[Lacon Ct Dead End Take Over]
There is a problem in some areas of Gerritsen Beach, as well as Manhattan Beach, Rockaway, and any neighborhood with waterfront access. Property owners have been claiming and fighting over water front land, particular at dead end blocks. Between easements and city maps takeovers become a matter of the courts.
This is something that has been going on since the year of the flood(a long time), and may not ever be rectified or addressed. However, wouldn’t it be nice to have some sort of water view/access within a waterfront community.
What is being noticed all over the the beach (both new and old) is that people are either fencing off dead ends, or filling in bulkhead areas to level them out.
NYC’s Digital Tax Map Online System
http://gis.nyc.gov/dof/dtm/mapviewer.jsf
If you search for Brooklyn Block 8885, you’ll get to the area. There are paper streets extending Lacon and Florence until they intersect. Definitely a land grab.
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Thank you!
Part of growing up in GB is the fun of going down to the dead ends & feeding the ducks , looking at the boats going by or dropping a line in. These greedy skels are stealing that right from this generation of children. Something needs to be done about this. GB CARES WHERE ARE YOU? Cut down the fences & give the community back the access to the water!
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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Well said, Take Back The Water Rights!! You hit it right on the head.
Lets start an organization called CREEK–
Coalition of Residents Entitled to accEss to the creeK
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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First rule about The CREEK: You do not talk about The Creek.
Second rile of The CREEK: You do not talk about The Creek.
I do not advocte neighbors calling the DoB on each other but in this case I think we all need to start doing so. Danny or Steve, if you (or anyone) could start listing offending addresses on this site everyone who frequents this website can then file a complaint via phone or the NYC.GOV website. If enough complaints are made to each address something may get done about it.
If that does not work then a few of us get together with my Milwaukee Sawzall and just cut the fences down and throw them in the offenders yard.
To all of you land grabbers who complain about rowdy, messy kids hanging out at the end of your blocks, or dog owners not cleaning up after themselves, that happens at many locations through out the neighborhood besides dead ends so don’t try to justify you actions.
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Who do these people think they are just closing streets and keeping it for themself
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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Agreed – what about Post Court, end of Gerritsen Ave. and many others.
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I don’t plan on mentioning to many others. Just the obvious ones.
No one took the end of Gerritsen Avenue. What are you talking about?
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what about ira ct where the horses are ? the street disappears where the owner put up a wrought iron fence. i heard that the street used to go all the way north to the waters edge. anyone know if that is a fact ?
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I live on Merit and the Boat Club or whatever at the end of Cyrus claimed the end of my block. They have gone as far as building a gazebo at the end to try to convince people that it is their land. Who needs to be contacted to get this corrected, post it up and let me know.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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I grew up down here and used to go down the end of Merit Ct. as a child to snapper fish with my parents and brothers. And then one day….Poof! A big fence gets put up and access is restricted. Whatever needs to be done, I’m in. It would be nice to do some snapper fishing or feed the ducks on my own block with my children as they grows up. I know for a fact that the end of Landis Court has been “annexed” by the owners of the boatyard at 1 Landis Ct. AND THEY DON”T EVEN LIVE IN GERRITSEN BEACH. Merit, Kay, Landis, Lacon……….Let’s get a petition going, call local politicians, raise awareness(thanks GB.net), etc.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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I think the trees in the picture from Lacon Court would look nice up in the new Seba Park hey maybe the gazebo can be used too.
I think this is a job for the elite Community Board to put some pressure on the Buildings Dept to get out and check the drawing verse what is actual
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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Props to GB.net for running with this story. I hope something comes of it. You mentioned easements in your story, and the the princeton law dictionary definition is:
Easement•(law) the privilege of using something that is not your own (as using another’s land as a right of way to gain access to your own land)
It is obvious that there is NO WAY that these land grabs fall under the category of easements. They are Dead Ends and not “pathways” to other unobtainable parcels of land. And as you say “This is something that has been going on since the year of the flood(a long time), and may not ever be rectified or addressed”. I say BS. Someone might have said the same thing about some certain woodchips which were being illegally dumped in the recent past. ;-)
My point is if these “land grabs” truly are illegal, and in some cases perpetrated by people who do not even live in this neighborhood and have stolen land for COMMERCIAL GAIN(Dead End of Landis Ct. comes to mind), then this is something that NEEDS to be addressed. Keep digging, GB.net. Keep digging.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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I always wondered about Ira and Devon the house on the water that has a fence accross the street and a gate, do they own that street ????
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I agree that the Dead Ends should be open to all, but remember that the City went around and completely fenced off the dead ends when they fixed them up.. If these people are sectioning them off and using for personal use, then that is wrong. But if negihborhood people are spending money to place a tree to in front of a fence and makng it look nicer, then I see nothing wrong with that.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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I agree some people are planting trees,flowers or bushes and making it look really nice, but then there are some who actually fenced the area off for there own use and this is certainly not right. It is really nice to be able to walk to the end of a street and watch the boats or just look at the water but many of these streets are blocked and the people who blocked them act like it is there property and you are trespassing if you enter. I agree something has to be done about this.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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I believe that if you all proceed to the next level that you should have your pooper scoopers ready. Do you know what goes on at the dead ends that don’t look like the end of Lacon Court? Nobody cares about dead ends so, they are left with dog crap and high weeds etc. This looks alot better at Lacon Court than at the dead ends that nobody cares about. Are you ready to clean up after people? Get smart !
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So which Dead End have you taken over? Your comments about “No one cares about Dead Ends” are completely off base. The point is, water access by residents of this neighborhood is being illegally restricted, and in some cases by COMMERCIAL BUSINESSES WHOSE OWNERS DO NOT EVEN LIVE IN GB!! Water access by the Dead Ends of this neighborhood to fish, feed the ducks, or just watch the boats go by is what makes this neighborhood unique and different from most others in all of NYC, due to the fact that the majority of streets down here have a dead end with water access. Or should, anyway. Are you saying that if you allow the PUBLICLY OWNED LAND to be open to the public that owns it, mysterious and strange dogs will show up and poop all over the place while hiding in the high weeds that will grow? Is that whats happening at the 90% of open and accessible dead ends?
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I think if you speak to most people that live at dead ends, they have taken it over to keep it clean. Who is in charge of keeping dead ends clean? Do you know? How many people let their dogs go at the dead ends and don’t clean up after them. The people that live at those dead ends have to watch the kids hangout and do what they do all hours of the night outside their windows. I believe they take over the dead ends for survival and quality of life.
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Did you know that some people actually pay the city rent for their usage of space at some dead ends?
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Mr. or Mrs. Anonymous, why don’t you tell us exactly who it is that actually pays “rent” to the city for dead end usage? Why keep it a secret if it is in fact true? You wouldn’t be hurting anyone for telling us they are legally “renting”. Only helping to shed some light on this whole debate.
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Ha! Thats pretty funny.
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That is not true about renting the dead ends, I called the city about the dead end next to my house because I heard that you could rent it and I thought that would be a nice idea. The city told me that they DID NOT rent the streets (which they actually are). So I did not take over the street for my own use and I do try and maintain it by cleaning it up and planting flowers in the summer to make it look nice, but that’s it…. It is city property not mine.
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[...] Comments Anonymous on Dead End Land Grabs All Over the Beachanonymous#53 on Dead End Land Grabs All Over the BeachKate on Swings May Be Coming to Seba Avenue [...]
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As a matter of fact… I know many years ago that people paid rent monthly for their dead end streets. Recently I know at least 3 of these ends where the city raised their rent to such a level that they couldn’t afford to keep it any longer. You can look at the end of Landis court for one. It was kept beutifully by the elderly homeowner. They were renting it for many years. The notice came from the city and the elderly homeowner felt the raise in rent was too drastic. The city came in and ripped up their rose bushes, ripped up the fence, etcetera and opened up the end of the street. I don’t feel that I should disclose others that I know for their privacy but this is what’s happening.
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Interesting. That might be true but I know for a fact the current squatters have not paid a dime to the city. They told a neighbor that while they were redoing their own bulkhead they might as well do it across the dead end even though they were on there illegally. This guy brags that he stole the dead end from the community & he doesn’t even live here. This was a street that little kids used to go to with their parents to feed swans & ducks etc…then it was gone, to a dirty fence & a shed. He can’t even claim he did it to make the block better because it looks like crap.
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Squatters on Landis Court?
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Yes , squatters on Landis Ct. Literally. The boat yard at the end on of Landis assumed ownersip of the end (waterfront) of landis ct. They fenced it in to make it look like part of their property & placed a shed there. This was an open dead end which allowed residents access to the creek. I don’t know if squatter is the correct term, but I can think of some adjectives for these people that are better left off this site. They knowingly & greedily STOLE this property from the residents of this community.
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Sorry it wasn’t landis …it was Kay
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