Neighborhood Trash

this is what happens when you don't take out the garbage:

The worst of New York City’s worlds have collided on one Brooklyn block – where junkie squatters rented out an abandoned home to migrants, whose dozens of apparently stolen bikes and scooters sparked an inferno that scorched two neighboring homes, The Post has learned. But even the Aug. 17 conflagration couldn’t keep the squatters away from the East 36th Street abode in Marine Park. “For the next two days, people were coming back again and again,” a 45-year-old neighbor told The Post, even after the city boarded up the second-floor windows and poured cement across the first-floor doors and windows. Neighbors estimated around 10 junkies and an unknown number of migrant squatters frequented the dilapidated two-story, three-bedroom duplex, which was built in 1925.

So, what are local officials doing about> Not much:

Councilwoman Mercedes Narcisse said her office was contacted about “the ongoing and deeply troubling issue of squatters and drug activity” on the property for the first time on the day of the fire. “More must be done to protect our neighborhoods from the dangers posed by neglected properties. I strongly support the need for stronger state laws that empower communities and homeowners to address the problem of squatting effectively,” she said. A mayoral spokesperson said, “We are going to review laws surrounding squatting to protect homeowners in the city, particularly working-class New Yorkers, and we will look for ways to partner with the City Council to resolve this issue.”

In other words, the trash stays put...