FOREST HILLS — Owners of the parking lot near a shuttered store in Forest Hills promised to remove the trash that piled up since the business closed almost three weeks ago.
California-based Realty Income Corporation, which owns the property that housed the Sports Authority at 73-25 Woodhaven Blvd., on the border of Forest Hills, Rego Park and Glendale, said in an email Wednesday that “the matter will be rectified August 18th.”
The parking lot adjacent to the now-closed store has been attracting illegal dumpers for years, but the trash had been cleaned up on a regular basis until the Sports Authority closed at the end of July, locals said.
That's when neighbors said the area turned into a "dumping ground" filled with rotten food as well as construction and electronic debris.
There were also pools of standing water under the garbage, which locals feared could provide a breeding ground for mosquitoes and become "a growing public health issue."
Community Board 6 worked with the Department of Sanitation to address the situation but the process took time because the trash was on private property.
Realty Income Corporation also pledged to continue to monitor the area in the future in order to keep it clean.
