14 MARCH 8, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Severe hoarding causes major
problems in Glendale apartment
BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
TWITTER @R_KELLEY6
The sidewalks are all but spotless
and garbage is neatly placed in
cans outside the long row of
joined brick apartments on 65th Place
between 70th Avenue and Central Avenue
in Glendale — but one residence
has a nauseating secret.
As soon as one opens the door to
70-15 65th Pl., the rotten stench of
old garbage, mold and decay pours
out. According to Kathleen Midlaw, a
resident of the building since 2006, her
landlord has fi lled the basement with
trash and debris “from fl oor to ceiling”
over time. On March 1, Midlaw discovered
that a vacant fi rst-fl oor apartment
is also infested with waste.
“When the bugs appeared, that’s
when it became unmanageable,” Midlaw
said. “We have to have this taken
care of. It’s more than a health issue;
it’s a fi re hazard. I’ll die if there’s a fi re.”
Midlaw lives directly above the
vacant apartment and its filth has
caused fruit fl ies and cockroaches to
invade her space, she said. Two sticky
fl y mats on her coff ee table are covered
with dead fl ies, and within minutes of
setting a glass of juice on the table, it
also becomes fi lled with fl ies.
The vacant apartment has been empty
for almost two years, Midlaw said,
and Department of Housing Preservation
and Development (HPD) records
show the unit has two open violations
dating back to 2016 for mice and
roaches. In total, the building has 30
open violations including six for leadbased
paint in a third-fl oor apartment,
fi ve for household items obstructing
hallways or fi re escapes and two for
an accumulation of refuse in the rear
yard. The building is also currently
not validly re-registered with HPD,
which is a yearly requirement.
According to Midlaw, some other
residents of the building have been
refusing to pay rent until the problem
is dealt with.
The hoarding has become so severe
that even the residents of the adjoined
buildings are feeling the eff ects. At
70-11 65th Pl., Julio Mandala’s firstfl
oor apartment shares a wall with the
vacant unit next door. Fruit fl ies from
the piles of garbage have invaded his
home, where he places cups of red wine
around the apartment to collect the
fl ies and even has a bug-zapping lamp.
The conditions have also caused
health complications with his son,
who is a diabetic and takes several
medications.
“If I see someone selling drugs, I don’t
move. If you don’t bother me, I don’t care,”
Mandala said. “But now my son has a problem,
and he might have to get an operation
for his kidney. I’ve lost two houses, and I
don’t care. I don’t want to lose my son.”
At 70-19 65th Pl., the worst problem
has been the rats attracted by the trash
next door, said 30-year resident Victoria
Kovrig. The massive amount of
garbage used to bring herds of 50 rats
that she would see outside the building,
Kovrig said. While it sounds like an
exaggeration, HPD records show that
70-15 65th Pl. has an open violation
for a “nuisance consisting of rodents
droppings at building front.”
“She has so many violations, but she
doesn’t care about those violations,”
Kovrig said. “They’ll have to rent a
container to throw everything out.”
The concerned residents all believe
that the landlord of 70-15 65th Pl.,
Maria Hlawaty, lost her husband in
recent months and the problem has
only gotten worse since then.
Hlawaty has not yet responded to a
request for comment from the Ridgewood
Times..
Midlaw and her neighbors have
complained to Community Board
5, Assemblyman Mike Miller, the
Department of Sanitation, the Fire
Department and the Department of
Buildings. While inspectors have
Photos by Ryan Kelley/RIDGEWOOD TIMES
visited the building, they are limited
in how much they can see because
Hlawaty usually keeps the basement
locked, Midlaw said.
When a Sanitation Enforcement
Offi cer showed up on March 1, the
offi cer explained that they are not
allowed to go inside of buildings. The
offi cer said they can only write tickets
based on sanitation conditions in front
of buildings and on sidewalks, and
also advised the residents to contact
the Department of Mental Health and
Hygiene.
Midlaw then pulled out her phone
to show photos of the problem, and the
offi cer was left almost speechless.
“That’s inside the house?” the offi cer
said. “Oh my god.”
