STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A Mariners Harbor man finally got some action on a longstanding eyesore after reaching out to the Advance/SILive.com earlier this year.
Howard Gutter, 70, had been trying to get his commercial neighbor, A&J Tires at 2246 Forest Ave., to take down shipping containers stacked three stories high, but had no success.
Gutter reached out to the Advance/SILive.com in February complaining how the containers blocked the view from his back window and negatively impacted his quality of life.
A spokesman for the Department of Buildings said earlier this week that the city had started enforcement in May, and the owners were working to remove the containers. A manager at the shop confirmed that, and a June 14 visit showed some of the containers had been removed, though some remained.
A crane moves containers that had become an eyesore for a Mariners Harbor resident Friday, May 31, 2024. (Courtesy: the office of Borough President Vito Fossella)Borough President Vito Fossella
“Thank God that I got you, and other cats that got this guy to move [the containers],” Gutter said. “If he can move the rest of those containers down, and it’s not an eyesore to somebody looking out their window, fine. I won’t bother no more.”
The part of the property where the containers sit fronts Wemple Street across from the backyard of Gutter’s Spartan Avenue home. He moved there in 2010 after a fire killed two of his sons, Seandale and Sha-Ron Gutter, and destroyed the family’s Jewett Avenue home.
A retired employee for the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), Gutter said he had been trying to get government officials to take action for months before reaching out to the media.
A city Department of Buildings inspector visited the site in August and issued a violation to the owners, accusing them of performing work without a permit in part because of the 33 shipping containers stacked three stories high.
However, an over-the-phone proceeding conducted by the city Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH) in January determined the current owners of the property, 2246 Forest Ave. LLC, were not responsible for the containers, because they were already there before their purchase in February 2022.
In his decision, Administrative Law Judge Akinwale Akinrefon sided with the owners’ attorney citing the 2022 deed for the property and a pair of affidavits in which unidentified individuals said the containers were there before the current owners’ purchase.
“I find that respondent (owner) purchased the subject premises on February 28, 2022, in the same condition as was observed by the Inspector on August 23, 2023,” Akinrefon wrote in his decision.
Gutter said that doesn’t make sense as he first started complaining about the shipping containers later than 2022 when he says the owners began stacking them. Records from the city’s 311 system back him up.
No 311 complaints regarding shipping containers at the location predate July 2023, and at least four additional complaints have been made since then.
Additionally, a view of the property dated July 2022, available through Google Earth, shows containers at the location, but on a different part of the premises. Gutter also shared photos from July last year of a crane moving the containers to their current location.
According to Akinrefon’s decision, the city’s attorney in the OATH hearing relied largely on the allegations made by the Buildings Department inspector, and didn’t refute the owners’ claim of a pre-existing condition.
Borough President Vito Fossella (right) greets Howard Gutter behind his Mariners Harbor home. Friday, May 31, 2024. (Courtesy: the office of Borough President Vito Fossella)Borough President Vito Fossella
The city finally took action after later hearings and will be monitoring the site until ownership comes into compliance with existing regulations, according to a Buildings Department spokesman.
Borough President Vito Fossella and members of his staff played a vital role urging the city to take action against the illegal containers.
“All Mr. Gutter wanted to do was enjoy his backyard and the view, and that was unfortunately taken away from him,” he said. “We were more than happy to help. Any time we can help a Staten Islander with a quality-of-life issue – that is what we’re here for. We thank Frank Fontana and our partners at the Department of Buildings Padlock Unit for working with us to help this man out.”