4 JULY 5, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
RVs in Glendale cause a commotion
BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
TWITTER @R_KELLEY6
It’s no secret that Queens’ housing
market has exploded, sending
property values and rents sky
high. There have been stories reported
of people escaping the fi nancial
burden of living in New York City by
purchasing a recreational vehicle (RV)
and parking it on city streets, so when
two of the vehicles recently showed
up on the same street in Glendale, it
naturally caused a stir.
Conversations began on Glendale
Facebook groups early in June about a
group of RVs parked on the Woodhaven
Boulevard service road next to the
Home Depot parking lot, on the border
of Glendale and Forest Hills. Many accusations
were made — such as people
living in the RVs, plugging extension
cords into city light poles and leaving
garbage on the street.
The RVs were still there on June 26
when the Ridgewood Times went to
investigate. While there were no people
present at the RVs and the doors were
padlocked from the outside, the RVs
were surrounded by items that could
give clues to the reason for their presence.
The first vehicle in line — an
older model with a custom paint job
including depictions of cameras, microphones
and musical notes — had
a trailer attached to the back and a
stack of clutter leaning against it. An
aluminum ladder, a step stool, a water
cooler, a chair, a mini fridge, a broom,
a plastic bin fi lled with random waste
and more made up the pile.
Also attached to the back of the RV
was a security camera, and there was
Photo by Ryan Kelley/QNS
The RVs parked along a
Woodhaven Boulevard service road
on the Glendale/Forest Hills border
by Home Depot on June 26.
a small solar panel on the roof as well
as solar-powered lights attached to the
sides of the vehicle. There was a folded up
beach chair on the roof too, and a cinder
block rested under the front right wheel.
The second RV has a large camper
hitched to the back of it and both are
surrounded by more items. There
were insulation panels and plywood
leaning against the camper, an unused
gas-powered generator by the door,
and another gas generator with its
engine humming between the camper
and the rear of the RV. There were also
extension cords, a propane tank, twoby
fours, garbage cans and folding
carts between the camper and RV.
A pair of bicycles were chained to
the fence nearby, and another rested
against the door of the second RV.
Despite the outcry online and the
obvious signs of life at the RVs, Community
Board 6 District Manager
Frank Gulluscio said that he was only
made aware of the vehicles on June 25.
“We know nothing. We got one call
on Monday about this and we sent it
to the precinct,” Gulluscio said. “If
they’re running a generator I think
that’s a situation.”
Gulluscio added, however, that RVs
are allowed to park anywhere on the
street as long as they are obeying
regular parking restrictions. At
the vehicles’ current location on the
service road, there are no signs that
restrict parking.
At the 112th Precinct Community
Council meeting on June 25, newly
appointed commanding offi cer Captain
John Cermeli acknowledged that the
precinct has received complaints about
vehicles parked on the service road,
but he did not specifi cally mention RVs.
“In the last two weeks, I think we’ve
done two or three tow operations over
there where we’ve towed the trucks out
of there,” Cermeli said. “The tickets at
fi rst, it came to the point where it was
a cost of doing business for them, so
now we take their whole truck. That’s
the message we want to send out there.”
The next day, another law enforcement
source familiar with the
situation told the Ridgewood Times
that police have been made aware of
the RVs and have visited them several
times, but they are limited in how they
can deal with the vehicles. The source
also suggested the vehicles have been
vandalized in the past.
Another neighborhood source
claims to have spoken to a man at the
site of the RVs, who said he lives in the
neighborhood and is renovating the
vehicles for other people.
Aft er a second visit to the site on
June 28, several of the items around
the RVs had been re-arranged and the
generator was no longer running. The
Ridgewood Times has not been able to
locate anyone involved with the RVs.
Giving
away rain
barrels in
Glendale
Photo courtesy of State Senator Joe
Addabbo’s offi ce
State Senator Joe Addabbo
and Assemblyman Mike
Miller gave away more than
200 rain barrels to residents
during a June 16 event at the
Yeshiva Godolah Seminary in
Glendale. As noted, the city’s
Department of Environmental
Protection (DEP) helped make the
giveaway possible. Rain barrels
allow homeowners to collect rain
water from their gutters for use
in gardening or washing their
cars; the devices help protect
the environment and reduce the
amount of runoff that enters the
city’s sewer system.
Life’s a picnic for Queensboro UNICO
Photo courtesy of Gaspare Mistretta
Members of Queensboro UNICO celebrated a beautiful spring day together during the fraternal organization’s annual picnic on June 10. The festivities
included live music, food prizes and charitable donations supporting the community. UNICO members are pictured above.
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