By Julian Walker
Times Staff Writer
The 6300 blocks of Lawndale St. and Tabor Road, which run parallel, are like many Northeast neighborhoods, according to longtime area residents: certainly not derelict, but not the same as they were years ago.
Times change.
Neighborhood infrastructures age and people come and go. These are the realities many Northeast residents face daily. And with them come new problems.
Litter, overgrown lawns, noisy neighbors, unruly kids and people who don’t clean up after their pets are annoyingly routine, but tolerable, nuisances in this section of the city.
A festering swamp in the middle of a residential community is another matter, and that is exactly what Peg Magenta and her neighbors say has developed in their neighborhood.
An above-ground pool in the back yard of a vacant property at 6326 Tabor Road has become the cause of concern for Magenta and her neighbors.
What was once an inviting oasis of sparkling blue water has morphed into a pool of green algae and old water that residents fear may be a breeding ground for mosquitoes carrying West Nile virus.
“That pool’s been there for at least ten years and it hasn’t been a problem until recently,” said Magenta, looking out from a rear second-floor bedroom window at her Lawndale Street home. “Last summer, the people who lived in that house cleaned the pool and took care of the property. But they left in September and the pool hasn’t been cleaned since. It hasn’t been covered for the last year.”
Since the house is vacant — the front door handle has been removed and the entryway is bolted shut with a padlock — neighbors didn’t know whom to approach to address the situation.
So Magenta contacted the Northeast anti-blight initiative CLIP (Community Life Improvement Program). The complaint was referred to the city Department of Public Health, which has domain over pools that aren’t maintained in the effort to prevent the spread of West Nile.
Health department spokesman Jeff Moran said that in such cases a hormone commonly referred to as “larvacide” is placed in the water. The chemical prevents mosquito larvae from growing to adult insects.
“It’s a growth inhibitor that only affects mosquitoes. It is not harmful to other organisms,” Moran explained. “It is a routine practice. This is also what we do with sewer inlets and catch basins throughout the city — tens of thousands each year — to prevent the spread of West Nile virus.”
Aerial surveys are periodically conducted, added Moran, to identify locations where water treatment is needed to prevent the gestation of mosquito larvae.
The program began last summer.
“We contact the owners of pools that could spawn this problem,” said Moran. “We instruct them to clean up the problem or we will do it and they will face a fine.”
Since pool maintenance is a quality-of-life issue, CLIP may issue a citation to a property owner to fix the problem. The owner has 10 days to address the issue from the date of the citation. Those who fail to comply may face a fine of up to $300. Compliance has been high, said Moran, because of the concern about West Nile and the publicity generated by the illness.
But that hasn’t been the case at 6326 Tabor Road. Because the property is unoccupied, no one has been at the home to clean the pool. So the city handled the problem late last month, said CLIP chief code enforcer Rick Sicinski.
That pleased neighbors like Magenta, though there still exists aesthetic concerns about what they consider an eyesore so near their homes.
The Times was unsuccessful in its attempts to contact the owner of the Tabor Road property to inquire about cleaning the pool. Records of the city Department of Licenses and Inspections list the former occupants as the current owners and residents of the home, according to an L&I representative.
But the house is padlocked, denying access to anyone. Calls to Safeguard Properties Inc., the Cleveland-based company that sealed the house, according to a notice on the front door, revealed that the house is the property of a mortgage company and is in foreclosure.
“We are a national mortgage field service company that on behalf of, and pursuant to, agreements with our mortgage lender clients provide services to protect, secure and maintain properties that are in mortgage default or foreclosed on,” explained Safeguard Properties general counsel Barry Moses.
Because of the confidentiality of agreements, Moses declined to reveal which lending company owns the property. He did promise to alert the client to the issues at the Tabor Road property.
“We are very sensitive to cities and their domains and work to address any problems that arise immediately,” he said.
Meanwhile, Magenta and her neighbors still have to face the green swamp directly to the rear of their homes.
That view, she said, is one more reason that she plans to move out of Philadelphia after more than 40 years on Lawndale Street when her husband, Stan, retires in a few years.
“I’d like to see that pool either cleaned up or taken down,” she said. “It’s just a shame.” ••
Reporter Julian Walker can be reached at 215-354-3038 or jwalker@phillynews.com