the family. And I tried to do my best on my own to work with my neighbors on it. I started calling -- in fact, there is the landlord who lived on my street. His name is Lenny Drudanno (ph). He owned the building. I spoke to him, I pleaded with him, "Please, Lenny, do something about them. He said, "I'll give them bombs or whatever." These children told me, "My mother throws the bombs out." So I'm getting frustrated so I called L & I. I spoke to a man who was very, very helpful. He would come down and he would do whatever he had to do and he would follow-up for me. Eventually, it seemed to me there's nothing this poor guy could do. He was as frustrated as I was. I said, "Anthony, what actually are you doing for me?" He said, "Well, I'm doing procedure." The landlord said he would take care of it bah, bah, bah, on and on. So they decided because of the store maybe I could call the Health Department. I spoke 83 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 to Herbert Rodwell who has been wonderful. Mr. Rodwell is extremely helpful. Because of a store maybe I snag on this end because it's a health problem because there are roaches falling from the ceiling in the store. So he's been there and has actually gained access to the house. I met him on occasion. I said, you know, I said that house is not fit for any humans to live in. I wouldn't walk through the front door. The utility people, they won't go down the basement. It's just -- it's a problem. So I got my own exterminator and literally I was in tears. My life was turned to I think, breathe, I do everything roaches. My mother and I are like Blair in the exorcist. We are constantly looking around the house. Our holidays are ruined. We don't want to invite people over. We're embarrassed, you're sitting and all of a sudden a roach comes out. I have a neighbor Franklin Latanso (ph) who suggested that I call my Councilman, which I did. And we do have a hearing date, we do have court. Upon getting notice of that the other day, my car received a nice coat of turpentine. So I 84 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 know there's some vindication going on there.
He took a report. I had my suspicions, obviously. I've been there 38 years. You know, we do have court dates.
We're going to talk to the captain this afternoon as soon as we're done this hearing to make sure that they do what they have to do to keep the patrol there and make sure that you're safe. In addition to dealing with this health and safety problem, I mean, taking action to stop it now is putting you and your property in some jeopardy, which is just beyond any reasonable understanding.
I tried to be nice about 85 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 it, but there's no being nice to people who live like this.
What's the size of the family? How many people are in there?
The family is the mother and father. I believe the mother, I used to think she had a nice tan. I didn't realize she was an alcoholic. They have three to four children living in there. I did not want to call the Child Welfare Department. I did not want to them to take the children away, I just wanted to get rid of the roaches. When you see them crawling in your bed -- I actually lost my job because I couldn't focus anymore. I went to work, I didn't want to go home at night because I was scared. I laid on my couch. I mean, I would just lose my mind. I sat at my table hysterical crying and shaking. He went through everyone of my bedrooms, drawers, my closets. I was there shaking. I mean, it's a horrible experience and it just amazes me some people, they live that like. It's really beyond me.
How old are the children in the house? 86 RESOLUTION NO. 990580
You're not going to call 5 DHS, but we are. And I think that, again, we're 6 going to get a report on what is going on was. 7 What's the date of your hearing. 8
The date of the store -- they have separate dates. I was working with the store to try to get the back people out. The store people weren't dirty themselves. In fact, they actually came from a property they went in and boarded up and now they're running a little store. I didn't want to mess with anyone's livelihood. They were trying to keep the store clean, but they can't because of the problem in the apartment. And supposedly the landlord is going to come down.
Their hearing date is November 24th. Herbert Rodwell is going to let me know when the dates were because I was going to be there.
Do you know what court, is it Common Pleas Court? 87 RESOLUTION NO. 990580
No, I didn't receive notice. They received notice. Mr. Rodwell was to let me know.
Okay. Could we find out couple things. Could we perhaps combine. I mean, it's kind of crazy to have two separate hearing dates for a duplex for a store and an apartment in the same building, go in abate one and can't abate the other. November 24th seems to be in inordinate amount of time for this to continue. Bob, you can -- why don't somebody sit the table and give -- if nothing else today, in addition to developing some type of a task force, if nothing else today what I'd like to do is at least reward these people coming in trying to get their problems resolved beyond the normal scope, the normal process.
We're not sure what court 88 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 it is. I believe she means Municipal Court. We would have to take it out of Municipal Court and put it in Equity Court. The address 2601 South Mildred Street.
Could be the Health Department taking it to court on the store.
If you don't know the answer, you can't answer. I'll ask you to coordinate with Ms. Russello and see if we can't move things at a better pace.
Can I say one thing? I know these people in this apartment, they have a history of this. They moved from a place previous to this under the same scenario and it's happened again. I don't see any solution to this problem except sealing the property. When is a landlord responsible?
That's what my question is. You said the landlord is Mr. Leonard Drudanno? 89 RESOLUTION NO. 990580
If his there's mixed occupancy in the building and the whole building is roach infested or vermin infested, the violation is written against the owner, not the tenants. So I think that's the first problem.
Find out if he has the proper licenses to operate it as a rental property.
Is he responsible at any time to make sure these people keep a clean environment?
Once he's notified, he's responsible to correct the problem. Now, in many cases, as you know, they do ignore it, especially when you have an absentee landlord who lives in Virginia. All he cares about, obviously, is the rental income. That doesn't make your 90 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 problem go away. It's unfortunate we're left with these problems. But there are other ways in which we may be able to force his hand. For instance, if he's not properly licensed, he could be cited for that.
I know he's supposed to come down and bomb Saturday. This has been going on since September of '97. You get to point, you realize you're talking to a wall. These people continue to live like this because it's the way they live. So when does a building actually -- are you able to move the occupants and seal it? I think the little store is trying to make an attempt to keep their part of if clean, but they can't with the back part of it being so, you know, the way it is.
We're going to run a check of everything, licenses, whether he's paid his taxes, whether they're up to date. 91 RESOLUTION NO. 990580
I have to park my car in another part of the city because I know what's going to happen.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I apologize for being late to the hearing. Ma'am, I have been the listening to your situation. Your testimony is that this store is presently open?
It's a grocery store. They were, I believe, selling lunch meat, too. I'm not sure if they still are because I don't shop there.
So the problem emanating from this place and then transferred into 92 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 your place because you live next door?
Yes, I'm the first house. I tell them I'm going to complain, you know.
Well, I guess what I'm having a little difficulty understanding is how can the store be open if they have all this activity going on? People are eating food out of this place.
Councilman, that's probably -- the Health Department is bringing them to court probably for that purpose. That's the reason for the two different court dates. One is the Health Department driven, and one is L & I driven.
I appreciate that, but didn't I hear that the dates were in November?
I spoke to the store owner. I do talk to them because we were trying to do an effort together to move the tenants from the back of the property. I have seen them make an attempt. He said he had a court date of November 24th, and they had a court date in the back, a different date. And he says, "This is kind of crazy, we all have different court dates."
The understanding that she 93 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 just said to me was the court date in November may be generated by the Health Department in relation to the store. The Health Department probably inspected the store and found infestation and then sent that to court. The issue with the residential area is our responsibility. That's why it has a different date. Our hearing date would be different.
L & I doesn't have any involvement in the store issue?
Unless the store issue was referred to us by the Law Department for the infestation. What they do at times -- not the Law Department. Excuse me. The Health Department will refer that to us if they feel the infestation should warrant revocation of the license. What I'm going to do when I get back to my office is find out and check and see if we did get anything of that nature. In reference to revoking the food license would in essence shut the store down. I will check on that when I get back.
What about the possibility of revoking the rental license? I think at some point maybe the Law Department could give us an opinion at some point that if we are issuing a 94 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 rental license for a property that is obviously unhealthful because of infestation, do we not have somewhat exposed to some liability because we're basically certifying that that property is eligible for rental?
In the new procedure, Councilman, that we just initiated a couple weeks -- that we should have in effect in a couple weeks, we are now looking heavily at going after residential rental licenses. One of the sentences or paragraphs of this new administrative hearing letter is going to read, "This hearing is due to show us cause why not to revoke your residential rental license along with your business privilege license becoming a public nuisance." So that is going to be in that letter. We haven't really tested a case yet.
This letter will go to the gentleman in Virginia, plus it also goes to his agent. A lot of our problems also in relations to the violations are actually trying to get responsible party in the City. 95 RESOLUTION NO. 990580
Also, if we revoke the license, it doesn't necessarily get us what we want because the tenant may not move out and you still have to go through a long process, possibly the owner, to get the tenant out.
I'm trying to separate a couple of these pieces here. You obviously have the impact of the infestation issue on the next door neighbor, the lady at the table. She has a immediate problem. But it also seems to me that people coming in the store as a result of all this vermin-like activity going on, there is an immediate health threat to someone who buys something in this place. And whether it's a Health Department issue or an L & I issue, it seems to me that you have another issue of threat to health, safety, and welfare of the customers. So if you have an extended court date, and I don't know when that date was assigned, but I think the one thing we know is that today is the 20th of October. They're not due in until November 24th. So for over a month, we know that people will go in this store, having been inspected by a Health Department person and possibly subjecting the public to a dangerous 96 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 situation upon the food side and the business side. And I'm not saying that closing the business necessarily eliminates the infestation problem or solves this lady's problem immediately, but we have two parties here. We have the next door neighbor and we have the general public. Now, how do we protect the general public from this person?
The Health Department inspects the food establishment for their license and their health code and they determine -- and with the Law Department on court dates for that which is segregated from L & I's process in dealing with residential properties. So it's two separate. So to answer your question, this task force Councilman talked about will help in letting us understand the Health Department's process and vice versa, them understanding our process and working together.
It's really scary to me that I know the tenants are a huge problem. The utility people won't go down in the basement. They're slobs. They sat there every night. I was willing to exterminate. They drink beer all day and 97 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 they -- the Health Department has been there, Mr. Rodwell has been there. And I don't understand why someone can't go in and clean out that place and remove them from the property. They're the problem. They're not going to straighten up there act because that's the way they live. Until they're out of there, my life is going to be like murder; it's murder. I live, dream, and think and bug. I go to bed at night worrying. I used to enjoy my home. I haven't taken a bath in my bathtub because I want to get in and out of that shower. I can't enjoy my home anymore because these people have violated -- these people collect -- I worked until I couldn't focus any longer because it's all I thing about is roaches.
Do we know if these people are paying rent or if they're on any type of assistance of any kind? Do we know the status of the property as far as are they subsidized in any way by the government? If they don't work and they're there drinking every day, how do they pay their rent?
I believe the husband now works. I'm not sure if they receive anything from 98 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 the government. But even if in fact they did, they are defacing the whole property by that two by four store.
We're going to attempt -- Commissioner Verdi is going to try to find out what's going on with this.
There was a violation issued on September 10th. Unfortunately, I can't -- I just called my office and the system went down on us. We're looking for reinspection date. Just in case, what I just did was we're dispatching people over to 1487 Wilt. I just had an inspector go over to 350 Cantrell. We'll have an update.
I recognize you don't have people to send out dispatch from this room. But if we can get the commitment that we're going to have people out there dealing with this in the most effective way possible, and that doesn't necessarily mean bringing the Law Department and getting another hearing date, but trying to access that property in a legal way to allow us to take care of the problem.
And as you know, Councilman, if we can get in through crook or miss, we'll get in. I mean, the line is not necessarily 99 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 straight. We'll bend it to try to do our job.
We can go look for the two guys who are out scamming senior citizens. They seem to get in people's houses pretty quick. Maybe we ought to employ them and let them get in the property. Okay, thank you very much.
In fact, I'm a little scared to be sitting here today because I am the only person who lives next to this building. You know, it sounds pretty cruel. I don't want to put anybody out on the street, but these people have ruined my life.
When we get done with this panel, I'm going to go call Captain Heath of the 4th District to make sure that we have enough coverage and make sure that the community relations officer comes and talks to you and understands that you have direct contact with them to make your situation a priority.
Thank you. Barbara Johnson, Marie Lewenowski, are they here? 100 RESOLUTION NO. 990580
Councilman Kenney, as per your suggestion, everyone who took the time to come here today to participate in this will get moved into priority status. I personally will handle each one of these to make sure.
I appreciate that effort. I think my point was as coming here and spending the time, having the patience of dealing with many of these long term from two years to nine years -- and please understand me, I'm not finding fault with L & I. I as the chairman of this committee recognize the burden that sometimes this legislative body and all the problems of the City kind of just throw on the department of last resort. When the Police Department won't deal with it, when the Fire Department won't deal with it, when the Health Department won't deal with it, L & I becomes a catch-all for everybody. They're in a big system with a big bureaucracy and things are going to fall through the crack. It doesn't make anybody in this room who's gone through this feel any better, but if at least if they come out of this with some resolution for their immediate problem while we're working on long-term policy changes or procedures 101 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 that are necessary, I think it will be worthwhile.
Thank you. Will you please identify yourself for the record?
My name is Gloria Lewandowski and I live at 2631 Mercer and I have been having a problem with 2633 Mercer Street. It's roaches. Prior to the roaches it was many other things, but my main problem today is the roaches. Last year I called L & I September 21st. Actually, at the time at 12:22 p.m. I spoke with to Ms. Stewart and reported the roach problem going which had been going on for two to three years. So I guess the complaint was put into the computer. October 28th. I called back to find out the status of my report. I spoke with a Ralph and he said it was backlogged and they would get to it. November 17th I called again at 1:17 p.m. I spoke with Sonya Stewart who happened to remember me and made mention that the report was never filed. At this point I was, like most of the other people here, you know, pretty crazy. Roaches all over the house. I wasn't raised like this. I'm 102 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 not used to this. And so anyway I placed another report. So as time goes on, this summer starts and apparently I have a huge roach problem again. So July 19th I walked over to L & I because I wasn't getting any results with the phone calls and I spoke to a Mr. Rollins who informed me that actually on December 8th L & I did go to 2633 Mercer and was refused entrance, which is the style here with this house; this always happens. So I placed other complaint and that's where I stand. I'm at my witt's end. I'm like most of the other people where I have roaches in my bedroom. I can't have company to my home. I'm embarrassed. I hate to go home because I don't live like this and I actually don't want to go home any more. I'm like the other woman, I used to enjoy my home. I can't stand going home.
Do the neighbors on the other side experience the same problems?
Well, they do, but as in most situations with any kind of reporting, people are afraid. There's always a retaliation factor. 103 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 As in several years ago I had to call for dog feces in the yard. It was one of the hottest summers and they hadn't cleaned the yard all summer and they had a huge dog. We have two cement blocks in the backyard. So when L & I finally did come out, they kind of destroyed my backyard a little. Basically, I had a beautiful garden and they kind of pulled some things out and pulled some vines off the wall, I guess to let me know that they were cleaning, you know, their yard. The neighbors on the other side have asked them if they would purchase the bombs for the house would they comply, you know, and the whole row of these row homes would then bomb the property. And it's just fallen on deaf ears. Several houses down are also seeing roaches, and some people now complaining of mice. I myself am lucky enough to have three cats and they have actually caught some mice last winter in my home. I also feed the alley cats to help this situation and have found several mice in the backyard. So some things I can control, but the roaches are just --
What's the status of the 104 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 property 2633, is there a family living there?
It's a mother, father a little boy about 2 or 3, and a young girl about 9 or 10. The father goes to work everyday. The young girl goes to school. The mother's home with the child. There are weeks that no trash is put out, so I know part of it is they're just dirty and lazy people. I hate to say it. And they don't put their trash out. I mean, sometimes it's months. A family of four with no trash? I can't -- it's in there somewhere. Then, of course, if I do say things or other neighbors, like I have asked different times, you know, I'll help you, could we do this. When I come home from work the next day, I may have like probably juice -- they're small things, but they're things that make my life miserable. There would be trash on my pavement, things crushed into my step, you know, just little destructive things. Not enough to call the police, but enough to let me know that I guess I'm disturbing them. Plus, I have asthma. I mean, I use an inhalator. And this summer I actually sprayed my 105 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 house every day. My dad goes to a place where exterminators go to get the fluid, and I sprayed my house every day and I'm still seeing roaches. I have roach motels, the stickies, and it's just disgusting, it really is.
Where it's out of control. Initially, it had started and I just thought maybe I was getting lax in my housekeeping, but I realize that it was probably just the beginning of what was going on.
They lived there probably, I'm going to guess about seven years, maybe a little longer.
Just make sure -- before we get questions from other Council Members, I want to make sure that you talk to either Mr. Solvible or to Mr. Verdi who is here before you leave today. 106 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 We'll see if we can move on this. Understand also that your testimony will be used to develop a set of recommendations that, hopefully, will keep people having to go through this in the future, but at the same time we're trying to get your situation on track.
Thanks for your patience. Are you on the same street? We'll take these two ladies here. Please identify yourself for the record.
We are residents of Agate Street. L & I did come out a few weeks ago. We still have a roach problem. There are still roaches coming and they are a health hazard. I did a little research and they carry salmonella, staph infection, strep. So it is a health hazard. Those are serious bacteria.
Can you give us an idea as to the history of what happened at that property so we can get an idea of what's going on? 107 RESOLUTION NO. 990580
Well, I started to call L & I last summer. For about two months straight I called every single day. I got the number through the blue pages of the yellow pages and never spoke to anyone; it was always a machine. I kept leaving message after message after message. I finally just gave up. The problem came on and off. We would exterminate like crazy, they would go away, they would come back. This summer, I'd say starting in June, my middle bedroom -- I have four kids. In my middle bedroom I had to completely shut down, throw their clothes out, there was roaches so bad. I'm connected right to another bedroom where a dead body sat for three or four days, maggots all over.
In the house in the bedroom next to where my problem all started.
Well, there was a guy, he was drug addict, completely like a vegetable, didn't even know where he was. He wasn't even there most 108 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 of the time. 90 percent of the time it was all his friends, prostitutes were there. He would leave, come home for a couple of days, and be gone again for another month. We both have offered to pay for his exterminating. Last summer I did pay for his exterminating. I'm living off of one check. So what happened was it just got into the kitchen. I could not cook. I delivered my fourth child in August, and it's been hell. I mean, my kids aren't allowed to have anybody over because I'm embarrassed. I couldn't cook for them. I'm broke, between the exterminating and having to eat out every single night. My kids would have to jump up from eating cereal before they go to school because there would be roaches crawling across the table. When the L & I inspector did -- well, thanks to you, this is the only way that that problem has been solved.
What I would ask -- and I know Mr. Solvible and Commissioner McLaughlin were, I think, at I property or at the street. If there is some way we can do a follow-up. What is status of the house now, has it 109 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 been cleaned sealed?
It's been cleaned and sealed, but I'm still getting them and I'm getting them even in places that I didn't have them before. I had 2 bedrooms that were safe, my bedroom and the back bedroom which have I have all the kids in now. I still can't use the middle bedroom. They're even getting in there now. I did call a Mr. Ferrara from the Health Department. He came by yesterday and checked the cracks and everything and he did see live ones running around but he didn't see them like infested in the cracks, but it's still the problem.
Can I say one more thing? We haven't had any food in my home. It's myself and my mother. She has kids to feed. We go out a lot. We go to my brother's house, we go whereever. But we haven't had food in there for easily a month, and we still have roaches coming into our home. And it was sealed. The day it was sealed, I asked if I could go in and look around, and there were thousands of dead roaches, plus some still moving around in there, and those weren't swept up. What the exterminator told us is that 110 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 they feed off them and they'll eat dead bugs. So there's still live ones running around in there.
Can we perhaps get our contractor, whoever we contract with to do that work maybe revisit this site and to do whatever we need?
We'll have it reopened, if not today, tomorrow. And we'll try to -- we'll broom sweep. We did broom sweep it that day at the end.
So you understand how bad it must have been in there, we removed, which is not normal, all the curtains, all the paneling on the wall, and we took out everything except the kitchen cabinets. And really, the Health Department really treated that. But we'll reopen and recap so someone can get in. We'll reopen again and bomb it again and bomb next door. Her house we didn't bomb, Councilman, because the Health Department was concerned for her children.
The baby is six weeks now. He was in the hospital last week for two days with a viral infection. I don't know if that has anything to do with it, but it's in the back of my mind. He's sick again this week. This is like a 111 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 six-week-old baby. Not that the other ones aren't important, but I am so -- I mean, I didn't even know until like a couple weeks ago that roaches bite. I didn't know that. Like I said, I'm very thankful that the place has been taken of, but I just want to say that there is still a problem.
Councilman, I think if you deal with a problem and deal with it from a mental health situation, the neighbors told us that the gentleman who owned the house is a machinist making 40- to $60,000 a year, got on drugs and booze and just slowly deteriorated. So it's a really -- a lot of this, the people who create these problems is a mental health problem and obviously is not something L & I can deal with.
We'll try to follow-up and see if we can get this thing finished.
I'd also like to mentioned they did a great job. They were out there all day to clean everything out. There's a home in back of us, too, we share the backyard, there's elderly woman behind me who has roaches, too. She comes out 112 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 in the middle of the night, no lights on. What are you doing? I don't like to see the bugs. She has a neighbor next to her which is the house right behind us, the people there were supposed to be evicted --
The commissioner says they have that address and they're working on that. Now, hopefully we'll get to the situation that he dealt with last week.
My concern is there are kids in there and there are roaches in there, and apparently somebody from the ethic community got them an extension to remain there because they had nowhere to go. I didn't want to see kids streeted, but they were living in a roach-infested home.
We'll get a full report from the Commissioner of the status of that house behind you.
It is climbing down. People on the other side away from the drug house have it. 113 RESOLUTION NO. 990580
We'll be on that. Hopefully we can resolve your problems and you can get back to normal life.
Thank you very much for your patience and waiting. Would you please identify yourself for the record.
Thank you very much. Would you please proceed with your testimony?
My problem is I have a house directly in the back of me that's been vacant for about 20-some years. I've called and called and called, and now it's like a forest. Three trees are growing back up. Weeds are everywhere, come clean over to my fence. The house is at 2619 West Ingersoll Street.
Now, the problem is every time I call they put me on hold and L & I told me that I couldn't do anything to that property because the tax is being paid. But it's nobody living in there. It used to be squatters go in. I stopped a police officer. He told me he couldn't do anything. So now we have problem with the weeds growing up. And I got my daughter's clippers and tried to clip some. The electric man won't go down the alley. And I see mice when I go out in my yard. One day I saw a rat, and I'm scared of them.
So that's my problem. And this has been going on for 20-some years. Everybody gives me the run-around and say I can't do nothing about it.
Let our office check on what's going on with that property and see if it's in a condition to be demolished or not and see if we can't get that lot cleaned out and dealt with, okay?
Thank you. We have your phone number here. We'll get ahold of you, okay? 115 RESOLUTION NO. 990580 Thank you for your patience.
My problem is a little bit similar to hers. I live next to a house that's been boarded up for years. 6