Clean-up begins at site of ‘spy house’

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A pair of workers cloaked in yellow hooded ponchos gazed over the mini wasteland, a filthy patch of leafy urban squalor — a space some neighbors say has suffered far too long from neglect.

Greg Lombardi lives next door to the vacant lot at 5437 Fieldston Road — the site of what some residents suspected to be the “former spy house” the U.S. government reputedly used to keep tabs on the looming Russian diplomatic compound behind it on West 255th Street. Since that house was removed, however, Lombardi says the lot has been transformed into an “overgrown dump infested with feral cats, skunks and raccoons.”

Closed in by a ramshackle chain-link fence with a dark green, frayed fabric covering, the land is owned by Talner Congregation Beth David on Mosholu Avenue, purchased for $400,000 in 2011, according to city property records. The congregation reportedly had plans to build a synagogue on the site which, Lombardi said, appears to have no access to utilities.

While the buildings department had approved the congregation’s plans for the new building, according to spokesman Andrew Rudansky, it never happened.

The why, however, remains a mystery.

A series of photographs on the congregation’s website that appear to have been taken over several days in August and September 2013 show the small, two-story white house, tractors on the site, the house all but torn down, the compound’s imperious façade towering in the background, and what looks like the aftermath — chunks of splintered wood, debris.

Joseph Fink, whom Lombardi identified as the president of Talner Congregation, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Morris Dreisinger — who refused to verify the correct spelling of his name — and whom Lombardi said is the congregation’s vice president — said the lot had “sadly slipped through the cracks” and promised the congregation would tackle cleanup “imminently.” As for the fence, Dreisinger said, they’d “straighten it out,” but refused to elaborate.

“It’s all in the process of being corrected,” he said.

But words alone won’t cut it for Lombardi — a chef in Manhattan, who’s lived in the Riverdale area for nearly 20 years — or for his neighbors, who aren’t exactly singing the congregation’s praises.

Utilities or none — and local lore as to the true purpose of the long-gone house aside — Lombardi says he just wants the land properly cleaned and the rickety fence maintained or removed, calling its condition “a shame.”

“It’s like a jungle,” Lombardi said. “You can’t walk to the street in front of it, the weeds are so overgrown.”

But Lombardi doubts taming the “jungle” is any big task.

“A landscaper there, a dumpster, and a little cleaning crew, and it could be knocked out in one day,” Lombardi said. “The fence looks like it’s going to fall. You’ve got to take care of it. We don’t need (Talner Congregation) to make it a beautiful park. We just need them to clean it. I walk my dog out there. I’m afraid of ticks, and God knows what’s walking around in there.” 

But on the bright side, cleanup at long last appears to be underway. Lombardi spotted a machete-wielding local fellow who reportedly does odd jobs in the neighborhood hacking away at the overgrown brush a few days after The Riverdale Press started looking into the issue on Aug. 12.

Finally, the sidewalk was clear. Still, there’s a long way to go.

Lombardi and neighbor Martha Diaz stood in the rain the next day, assessing years of neglect — a secluded pocket of green, wood, wildness that, spruced up, could offer a kind of charming rusticity, a mini oasis. But instead, it remains an eyesore, as well as a potential safety hazard. Lombardi had taped a tennis ball to a pole jutting out from the fence to protect passersby.

“There’s like a big family of cats that live in there,” Lombardi said. “It’s insane.”

Ever since around the time the rumored spy house was demolished, Diaz said, the lot “has been an absolute disaster. There’s trees, or weeds that grew into trees, all over the place. I’ve seen rats go through here over the years.”

Last year, Diaz said, a pair of giant barrels sat collecting water, attracting legions of mosquitoes, until her husband took a big stick and pushed them over, draining the water and shooing away the pests.

“It’s disgusting,” Diaz said. “People throw garbage in there.”

Thanks to the small work crew, “for the first time, you can actually see the ground,” Diaz said. “We call it ‘our jungle, the rainforest.’ It’s progressively thicker. It gets wilder all the time.”

At one point, Diaz said, the weeds were taller than her.

The city’s sanitation department inspected the lot Aug. 14, department officials said, finding what they described as minimal loose wood — the house’s original timber, according to Lombardi — and a small amount of litter. The curb and sidewalk, however, they deemed clean.

Sanitation officials said they’d asked the city’s health department to order Talner Congregation to clean the lot — required before sanitation could even enter the lot, since it’s a locked, fenced private property. But if the congregation didn’t comply within a few days, the county supreme court would take a look at the mess and could grant sanitation permission to go in and clean.

Health department officials, meanwhile, said they’d investigate, but that they had no records of inspections or complaints for the location.

In the meantime, Lombardi at least can find solace in the fact cleanup’s finally happening. 

“They really cleared it out,” Lombardi said. “You couldn’t see past this fence. It looks like they cleared out most of the garbage, too. They even cut back the tree grow-over, everything. Looks good.

“As long as they’re doing something, as long as it’s getting cleaned up, that’s all I wanted. I can’t be happier.”

Greg Lombardi, North Riverdale, Fieldston Road, Talner Congregation Beth David, Andrew Rudansky, Joseph Fink, Morris Dreisinger, Martha Diaz, Zak Kostro

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