A Miracle on 134th Street

By Katie McFadden

On Saturday, August 9, neighbors on the beach block of Beach 134th could enjoy their porches in peace after two decades of dealing with an alleged nightmare neighbor. This followed an afternoon of a disturbance that looked like something out of a movie as NYPD, ESU, FDNY and the Department of Buildings took action to vacate and seal a home at 177 Beach 134th Street on Friday. The neighbors are thanking Councilwoman Joann Ariola’s office for finally resolving this issue.

“I can use my backyard again,” neighbor Samuel Epstein said. “This was a major restriction on our quality of life.”

Councilwoman Joann Ariola says one of the first issues she heard about after being elected for her second term, was about an alleged unruly neighbor on Beach 134th Street. “He had, since Hurricane Sandy, never put his utilities back on, he never did remediation, and he had become a danger to himself and the community,” she told The Rockaway Times. The he in question is allegedly Adam Kartiganer.

Epstein had experienced firsthand the growing issues with direct neighbor, Kartiganer, for the last 20 years. “I knew the family very well. But his grandparents passed, his mother passed, and he inherited the house and never put a penny into it. He is a trust fund baby from Los Angeles, and he moved here in 2003, but he has some emotional problems. He had driven four cars from LA and parked them in the driveway and didn’t move them for 23 years. When I asked him about it, he said, ‘I don’t want anyone visiting me.’” That unfriendly behavior exacerbated over the years.

Epstein says one of the most disruptive activities was Kartiganer turning on a generator after Hurricane Sandy—and never turning it off. “He was always running an old generator and it was very loud. He ran it for several hours a day near my windows and it was absolute torture,” Epstein said. “I could not sit in my backyard or my porch. He was emboldened because we called 311 and we were told he was in his legal right to run the generator until 10 at night.”

But Kartiganer was becoming a danger to himself and others. “He did not have water, heat, and he was sh*tting in a bag and putting it in our garbage cans,” Epstein said. And then his behavior allegedly became violent, to a point that Epstein had an order of protection against Kartiganer after he allegedly threatened him, which Epstein says he violated. He also claims Kartiganer harassed another neighbor’s son, following him with a baseball bat, and the last straw is when Kartiganer turned up the heat. “He was burning his grass with a blow torch,” Epstein said.

Despite a slurry of 911 calls, 311 complaints, an order of protection, and even Kartiganer being deemed “incapacitated” and appointed a court-ordered guardian, things documented in court filings, the behavior continued. “This should’ve been taken care of way long ago, but Adult Protective Services ruled that he had partial protective services because he could speak and represent himself, but anyone analyzing him knew he was not of sound mind,” Epstein said.

The issues continued to escalate until Councilwoman Ariola and her staff acted. “The Department of Buildings had been issuing violations and placed signs on the house saying there was a vacate order. He would allegedly take the orders and blowtorch them and then he was going to neighbors’ property and setting the orders on fire. FDNY went repeatedly, but no one had been able to access the house,” Ariola said.

So Ariola’s office took it further. “We escalated it to the NYC DOB Commissioner James Oddo and my Chief of Staff Phyllis Inserillo worked with them to look into the history of the house,” she said. “Because there were so many vacate orders, we got an emergency declaration so the person could be removed, and the house could be permanently sealed.”

On April 23, there was a request for an engineer to assess the structural stability of the home. “The house had no electricity, no gas and there were gaping holes in the roof,” Ariola said. “The house was deemed unlivable which is why the emergency declaration was signed by a judge on August 5.” On Friday, that order played out. “The DOB, NYPD and ESU went to the house. Adam was inside, but FDNY had to break down the front door because he had it fortified on both sides. Once inside, they found that he had escaped, and they found several propane tanks in the house. Most were empty, showing he just kept getting new ones. But he wasn’t there. They could’ve arrested him just for illegally storing propane tanks,” Ariola said.

Action was taken on the deteriorating home. “Once they saw the house was empty, DOB had their contractors immediately seal the house. They sealed all the doors and windows with stucco and put a construction fence around it. Adam cannot go back. It is no longer his home. The home is owned by a trust and there was an attempt to sell the house, but it couldn’t be sold because he was still living in there. Now, if he goes back, neighbors have been made aware to call 911.”

Ariola says that came into play just a few hours later. “He came back on Friday evening and neighbors called 911. Police responded and spoke with him, and he accepted services. He got into an ambulance and was removed. Neighbors said he was never a good fit for the block because of his mental illness, and steadily, it got worse because his mental illness went untreated,” Ariola said.

But only so much can be done, due to current state laws. “We want to urge our state legislators to consider dangerousness. Adam is a case in point to validate why the law on dangerousness is so important. He would’ve been able to get treatment without needing his permission under that law. It comes before the state legislature over and over and doesn’t get passed. It would’ve put him in a long-term facility instead of getting picked up by an ambulance and released,” Ariola said.

Where does that leave Kartiganer? “If he returns to the house, he can be charged with trespassing,” Ariola said. But she hopes he finds somewhere else to live, as he allegedly has the means to do so. Ariola’s office confirmed that Kartiganer’s late father was celebrity attorney, Larry Kartiganer, who represented clients such as Marlon Brando and Groucho Marx, through his firm in California. Larry died in 2020. “Adam has the means to gain shelter and get food and he has a phone. His court appointed guardian will have to step in and be more involved,” Ariola said. “We’re hoping Mr. Kartiganer took advice of a doctor to get help. I don’t want to see any mentally ill people go without care.”

Ariola says she’ll keep in contact with the neighbors, who are relieved with the outcome. “For over 14 years, they had been living in absolute fear and asked so many officials to get involved, so we’re thankful we didn’t take no for an answer and made sure they were safe,” Ariola said.

Epstein is particularly relieved. “After many years of extreme stress, we are thrilled,” he said. He gives Ariola’s office the credit. “The person who was critical in facilitating this final condemnation of the property was Phyllis Inserillo,” Epstein said. “The city was slow to act and the only reason they did this was because of Ariola’s office.”