A number of complaints/problems sent to Newsday’s Community Watchdog column have little to do with government agencies or the inaction of town officials.
Neighbors have a lot to do with how much homeowners enjoy where they live.
Whether it’s the people who live next door and down the block or businesses that share the street, our quality of life is affected by how we get along with our neighbors, how neighbors conduct themselves and whether they’re considerate of others in the area.
Some of the complaints we’ve gotten about bad neighbors include a Brentwood man who’d like his neighbors to take in their garbage cans so they’re not at the curb 24-7. Doesn’t seem like too much too ask, but apparently the people who live on this street are too lazy to bring in the containers and leave them to litter the area. Would you like to live next door those homeowners?
In Lindenhurst, a homeowner is concerned about a 40-foot crane stored in a nearby backyard with other materials he believes are creating an eyesore and possible hazard. Who wants a 40-foot crane stored in a neighborhood backyard? Wouldn’t it make you nervous if you lived next door?
A Merrick homeowner contacted us because the view from his dining room window is his neighbor’s commercial truck. If you know what you’re doing is distressing to your neighbor, why not do something to change that?
In Lakeview, a resident who lives near an auto body shop has to listen to a barking watchdog left outside. This collision shop owner has been warned before by town code enforcement officers, but after a brief period of relief, the problem returns. How would you like to live near to a guard dog that barks constantly?
It wouldn't take much to remedy annoyances like these, but it does take people who care about other people. If your neighbor has voiced concern about something on your side of the fence, a good New Year’s resolution would be to take care of the problem and be a better neighbor, or at least be a less annoying one.
Comments (2)
In my neighborhood in Glen Cove, all the problems you mentioned are problems. And, they are all violations of our city code. Yet nothing ever happens to address them. In some jurisdictions, it's more than a good neighbor issue - it's against the law. But there's no enforcement of the laws here.
Hello Gwen,
I been a resident of Levittown for 32 years. It is a quite block until the neighbor that move in next door to us. She move in fews years ago and she and her kids were very nice. Until she bought a german sheperd dog.This has been going on for along time now and I just had enough. She leave her house about 8:30 in the morning and the dog is in a cage until she come home and BARKS and BARKS until it get exhausted and it for hours. Sometimes she doesn't come home until 10:00 or 12:00pm at night.The dog is in that cage. When she come home she put him outside on a 4foot chain and leave him. The dog BARKS and BARKS and BARKS. She doesn't take care of the dog. Yes she probably feed and give it water but no love. We told her so many times about the barking and it goes in one ear and out the other. We even call the police and they never show up. The other neighbors are afraid to say something to her because of the friends the daughter hang out with. The house is not a happy house. I am a animal lover I have one dog and four cats. I had animal since I was a child. Please if you can help me with this problem mostly for that dog.
One more problem.
My neighbor on the other side of me has trees all around their house. The trees in the front are DEAD. They are an eye sore to the block. He won't take them down. This year they decided to trim them because they are affaid that the DEAD branches would fall on there new car. They also have a tree on my side of the there house that is a raspberry tree. In the summer we can't ever sit on that side of our yard because of all the bees and bugs from the fruit that drops off the tree. My husband totrim what is on our side of our property and she and him argue with my husband. There backyard is a jungle of trees that grow over every body yards. He doesn't do anything to fix the problems of over grown trees.The neighbors told him but the trees are still DEAD.
Let me know what can be done to fix these problem.
Thanks for your time.