Balcom Avenue
garbage hoarder stinks
up the neighborhood
BY ALEX MITCHELL
Neighbors in Throggs
Neck have endured a ‘little
shop of horrors’ growing in
the front and back yards of
274 Balcom Avenue for some
years now.
Buckets of raw fi sh, rotten
tomatoes, oranges and plastic
bottles containing a yellow
liquid that emit a urine-like
aroma are scattered among
piles of wood and scrap
metal, reek outside an overgrown
property with vines
so thick that they would rival
Wrigley Field’s ivy.
The 3-story brick 1950s
home, which has is attached
on both sides, is solely inhabited
by 74-year-old Richard
Kehrle; a disheveled
man who is hard of hearing
and suffers from a severe
speech impediment. He’s
lived on Balcom Avenue for
half a century and inherited
the modest house from his
parents following their passing.
“He’s a hoarder,” said Kehrle’s
next door neighbor, Lauren
Torres. She and her fam-
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, O 14 CTOBER 4-10, 2019 BTR
Piled up wood and scrap metal in Kehrle’s backyard.
Courtesy of Lauren Torres
Raw fi sh left otuside of 274 Balcom Avenue. Courtesy of Lauren Torres
ily has put up with the smell
of urine and feces coming
from Kehrle’s yard for many
years. She claims the odorous
fl uids run into her property
whenever it rains.
“We literally can’t even
sit outside in our own yard,”
Torres said, adding that Kehrle’s
backyard is about two
feet higher than ground level
because of all the junk he
stores there.
She explained that he
scours the neighborhood
daily with his shopping cart,
collecting cartloads of junk
to bring into his home.
“Recently he found poles
that (hold) a chain link fence
that are now in the backyard,”
Torres said.
Kehrle downplayed the situation,
saying that he “only
grows tomatoes to eat,” on
Tuesday, October 1.
He also said that the fi sh
and bottles he keeps outside
are to deter mosquitoes and
that they consist of mostly
rainwater.
Many city agencies have
inspected Kehrle’s home,
such as Adult Protective Services
and even the Environmental
Protection Agency,
he said.
“The FDNY told me that
his home is a fi re hazard and
one spark could make the entire
thing catch fi re,” Torres
said, mentioning that Con
Edison can’t even get in to
the house to read his gas meter.
Kerhle expressed frustration
with his Throggs Neck
neighbors who are meddling
in his affairs. He’s asking for
help to set up a GoFundMe
page so that he can “raise
$500,000 for his house and
move out of the neighborhood
Bottles left out in Kehrle’s backyard. Courtesy of Lauren Torres for good.”