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March 8–14, 2019 Including Canarsie Digest
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City will demolish notorious hoarder house in Flatlands
BY COLIN MIXSON
Flatlanders are rejoicing after the city
fi led applications to demolish a notorious
Avenue L home packed to the roof
with junk, an eyesore that neighbors
said plagued the neighborhood for
more than a decade.
“This is what we’ve been looking forward
to for many years,” said Kevin Hyland,
who lives on E. 48th Street, a few
blocks away from the hoarder home .
The demolition permits fi led on
Feb. 21 by agents at the Department
of Housing Preservation and Development
come years after Department of
Buildings honchos slapped the home
and its owner John DePietro with a full
vacate order in 2014, which DePietro
managed to skirt at the time, according
to locals, who claimed he avoided
inspectors in part because he lived out
of a Winnebago parked around the corner
— because he couldn’t fi t inside his
home near E. 55th Street.
But residents called on offi cials to
intervene well before the Buildings Department
issued that vacate order, according
to the local councilman, who
said he began efforts to clean up the
cluttered cottage back in 2006, after being
elected to his former offi ce in the Assembly.
“It’s been an issue as long as I’ve
Continued on page 12 GOING DOWN: Offi cials are in the process of razing the Avenue L home packed with junk.
Pol taps locals
to help make
streets safer
BY JULIANNE MCSHANE
He’s taking a walk on the safer side.
A Southern Brooklyn pol is turning
to his constituents in a bid to create
safer streets within his district.
Democratic state Sen. Andrew Gounardes
tapped more than a dozen local
leaders to staff his offi ce’s new pedestrian
safety task force, hoping their
experiences navigating the car-heavy
and subway-strapped 22nd state Senate
district will result in practical proposals
to improve conditions on thoroughfares
in neighborhoods he represents,
including Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights,
Gravesend, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach,
Marine Park, Manhattan Beach, Gerritsen
Beach, and parts of Sheepshead
Bay, Borough Park, and Midwood.
“We have a lot of car volume, and
Continued on page 12
Brooklyn is Bernin’!
Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders returned to his native borough on March 2 to host the fi rst rally of his recently announced
2020 presidential campaign at Brooklyn College, which drew thousands of supporters still feeling the Bern after the
pol’s unsuccessful bid for the Democratic Party line in the 2016 election. For more, see page 2. Photo by Caroline Ourso
Vol. 74 No. 10 UPDATED EVERY DAY AT BROOKLYNPAPER.COM
Photo by Steve Solomonson
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