FROM THE CROTCH !
Michael and Lara Storke seem to be living deja vu. I remember working with Mark Wells from Crime Prevention on the squatter house next to them 4 years ago. Lara and Mike had already gone through 5 years of living next to this hell hole. What was the scenario then? Well a woman who owned the house next to them died. She had a reverse mortgage on the house.
A relative decided to stay there and eventually the house was taken over by drug addicts and dealers. They had no water, no electricity. They crapped on the side of the house. The house was filled with junk and junkies, The basement had piles of clothing 2 feet high...you could see the rats moving through it. Finally Mark got an eviction through the city and they went to the house,. I was there when they served that and watched them pull almost a dozen folks out of there and had them lined up sitting on the curb. We all thought that was the end of their problem…we were wrong!
For another 2 years the house would be broken into and at least 3 times was caught on fire before they finally tore it down. Yesterday when I went over there you could see the new building being constructed. Peace at last....no so fast!
On the other side of Mike and Lara a woman died. She too had a reverse mortgage. She too had a relative that just stayed there. The place went to shit. The guy finally moved. Then squatters took over and after numerous calls and complaints the bank I guess had the squatters removed. Thank God it is over.....no not yet! One morning they had fire trucks there.. Yes the house next door was on fire. In fact Mike said the fireman told him they were actually waiting for the call as they could smell fire somewhere but had no idea where it was coming from until it was called in.
Over the last 5 or 6 years we emptied about a dozen of.these houses just in Lents. One would think with all the time that has passed the city would have a better system to protect neighborhoods from having this type of issue, So the Storke's have had dopers, squatters, and criminals as neighbors on both sides of them for going on a decade with a short breather between them...lets see how many years they have to endure this mess. Your situation Mike, with these two homes and the city brings to mind a verse from a song..
Clowns to the left of me Jokers to the right,,, Here I am .. Stuck in the middle with you!
These pictures were taken yesterday. I am told they had already taken two truckloads out.
UPDATE: : Mike and Lara just found out that their fence was cut and they stole a 3 wheeler out of his yard.