The stink is back

[Lee Chowaniec]

The stink is back

Once again the warm weather has brought out the cat urine smell on Gregory Court; once again because this has been happening for near a decade. It became especially bad when the offending property owner had 37 cats in the house and where neighbors once again reported seeing the cats and smelling a god-awful odor. The authorities responded and the 37 cats were removed; some dead and in a state of decomposition. Feces were discovered all over the house and in the garage. The cat urine odor was overwhelming.

This was in April of 2010. Despite orders by the Health Department and Town of Cheektowaga Building Inspectors office to clean/replace/restore the home to code compliance, the little the property owner did to remove the odor was not sufficient.

The odor continued to emanate from the property all last summer and foul the air to such extent that the neighbors were deprived from use of their grounds for get togethers or private use. They were told by visitors that they would rather be indoors. I can attest to the strong odor as I am a parent of one of the neighbors and visit frequently.

Despite repeated calls to the authorities last summer on the same matter, nothing was done to bring relief. So here we go again this summer and neighbors are being told that the delay is most likely coming because the offending property owner appears before the town justice (with attorney), pleads he is working on it and most likely receives an Adjournment in contemplation of dismissal (ACD) - with the understanding that the offending property owner will get a ultimate dismissal of the charge (citation) if he corrects the smell situation. The judge usually adjourns the case for a period of six months (sometimes a year) after which time the case will be dismissed as long as the defendant has stayed out of trouble and/or corrected the violation.

Councilman Markel, if you are reading this, you have been made well aware of the situation and I would suggest you encourage the judge to visit the property on Gregory Court and let me get a whiff of the outside air when the warm weather returns, and they take him inside where he will most likely gag.

Taxpaying neighboring property owners should not have their properties devalued by this situation, nor have their quality of life impacted by a neighbor who claims poverty but brings an attorney to a hearing and is seen frequenting casinos. Furthrmor, lack of money does not excuse a filthy environment

Next steps are the town board and media exposure. Enough is enough!

[WNYresident]

How old is the person who lives in the home?

[SafeWNY]

Lee;

I completely sympathize with you on this one - we've been dealing with the same issue here in the Village of Lancaster. For the past 5 years, we've been trying to get the Village, the SPCA, health dept., and the DEC to help with the same type of situation. In November, a resident of the home required medical attention, and the responding LVAC crew contacted codes due to the conditions in the home. Codes in turn contacted the SPCA, who took 11 felines out of the house, all of which were put down due to their health. The 1st floor of the home had it's Cert. of Occupancy pulled, but the upstairs apartment is still usable. We've counted upwards of 20 more cats again. The guy feeds the strays, and we've seen people dump their cats at the end of our street knowing that this house will take them in.
We can't open our windows if the wind is out of the southeast or east, the smell will gag us from across the street...
The house is falling apart, our trustees and the mayor in addition to code enforcement has been fully aware of the situation, and yet nothing happens. Frustrating at best when we have watched the Village decline in their enforcement of the quality of life regulations that they used to be the envy of other municipalities.

[joe d.]

Hmmmmmmmmmm...Makes me wonder how long this condition would exist if it were located next to "politico"...in the village??

[gorja]

Lee;

I completely sympathize with you on this one - we've been dealing with the same issue here in the Village of Lancaster. For the past 5 years, we've been trying to get the Village, the SPCA, health dept., and the DEC to help with the same type of situation. In November, a resident of the home required medical attention, and the responding LVAC crew contacted codes due to the conditions in the home. Codes in turn contacted the SPCA, who took 11 felines out of the house, all of which were put down due to their health. The 1st floor of the home had it's Cert. of Occupancy pulled, but the upstairs apartment is still usable. We've counted upwards of 20 more cats again. The guy feeds the strays, and we've seen people dump their cats at the end of our street knowing that this house will take them in.
We can't open our windows if the wind is out of the southeast or east, the smell will gag us from across the street...
The house is falling apart, our trustees and the mayor in addition to code enforcement has been fully aware of the situation, and yet nothing happens. Frustrating at best when we have watched the Village decline in their enforcement of the quality of life regulations that they used to be the envy of other municipalities.

I can't believe the upstairs apartment is still usable. Won't smelling all the ammonia in the cat urine cause the resident(s) respiratory problems? Wouldn't that smell go through the duct work? If they have 20 more cats, don't you think the SPCA is due for another visit?

[Lee Chowaniec]

How old is the person who lives in the home?

Your question most likely is posed to determine whether the individual is incapacitated in some some way that precludes him or her in acting in a rational manner. The gentleman is in his late 60's and has been a thorn in the side of neighbors for the last few decades. When I have seen him, he is usually disshevled and not neat.

Last summer, the town inspection department had to be notified again because f the smell and also because he was not cutting the grass in his backyard; it grew to somewhere about three-feet high. Junk was laying all around and the place was a perfect harbor for rodents. It is a nice neighborhood and the property owners pay high taxes and can't get relief to enjoy the quality of life they are entitled to.

My son-in-law cuts his front lawn just to make his and the neighboring properties look neat. He blows the snow from his property and the guy is too lazy to shovel his stairs. The kids have lived there for three years now, have been good neighbors and patient people and just can't take it anymore; and shouldn't have to.

According to court records the last time the guy was before the Town Justice was in August of 2010. The kids complained several times last year, but to no avail.

joe d. makes an excellent point stating that if it were a town political in the same situation the stink issue would be resolved. It is sad when a town code officer is of the mind that the place should be gutted and yet the only thing the offender has done is to wash some carpeting and sprayed some deodorizer.

[WNYresident]

Your question most likely is posed to determine whether the individual is incapacitated in some some way that precludes him or her in acting in a rational manner. The gentleman is in his late 60's and has been a thorn in the side of neighbors for the last few decades. When I have seen him, he is usually disshevled and not neat.

Does anyone ever wonder why? So Lee.. Do you believe he lives this way because he enjoys to?

So the last few decades?.. That's a long time to have your neighbors think you are a thorn in their side. That would wear on you after a while... I wonder what happened 30 years ago.....

Do you know if he has any family?

[SafeWNY]

Res; it's the same thing here with me. It's been the last 25 years for this family, and the neighborhood can't stand it. We bought our house in 2007, and unfortunately we were not aware of the issues (it was winter...). Once we started realizing it, the next door neighbors told us that the stink and the cats were the reason that the prior occupant sold the home.

It's a mental illness....these individuals aren't healthy - mentally, and in some cases physically as a result. The issue is that no one will get involved because felines are not required to be licensed, and ownership is only proven if the cat is found in the home. Soooo.....you can feed the strays all day long, and although it is against DEC regulations to leave food out, and against village and town code due to rats, the mere fact that there is an over run of cats isn't illegal...

Unless, of course, there is neglect and/or abuse - but even then, the SPCA is too swamped to help.

[SafeWNY]

I can't believe the upstairs apartment is still usable. Won't smelling all the ammonia in the cat urine cause the resident(s) respiratory problems? Wouldn't that smell go through the duct work? If they have 20 more cats, don't you think the SPCA is due for another visit?

Gorja;
The cats are actually upstairs. The cat urine had actually seeped through the walls from the attic and 2nd floor into the 1st floor.

The SPCA will not return my calls, and a personal visit to them still has not resulted in an officer coming out.

When they were here in November, we witnessed this individual releasing cats that the SPCA had caught in the box traps. They didn't do anything about that either.

If I mentioned the name, or the street, you would know exactly where I meant...by Keysa Park.

The village is probably sick and tired of hearing me bitch about it - and honestly I know that they can only do so much.

[gorja]

Originally posted by Lee Chowaniec:
It is sad when a town code officer is of the mind that the place should be gutted and yet the only thing the offender has done is to wash some carpeting and sprayed some deodorizer.

I agree with the code officer. The carpet and the flooring need to be removed, not just shampooed. Don't any of these code enforcement officers having any authority? One would think the department of health would have a say in this both your child's situation and Safewny's situation. Maybe if all the neighbors go to the board meeting and protest the situation with the media present something might get done.

[SafeWNY]

It didn't in my situation, unfortunately.

[gorja]

It didn't in my situation, unfortunately.

That sucks.

[SafeWNY]

meh - it really boils down to it being my fault - we didn't catch it, and didn't ask the right questions when we looked at our house. I can't expect the village to address everything, and since it has been going on for so long, they probably don't want to put the time or resources into it with the assumption that everyone else in the area finds it acceptable.

I'm taking solace in the fact that the house is either going to fall down, or be condemned eventually.

The bottom line is that in both of these situations, an individual with serious issues is not receiving the help that is needed. A classic case of "not my problem" by those that are supposed to be the ambassadors and leaders of our community.

[gorja]

meh - it really boils down to it being my fault - we didn't catch it, and didn't ask the right questions when we looked at our house. I can't expect the village to address everything, and since it has been going on for so long, they probably don't want to put the time or resources into it with the assumption that everyone else in the area finds it acceptable.

I'm taking solace in the fact that the house is either going to fall down, or be condemned eventually.

The bottom line is that in both of these situations, an individual with serious issues is not receiving the help that is needed. A classic case of "not my problem" by those that are supposed to be the ambassadors and leaders of our community.

I'm surprised that the man in your situation, when hospitalized that an evaluation didn't deem him unfit to live independently.


Can you imagine the stench if the fire company did a "Live burn" on that house after being evacuated?

[Lee Chowaniec]

meh - it really boils down to it being my fault - we didn't catch it, and didn't ask the right questions when we looked at our house. I can't expect the village to address everything, and since it has been going on for so long, they probably don't want to put the time or resources into it with the assumption that everyone else in the area finds it acceptable.

I'm taking solace in the fact that the house is either going to fall down, or be condemned eventually.

The bottom line is that in both of these situations, an individual with serious issues is not receiving the help that is needed. A classic case of "not my problem" by those that are supposed to be the ambassadors and leaders of our community.

meh - it really boils down to it being my fault - we didn't catch it, and didn't ask the right questions when we looked at our house. I can't expect the village to address everything, and since it has been going on for so long, they probably don't want to put the time or resources into it with the assumption that everyone else in the area finds it acceptable.

I assume you purchased your home in colder weather when the stench was not noticeable and where the owner would not impart information on the shortcomings of the sale. Why wold you take the position it is your fault? The same can be said when the kids purchased their home. When they contacted the former owners they found this situation was going on for years and was being reported by others for years as well. The town admits to having an extensive list of complaints on this individual.

One of the biggest problems is that there is no code in place to deal directly with the situation.

I'm taking solace in the fact that the house is either going to fall down, or be condemned eventually.

The home in Cheektowaga is not but would need to be gutted to get rid of the smell – words from a code office, followed up by but “legally our hands are tie”. Why?

The bottom line is that in both of these situations, an individual with serious issues is not receiving the help that is needed. A classic case of "not my problem" by those that are supposed to be the ambassadors and leaders of our community.

There’s the rub. When politicos are out campaigning, their mantra is ‘in the best interests of the residents of the community’. Here they take no action not only protect the quality of life of the offended, but give no consideration to the potential health issues of the offender; nor does the Health Department and/or any other agency or individual involved in this matter.

No one is asking for the offender to move or be displaced. It is simply to take correction action to get rid of the odor. And yet the town sits on its collective hands and does nothing!.