Craig Caruana, who is running against Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village), is urging city officials to do something about a Glendale auto shop that residents say has been conducting illegal repairs and parking cars on sidewalks. Caruana held a press conference about the matter on Saturday.
Glendale residents living near an auto shop on 79th Avenue said they are fed up with the company’s employees parking vehicles on sidewalks and throughout the area, leaving them little to no space for their own cars, as well as reportedly doing large-scale repairs on vehicles, for which the shop is not licensed.
The owners of Wheels ‘R Us, which is licensed to sell vehicles and is located at 58-10 79th Ave., said they are doing nothing illegal and want to work with residents on any concerns.
“We’ve talked to the owner, and he told us, ‘I don’t live here; what do I care?” said a mother of three children who lives near the business, which she alleges has been illegally fixing vehicles for years but which has gotten worse in recent months. In addition to the shop’s cars being parked on sidewalks and throughout the street, the woman said the owner and employees attempt to intimidate anyone who makes a complaint.
“They bully everybody,” said the woman, who wanted to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. “They drop cars on the block without license plates. One of my neighbors thinks they smashed her car. She’s moving because she can’t take it anymore.”
But Oscar Ortega, one of the shop’s two owners, said they want to address any concerns that neighbors have.
“I work here; I don’t want trouble here,” said Ortega, who added that he will do smaller repairs, such as oil changes, if a nearby station cannot service the vehicles. Neighbors, however, said they are conducting a wide range of repairs.
The woman said she and her husband originally contacted Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley’s (D-Middle Village) office about the problem in January but did not hear back about the matter until last Friday. She has also contacted the 104th Precinct and a number of civic organizations about the matter. Ultimately, she said she was so discouraged by the little change she saw from the business that she connected with Craig Caruana, the Republican candidate running against Crowley for her Council seat, who organized a press conference about the matter on Saturday.
“If they’re operating illegally, get the cops and the fire department in there and shut it down,” Caruana said. “If this was a legal business, I guarantee the Department of Buildings would be in there and fining them. You get rewarded for doing wrong and penalized for doing right.”
Eric Yun, a spokesman for Crowley, said the legislator’s office has been working on this issue.
“We received an anonymous call several months ago, which is why we couldn’t call them back until recently, after someone from our office met her at a civic meeting,” Yun said. “After the first anonymous complaint, we contacted the 104th and looked into it. The 104th did some targeted enforcement but didn’t find it was an illegal body shop. They ticketed any cars parked illegally.”
Yun said Crowley’s office has only received complaints about the business from the woman who contacted Caruana. He added that the office has spoken to the city DOB, which told Crowley’s office that it would soon be conducting an inspection.
Neighbors said they hope that help from city agencies will bring a return to normalcy for them.
“You smell paint even when you’re in the backyard – it’s really bad; it’s toxic,” said a man who lives nearby and also wanted to speak anonymously for fear of retaliation. “It gets really bad in the summer.”
While the mother who lives close to the facility said one of her neighbors is leaving because of the auto shop, she said she and her family cannot afford to leave – nor do they want to.
“People are petrified of them,” she said. “They’re bullies; they’re like a gang. They’re going to try to take over this strip, and that cannot be tolerated. We’d like to stay here until we retire, but we’re being so harassed that we don’t know what to do. This is Glendale – this is supposed to be a place about quality of life.”
By Anna Gustafson
